How to thin blueing?

[englishman_ca]

Lots of good ideas, there are more than one ways to skin a cat.

I'll add my tuppence worth.

Hot tank blue can be beautiful, but it is not correct for use on a military arm and will still stand out as being a different finish even if some artificial wear is added. Different colour, different surface.

My suggestion would be to strip off the existing blue completely and refinish the surface to remove the high polish, adding some texture by hand with sand paper to simulate the original linished surface.
Polish the high points and sharp edges shoe shine style with a cotton rag and Brasso, then oil blacken.
Add some wear to the blackening with a scotch brite pad, very fine steel wool or shoe shine rag again until it matches the rest of the furniture.


Bottom nose cap is an untouched original, the top nose cap is a new made unit that has been oil blackened.

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[RobD]

Nice ideas - can you explain your oil blackening method step-by-step?
Rob