SWEAT BOX FOR BROWNING

[yip]

  LOOKING FOR PLANS FOR BUILDING A BROWNING SWEAT BOX, ANY HELP OUT THERE?

[rich pierce]

  LOOKING FOR PLANS FOR BUILDING A BROWNING SWEAT BOX, ANY HELP OUT THERE?

For barrels I use a 3” PVC pipe capped on the bottom. I put a wet rag at the bottom. Then hang the barrel in there using a wire, either through the tang hole or around the plug I have in the muzzle. I cover the top with a damp rag.  Normally I lower the barrel into the PVC pipe while standing on a staircase to slide it straight in. Probably unnecessary. Be careful. 4 hours should do it and overnight with full strength browning solution will be very aggressive.

[dogsbreath]

Yip,
I built a box years ago close to the dimensions from a John Bivins article in  Gunsmithing Tips & Projects. Wolfe publication.
The box served me well. Over all height is 61" . Base is 10.5 x 10.5. John used a heating element with a pot to make the air humid.
I modified his idea and put a 40watt bulb in the bottom with a rheostat to moderate the temp. above the bulb sits a terracotta flower pot base that I add water to. Door on front opens to expose access to all compartments. Pretty simple really.  Have a few 1" holes at top to regulate humidity. Seems keeping things around 80 degrees yields best results. Hope that helps. For what its worth, the above mentioned book has a lot of info in it. Quite a few Bivins articles. worth adding to a library.

[smallpatch]

4 pieces - ¼” plywood, 48” long
3 pieces 1”x 12” x 12”
Screw them together, leaving one side loose
Split 1 12x12” in half,  install inside for a rack to keep barrel off the bottom. 
Rags in the bottom, wet for humidity.
Cheap, and works like a charm
Been using my original for 20+ years.

[mikeyfirelock]

I too build a box using John Bivins article as my guide.  I used 1x12’s for the body and put a ceramic fixture in the bottom for the bulb.  A metal cereal bowl for water sits in a ventilated shelf above the bulb  and the shelf has a series of holes to facilitate air/ humidity movement.  Door is closed with a screen door hook and eye latch.  I put hooks in the top to hang the parts to be browned from wire.   Since it’s wood I  Put the shelf holding the bowlhigh enough above the bulb to prevent overheating it.

Works like a charm….

[yip]

  THANKS GUYS BUT A PICTURE WOULD HELP THIS IDIOT, I'M ABOUT AS THICK AS A BRICK ACCORDING TO THE NUNS

[galudwig]

Here’s mine. Made out of USB board and 1.5”x1.5” lumber. A rheostat controls the heat from two 40 watt light bulbs. There’s a paint roller pan in the bottom to hold water or wet rags. I have two rods inserted across the box to support barrels. I string a piece of hardware cloth between them to lay small parts on. The interior is primed and sealed with latex paint to help prevent humidity from being absorbed and rotting out the box.

[Daniel Coats]

You're not going to pee in it are you? LOL

[bluenoser]

Others comments pretty much describe my box.
I recently upgraded to an iron as my heat source and now have more precise temperature control.  My box is also equipped with a thermometer and hygrometer.  A small kettle with adjustable temperature control provides humidity.

[kutter]

Close the drain in the shower/tub.
Close the door.
Run the shower HOT for a few minutes to get some steam in the room.

Hang the parts from the shower bar or place them any where convenient.
The trapped hot water in the tub keeps the room temp up and provides humidity.
Go in and close the door behind you to check on progress. Run the shower again if you think it needs some more
humidity and/or temp.
Don't let the humidity get too high,,you'll get condensation on the parts. That goes for any 'Damp Box' set up.

Takes about 1 1/2 hrs for a good coating of rust using Laurel Mtn.

Keep the door closed of course!

Simple
No construction needed.
No set up , knock down or storage.

[Dutch]

my bride frowns on gun parts in the shower, just saying.
It doesn't take a lot of effort to brown a barrel, I've use a cardboard box with the tang supported and a dowel in the barrel supporting the other end.  wet towel in the bottom.
I have recently been using a plastic gun case (supported similarly) with great results.

[smylee grouch]

I also built a sweat box but for years before I did I used a make shift tent made from s sheet of plastic around a stiff wire frame that was suspended from the floor joists in my basement. hung the barrel by wire with a wet rag on the floor and a 100 watt bulb beside it. Worked great and when done I rolled up the " sweat box " and stored it away.

[davec2]

Yip,

I never had room for a damp box.....so I made this very inexpensive and disposable version.....https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=21382.0

[kutter]

my bride frowns on gun parts in the shower, just saying.
....

Need new Bride.
...Just Sayin'.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I collected Biven's articles from Rifle magazine, photocopied them and assembled a binder of the articles in a book of my own.  Among them, the article about the damp box was most useful.
I was at the dump one day, and someone had disposed of a bunch of 3/4" plywood cut off ends that worked out perfectly for my damp box.  Without measuring, I'm guessing that the box is 12" square and long enough to suspend a 50" barrel above the water bowl.  In the bottom of the box is a compartment lined with asbestos (I know, I know) housing a ceramic fixture that holds a 300 watt bulb for heating the water.  There is a second fixture and bulb about mid way up the box to heat the compartment.  A dimmer switch on the outside of the box controls both the water temp and the temp inside the box.  Cup hooks in the ceiling support barrels via their wooden end plugs and screw eyes.
I added trays at two levels for smaller parts, ie:  butt plates, etc. and there is space behind them for the barrels.  I rotate the barrels every three hours, muzzle to breech, and get a very even fine grained brown using a Neider's recipe for the solution.
I never leave power on when I['m not in the shop, and definitely overnight.  But I sometimes leave a set of parts overnight in the box, to continue browning the next day.  If anything, the rust is more even this way.  I find that five or six applications of solution every three hours gives me a deep fine rust that I sometimes only burnish with a roll of canvas cloth, and sometimes I card the rust off between coats for a polished brown.  Boiling a browned barrel in distilled water for twenty minutes gives me a blue/black finish that when carded hard is truly beautiful.  Here's a few pics...

[Dutch]

my bride frowns on gun parts in the shower, just saying.
....

Need new Bride.
...Just Sayin'.

Nope - not interested

[Hungry Horse]

This could be the national conference of over thinkers. A nice big pvc pipe with a cap, and an adapter so you can put a screw cap on it works fine. Put a little water in the bottom, lean it up near a heat source in the winter, or just stick in the sun in the summer. Easy pleasey !

Hungry Horse