Stopping the rust

[FRJ]

I Browned the furniture on my GPR a few days ago following the instructions on the bottle of plum brown. Yet each morning I wake to find the pieces have rusted more. I wash them off with soap and water and oil them well with gun oil and woke again this am to more rust right thru the oil!!!!!  HELP!!!!!!  Frank

[wattlebuster]

try some arm an hammer baking soda. put a quart of tap water an put in a small box of soda an mix well then with a wash cloth give the parts a good soaking down let dry an oil. works for me. Good luck to you

[chuck c.]

I live in a very humid climate and I struggled with this for years. I had a really hard time stopping the browning process or aqua fortis. Ian Pratt told me to use a strong solution of water and household ammonia. Problem solved! Follow with an application of renaissance wax, very pricey but goes a long way and works very well.

[FRJ]

I want to thank both of you for your quick response. Since all the stores in my area are closed due to Christmas I'll have to wait till tomorrow to buy both the soda and ammonia but I will most definately be trying both. By the way the brown looks great just need it to stop now. LOL    Frank

[Ky-Flinter]

Frank,

I've not used ammonia, so can't comment on it.  Baking soda has always worked for me.  I mix it with water to a loose paste and scrub the browned parts with a toothbrush.  Rinse with water and dry.  Then I use Outer's Gun Grease on a piece of canvas and rub the parts briskly.  The friction melts the grease and helps it work in.

-Ron

[Roger Fisher]

Yes, a fresh (note the fresh) box of Arm & Hammer Baking soda kills that rust. For me at least.

[chuck-ia]

I have used baking soda to stop the rust, sometimes it seems to take a few days for it to stop. I wonder if oiling right after stopping the rust is a good thing? I am attempting to brown some parts as I type this. I am not going to oil the parts till I get the rust stopped this time, will see if it makes a difference.  chuck-ia

[whitebear]

On one occasion I browned a barrel on a TC Hawken with Plum Brown  Then washed it with soapy water then gently reheated it and rubbed pure bees wax on it,  let it melt in then rubbed it down with an old towel and did not have any rust problems.

[Dave Faletti]

I soak the barrel in the bath tube for a few hours.  I change the water out several times.  The browning solution will migrate out.  If you use something to try to neutralize the browning solution you still need to get all of that off of the barrel.  Rinsing the surface will not get all of it out.  I heat it up after I dry it off and seal it with linseed oil the next day.  I don't have any troubles with it rusting further.

[Dphariss]

I Browned the furniture on my GPR a few days ago following the instructions on the bottle of plum brown. Yet each morning I wake to find the pieces have rusted more. I wash them off with soap and water and oil them well with gun oil and woke again this am to more rust right thru the oil!!!!!  HELP!!!!!!  Frank

They have to be washed with lots of cool or tepid water CLEAR WATER and wiped with a wet rag, rinsed with clean water then dried and oiled. I have never had after rust (knock on wood).
Soap is corrosive too and needs to be rinsed off with clear water.
DO NOT  use hot water.
Since you have oiled it and its rusting the oil has to be completely removed. I would use acetone with chemical resistant gloves denatured alcohol may work if its petroleum oil but there are a lot of synthetic gun oils out there now. The green stripper gloves from a lumber yard will work.  But test before use.
Once degreased wash with CLEAR WATER then rinse with clean water after the rub down.
If really desperate dissolve some baking soda in a pint of water warm water then wash with a soft rag soaked with this. Made sure the soda is all dissolved 2 tablespoons to the pint should be OK. The soda  is abrasive so if it does not all dissolve add more water or pour the soda water into another container. Then rinse well with clear water.
Dan

[Mad Monk]

I Browned the furniture on my GPR a few days ago following the instructions on the bottle of plum brown. Yet each morning I wake to find the pieces have rusted more. I wash them off with soap and water and oil them well with gun oil and woke again this am to more rust right thru the oil!!!!!  HELP!!!!!!  Frank

They have to be washed with lots of cool or tepid water CLEAR WATER and wiped with a wet rag, rinsed with clean water then dried and oiled. I have never had after rust (knock on wood).
Soap is corrosive too and needs to be rinsed off with clear water.
DO NOT  use hot water.
Since you have oiled it and its rusting the oil has to be completely removed. I would use acetone with chemical resistant gloves denatured alcohol may work if its petroleum oil but there are a lot of synthetic gun oils out there now. The green stripper gloves from a lumber yard will work.  But test before use.
Once degreased wash with CLEAR WATER then rinse with clean water after the rub down.
If really desperate dissolve some baking soda in a pint of water warm water then wash with a soft rag soaked with this. Made sure the soda is all dissolved 2 tablespoons to the pint should be OK. The soda  is abrasive so if it does not all dissolve add more water or pour the soda water into another container. Then rinse well with clear water.
Dan

Then after you go through what Dan describes you might want to consider this.

The common thinking is that a film of rust particles acts to prevent any oxidation (additional rusting) of the base metal.  Actually a film of rust simply promotes more rusting.  The iron oxide particles formed on the metal during the browning process are porous and hygroscopic.  The common way of dealing with this is to coat the barrel, after rinsing as Dan describes, with melted beeswax or linseed oil.  If you want a somewhat dull surface appearance you would simply rub the barrel with raw linseed oil.  Use of a boiled oil will give a bit of gloss to the browning.

E. Ogre

[Dphariss]

Warming the barrel and rubbing with beeswax works well I have done this in the past and liked the result.

Dan

[FRJ]

Thanks for all the good advice!!  When I finished browning the barrel with a cold brown, which came out great I heated the  barrel and rubbed on bees wax.It really looks good now. So good that I'm redoing the furnature with the cold brown also. Frank