Metal Finishes

[Benedict]

What are appropriate metal finishes for muzzleloaders?  I realize this is a broad question.  My interest is in flintlock guns before 1830 or so and all the way back.  I have seen discussions of charcoal bluing, browning, rust bluing and in the white.  Are there any general guidelines about what to use.

Bruce

[Clark Badgett]

There are lots of opinions on this subject, and to be honest there doesn't seem to be any truly solid consensus. At least one reference to browning exist back into the 17th century, but sometimes the English used browning to describe blacking, as the same formulas often do both depending on whether or not the part is boiled or not. Charcoal bluing is very old, but harder than the rust methods, or at least it seems harder to me. I'll stick my neck out and say that from 1780s onward, any metal treatment could be correct.

YMMV

[flintriflesmith]

I think you will get a better response if you can narrow the question a lot. What kind of muzzleloader? (Military musket, trade gun, longriifle, plains rifle, fowler, etc.) What time period? (narrow to a decade or so) Where made? Etc.

Gary

[Benedict]

I actually was trying to get some general guidelines as to what finishes were used.  Was there a "right" finish for a given period and/or location.  Right now my interest is in Virginia guns in the 1790 to 1810 time period.  Since I tend to jump around in periods and schools depending on what catches my eye at the time.  I would like to have a better idea about what might be correct.

I have a lot of experience with browning and am comfortable doing that but from what I understand, browning was not used until late in the flint period if at all.  I have finished some guns in the white which I understand is more "correct" but am not comfortable with the durability of this.  They seem to start getting a patina very quickly.  So that leaves bluing.  Should it be charcoal blue or rust blue?  I have little or no experience with either.

Bruce

[ironwolf]

  Bruce,  rust blue is simply rust brown boiled in water.
Kev

[karwelis]

i'm very fond of viniger finishes

[flintriflesmith]

I actually was trying to get some general guidelines as to what finishes were used.  Was there a "right" finish for a given period and/or location.  ...

...from what I understand, browning was not used until late in the flint period if at all. 

...So that leaves bluing.  Should it be charcoal blue or rust blue?  Bruce

The only time there is one "right" finish that I know of is in military arms. The British muskets of the Rev War period seem to have been finished bright and kept that way by frequent polishing.

There are two types of bluing that involve heat, The "spring temper blue" or "draw blue" that is produced at about 600 degrees was definitely used on gun barrels and mounts (as well as sword blades and suits of armor) for all the 18th and most of the 19th century. However it is not terribly durable and surviving period examples are mostly on arms that have been preserved in European collections. Here is a link to pictures of a pistol I fire blued in 1976: http://flintriflesmith.com/GunshopEraGuns/iron_mounted_pistol.htm

Charcoal bluing has been discussed many time on this board. There are many examples of American rifles of the 1775-1820 period with traces of charcoal blue surviving on protected surfaces. Jaegers give an even wider date range and I would not hesitate to use charcoal blue on a rifle depicting the 1750s if I were making such a hypothetical piece. An ad in the Virginia Gazette in 1751 says "barrels bored, blued, and rifled." At the other end of the date range, the contract rifles made in private shops in VA for the War of 1812 were charcoal blued.

Browning Should also be easy to find in a search of the archives. It is mentioned in Essay On Shooting (published in London in 1789) as being the preferred finish on fowler barrels. That reference refers to it as something "new" but does not assign a date. There are ads in American newspapers for browning and bluing by the 1790s. (Some have argued that the bluing referred to was rust bluing but I have seen no documentation or surviving evidence of that.)

Charcoal bluing and browning seem to coexist happily from the 1790s until the 1830s or so. After that I don't care!

So, there is no ONE right finish! For a late flint rifle, bright, charcoal blued, or browned are all acceptable.

Gary

[Benedict]

Gary, that is exactly the kind of information I was looking for.  Thank you.

You did not discuss rust bluing much.  Is that because it was not very common or just no data?

Acer's fire blued Jaegar is something to behold and makes me think about using that on my current project, a Simon Lauck inspired Virginia Rifle.

Thanks again.

Bruce

[flintriflesmith]

Gary, that is exactly the kind of information I was looking for.  Thank you.
You did not discuss rust bluing much.  Is that because it was not very common or just no data?
Bruce

Glad it helped.

Other than some rather vague references to the British using the term browning for both what we would think of and for a black finish, I don't know of any mention of rust bluing in the 18th century or on longrifles at all.. We used it in the Colonial Williamsburg Gun Shop before we figured out how to do charcoal bluing but had no period documentation.

I have heard it was developed for finishing double barrel shotguns when the barrels were soft soldered and would not stand the heat of othe rprocesses but I have no documentation of that either.

One thing to remember is that rust bluing would, like browning, be only on five flats. The traces of charcoal bluing are usually on the bottom three.

Gary

[Benedict]

Thanks again Gary.

Bruce

[JTR]

There’s that old ‘Economy of Time’ thing again.

Of all the rifles I’ve had and/or taken apart, virtually none of the browned barrels are finished on the bottom 3 flats…

At least in my experience, but I’m sure there are exceptions.

John