Christmas Rods

[JoeE]

Started the bluing process on a few agate guides that I purchased a few years ago (not cheap) but I’m glad I bought them. One is going on my new small mouth rod and a couple are going on a light saltwater rod for a friend for a Christmas rod and the others I will save. They have a ways to go but if I don’t start now it will b a 2024 rod for my friend 😁. I just like blued nickel silver guides over chrome.

Joe E

 

[tomgamber]

Do you use gun bluing or something else. I has some stuff in a blue bottle. Tried to match some ferrules. Was a long time ago. Was not really happy with how it came out.

 

[sixfootfenwick]

Started the bluing process on a few agate guides that I purchased a few years ago (not cheap) but I’m glad I bought them. One is going on my new small mouth rod and a couple are going on a light saltwater rod for a friend for a Christmas rod and the others I will save. They have a ways to go but if I don’t start now it will b a 2024 rod for my friend 😁. I just like blued nickel silver guides over chrome.

Joe E

I'm with you. Much prefer blued nickel silver over chrome

 

[6xAdams(Jones)]

I don't know about rod guides but for gun parts, successfully bluing metal starts with very thorough cleaning - sometimes with harsh chemical wash after buffing with 000 steel wool. Everything needs to be handled with gloves so that fingerprints aren't oxidized to a shade different from other parts of the surface. I personalized a blued barrel - with one fingerprint right behind the rear site - on a kit muzzleloader when I was about 15 years old. There was no way to rub that out.

By the way, does anyone know the model number for the Fuji single foot guides with gray or green ceramic ring inserts? My father-in-law calls them "bullet guides" but I can't nail them down on the Jann's website and they haven't sent me an updated catalog. They have "alconite" guides listed but the inserts appear to be black, which is probably okay.
Work periodically took my father-in-law to Toledo, so he may have actually purchased the bullet guides in-store at Jann's... about 20-30 years ago.

 

[sixfootfenwick]

Also don't forget to varnish or finish after bluing otherwise, it will lose it over a short time.

 

[JoeE]

I use a gun bluing and yes cleaning, buffing and polishing multiple times until I get then the way I want them.