Wanting to See Examples of 'Textured' Browning and Rust Bluing

[Mattole]

I am getting ready to either brown or rust blue the barrel and iron furniture on my Lyman GPR. Since this is going to be my backcountry hunting muzzleloader I am thinking of not being quite so fussy about the smoothness of the metal finish, and honestly I like the look of some of the more 'textured' metal finishes I have seen from time to time on muzzleloaders. I am not referring to full-on radical artificial aging of the metal, but something a little more subtle.

I can't seem to find images of browning and rust bluing on muzzleloaders that have these slightly pitted/textured finishes, and I am wondering if anyone out there might have some that they can share.

Many, many thanks,
Kevin

[Goldhunter]

I rust blued my GPR (using LMF solution).  I can post a couple pics when I get home tonight. 

[blunderbuss]

 I let my Jaeger brown it's self just don't let the natural rust cake, when you shoot rub the dirty patch on the metal parts and watch it for to much rust. It turns out real nice.

[Long John]

The degree of texture that you get from browning depends on what agent you use, how long you let the agent "work" between cardings, the temperature and humidity while its working and what you use to card.

This finish was achieved with LMF agent, in 80% RH and 80 degrees F carding every 6 hours for about a 30 hour program.  I used a scrap of wool blanket to card the surface between treatments.



Then the barrel was washed very well with hot soapy water to purge the surface of agent follwed by large amounts of WD40 to dry the steel.  I thne heated teh barrel and melted bees wax into the finish.

Best Regards.

JMC

[Goldhunter]

This was LMF, 2 applications about 4hours apart (I think), then a scolding in boiling water, no carding before scolding.  I carded after the first scolding, then one more application followed by another scolding (again, no carding between).  Carded then oiled with WD40 I think.

Not the greatest picture due to the light in my basement.




I think the barrel was just sanded to 220 grit but I don't remember.  I had actually browned it and it didn't turn out great so a few years later when I stripped and redid the rifle I redid the barrel.  It's actually almost a black to my eyes.

[Mattole]

Thank you gentlemen, the images and notes on technique are very helpful. Nice work you did on your muzzleloaders.

For the sake of providing good contrast to the rich brown of the stock I think I might be leaning in the direction of rust bluing and then taking the finish back a little with steel wool..

[WadePatton]

Isn't all bluing "rust" bluing?  Did I miss something?

That was always my unnerstanding anyhoo. 

[Bill of the 45th]

No, Wade, there are at least three general types.  First there is the Rust Blue, talked about here, then there is the modern type used commercially today using chemical salts, no rust involved, and then there is charcoal bluing, where the parts/barrel is sealed, and buried in a charcoal fire, and the metal is cooked blue.  The archives have some comments, and examples of this method.  Also I guess there also is the touch up cold blue.

bill

[Acer Saccharum]

Rust blue, Wahkon Bay. Applied solution, rusted, boiled, carded, about six times to get this result:




Aqua fortis, time in the damp box, lightly carded and neutralized w/baking soda.

[Dphariss]

Isn't all bluing "rust" bluing?  Did I miss something?

That was always my unnerstanding anyhoo. 

The term  rust bluing is used to identify a bluing process that is different from the industry standard caustic bluing salts blue and the other easier but less durable processes.

Dan

[Dphariss]

No, Wade, there are at least three general types.  First there is the Rust Blue, talked about here, then there is the modern type used commercially today using chemical salts, no rust involved, and then there is charcoal bluing, where the parts/barrel is sealed, and buried in a charcoal fire, and the metal is cooked blue.  The archives have some comments, and examples of this method.  Also I guess there also is the touch up cold blue.

bill

Blueing salts DO rust the barrel they just create black iron oxide when done right. In rust blue the red iron oxide is changed to black iron oxide by boiling in water. In caustic bluing the rusting and boiling are done at the same time so the part comes out blue in the end.
If there is any doubt about this then one should use some JB Bore Compound to clean a freshly blued bore and see what color the stuff is that the stuff takes out of the barrel. This is one reason I Rust Blue,  the bore is not oxidized if done right.
 

Dan

[WadePatton]

thanks Bill.

We have all sorts of oxidation processes to get the one product (sorta).  Loops back around to the notion i latched onto a long time back that all "blue" is indeed a form of oxidation/rust.

Now I see how the "rust" name has been given to a specific process.

and like most things, how you get there is half the battle/joy.

[keweenaw]

I don't do textured browns but here are a couple images of some other blueing techniques.  The first is rust blued barrel done with Pilkington's rust blue.  The barrel was polished to a worn 400 grit and carded between coats on a fine wire wheel.  Pilkington's is not a particularly aggressive agent so rust times were 8 to 12 hours for each coat.  Even at this length of time there is no apparent pitting or texturing from the rust.  This barrel looks blacker in person than in the photo.


The second is a charcoal blue on a trigger guard that was done by Doug Turnbull.  The polish was to a worn 600 grit.  The black scale put on the piece is so fine that the surface appears glossy and you see no erosion in the engraving.


The barrel in the next photo was also charcoal blued, by me.  This barrel was only draw filed with a fine file, not polished.  The blue is less even than in the photo above and has a bit of mottling in it with some colors other than just black.  The finish is very flat and nonreflective as well as being extremely durable.


The last barrel was browned with 1/4 strength Gaddy's formula.  The barrel was polished after draw filing to about a 320 grit but without any attempt to make it perfectly uniform or remove all the draw filing marks.  Rust periods were all less than 2 hours and carding was done with a fine wire wheel. The intention was to get the smooth plum brown color.

[WadePatton]

awesome reply and photos Tom, thanks!

[Waksupi]

An interesting finish can be had, by wrapping cotton string the full length of the barrel, then applying the browning solution. It will give you an imitation damascus look.

[bgf]

Snyder, your as-filed charcoal blue is one of my new favorites -- looks very practical.  Would look really good on an iron-mounted rifle, too.

[JB2]

Really like this whole thread.  The pics with process descriptions is great!  Definitely helping out this newb.  Thanks guys.

[keweenaw]

I've done the charcoal bluing that way for a couple of Mark Silver's recent builds.  Mike Miller has also been charcoal bluing his barrels.  He uses a different technique than I do but the results are more or less comparable in giving a flat finish that has a bit of mottling and some color variation.  On an iron mounted rifle, I would do the mounts as well as the barrel that way. 

Tom

[Mattole]

Thank you for the examples and information, gentlemen. It has been very helpful.