A friend of Joe Waters from Topeka, Kansas, brought over a heavily fire-damaged Marlin 336 rifle to see if there was any hope to restore this family heirloom to its original beauty. The rifle previously belonged to the friend's late grandmother and was damaged in a house fire.

The rifle sustained severe damage from the heat and water. Waters began looking for a solution and settled on Blue Wonder Gun Blue to restore the metal components of the rifle.

"I settled on Blue Wonder Gun Blue for the fact that it can be multi-layered and blend in the right amount of blue to get a smooth, even finish," Waters told Blue Wonder. "I was not disappointed -- I was really impressed."

Waters explained that he was not sure if the Marlin was too damaged to take the Gun Blue properly so he tried a test product on his H&R 922 revolver.

Below are his before and after photos for the 922:

Once he had the technique down for the Blue Wonder Gun Blue, he went to work on his friend's Marlin 336 rifle.

Here are the "before" photos of the rifle:

The Marlin experienced excessive pitting during and after the fire. Waters resorted to old-fashioned elbow grease and sanding to strip the major components of the rifle. For the screws and smaller parts, he utilized the Blue Wonder Blue Remover System.

Photo of the Marlin 336 "in the white":

Once he had the metal properly prepped (most of the work in a gun blue project) he went to work with Blue Wonder Gun Blue. He began layering on multiple coats until he got to the desired darkness and evenness of finish. Once he finished the bluing process, he applied the Blue Wonder Developer and Blue Wonder XFR Lubricant to finish up the job.

Here are the results!