TexasCHLforum.com

A bunch of years ago my wife and kids gave me a CVA Kentucky Pistol kit. I spent months building that gun, and when attempting to apply bluing the first time I did a pretty poor job and left streaks and a big fingerprint in the finish.

It seems to me that I used foil, lemon juice, and vinegar to take off the finish.

It sat, unfinished but polished to a mirror sheen, on the living room coffee table for many months until after I had consulted with several people about bluing (Birchwood Casey's instructions were somewhat sub-optimal) and decided to attempt it again. The result the second time was very gratifying, but if it were not for the regular polishing that leaving it bare metal entailed, I would have been satisfied to leave it that way. The gun very rapidly developed a light patina of rust, and oiling and waxing it left a finish that was not as shiny.