Barrel browning

[Bruce]

    After having used Laurel Mountain cold browing solution on my barrel and having arrived at the desired depth of browning I followed the directions to stop the reaction by washing it in HOT water and using a baking soda solution.  Then I wiped barrel down with a light coating of oil, finally applied a coating of beeswaxs and linseed paste.  All to no avail.
     After a few days passage the barrel is covered with a goodly layer of scale. Several applications of the above procedure have been used to stop the scaling including through carding.  The scaling still continues.  As the barrel is protected from the atmosphere by the oil and beeswax/linseed oil paste so the oxidation must be coming from continued reaction of the browning solution.  I'm stumped as to what to do.  Suggestions please.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Scrub the barrel with a stiff bristle brush and perhaps kerosene to remove the beeswax and oil.  Then rub it down hard with a supersaturated solution of baking soda and water.  Then pour several kettles of boiling water over the barrel (plugged,of course).  While it is still too hot to touch, rub it down with a  thick towel and motor oil.  That's how I treat LMF browning solution.  It is very aggressive and continues to work until it is used up.  There will be no damage to your brown, though it may be coarser than you had hoped.  Every day over the coarse of a week, rub it down again with the oily towel.  You'll get brown rust on the towel.  Eventually, it'll stop.
Others have posted their methods in the past...you might do an archival search to see what has been said in the past.

[ehoff]

How old was your baking soda? Buy a new box and repeat the process see if that helps. After a good scubbing with the baking soda and rinsing with hot tap water, make a handel from wire put the barrel in a bucket and carefully scald it with boiling water from the tea kettle.

[Blacksmoke]

Hi Bruce ,  The use of baking soda is paramount.  However you might have a large amount of scale built up by this time so use some fine steel-wool in conjunction with the soda to help remove the scale. But be careful not to card too much or you could end up back at the beginning.  Be careful on the corners.  Do a trial carding on the bottom flat where things will be hidden when the barrel is installed.  Hope this helps,    Hugh

[billd]

A discussion here a while back suggested using common household ammonia. I haven't tried it yet but plan to.

bill

[Bruce]

     Thanks all for the advice.  Am guessing the problem is that I didn't do the wash, carding procedures enough.  Back to the ole rub-a-dub scrub again.