I attempted to paint the steel choke rod on my 1926 coupe and found that even a thin coat of paint inhibits the free movement of the choke lever from sliding up and down and turning on the choke rod, so I had to remove the paint and my choke rod is now bare, brightly buffed and polished steel. Do you paint your steel choke rod or leave bare and coat it with a thin layer of oil? I considered bluing it like a gun barrel, since bluing colors the steel without any buildup, but I first, decided to put the question to the experts here on the forum. Thank you in advance for your help. Jim Patrick

Originally they were raven finished. That should make it easier to slide up and down.

What, exactly is "raven finish" ?? Something like bluing ?

Yes. Eastwood also makes a "metal blackening kit" which duplicates a raven finish.

I've never had a problem with anything under the hood rusting, always seems to have a coating of oil on everything.

I looked up Raven finish and the definition is basically a black oxide finish, or gun bluing, so I just finished blueing the choke rod and choke lever slide with very good results using a Birchwood/Casey, Perma-Blue Gun Bluing Kit from Walmart. The highly polished choke rod came out almost black. Better than paint. As per the instructions, I lightly polished it until the buling was uniform and coated it with Hoppe's gun oil and will let the bluing cure over night then install the choke rod and sliding choke lever tomorrow and keep a light coat of gun oil on it to protect it from rusting. I am very pleased with it. Thank you for the advice. Jim Patrick

Jim, heat the part up good and warm with a torch or in an oven the heat opens up the pores in the metal. Rub the hot part with butchers wax should do the job.

Jim, Now that you have blued it Birchwood also makes a product called Barricade it puts a protective coating on that you can't tell it is there. I restored a Winchester model 74 two years ago and it has yet to show any sign of tarnish. Jim



They also make it in a spray.

Thanks James. Will get that.

Glenn, I read somewhere that, before bluing, to heat up the object in the oven. I heated the oven to 350 degrees F and put the rod in until it reached 350 degrees, then took it out and applied the bluing. It went on as a consistent deep blue black and seemed to adhere better than the times I blued items with the steel cold. Thanks to everyone for taking the time to offer your advice. Jim Patrick

Great tip.