The method described by Hammergun & Bill is what an Ithaca Service Manual recommended for refinishing the frames of the Perazzis they once imported. These guns had heat treated alloy frames & were give Faux case colors from the factory. Ithaca recommended Numrich's 44-40 blue but I tried Oxpho as well & found it worked the same. My first experience with this method was on a Stevens 94 single that a gentleman wanted fixed up to hang on his wall in remembrance of his dad who had used it. He had just asked me to blue it but I tried this & if he had not liked it was just going to strip, then blue. He could not have been happier. I tried it a few more times & always got good results. It of course will not pass for a genuine bone color hardening but is about the best alternative /I have seen & unlike the hot tip of an acetylene torch does not heat anything up enough to damage original hardness & no danger of warpage etc.
