???? for Feltwad

[Longknife]

Feltwad, I am preparing to refinish that single barrel fowler barrel. I have Wahkon Bay Tru-Brown for the rusting process and Logwood powder for the warm "bath". I have a few questions though. (of course)

1) Do I completely remove ALL the rust after each rusting process?

2) What should I do about the underrib and thimbles?
    a) the same treatment as the barrel
    b) let them rust brown

3) Do you plug the bore when dipping in the logwood, or will it not affect the bore?

4) How would you finish the rest of the metal hardware (to be correct)

5) The lock appears to have been polished bright, I assume that is correct?


Thanks for sharing this knowledge!!!!! ED

[Feltwad]

I take it the barrel is damascus although iron is the same process,the browning you mentioned I have not heard of it ,on this side of the pond I use a damascus brown solution .This is a cold brown and for damascus barrel I do not recommend a hot brown.
First remove all rust if the original browning has either worn off or is badly pitted,take this down to the bare steel .Next wood plug the muzzle leaving enough plug so you can handle the barrels ,next degrease the barrel wash down and dry with a clean cloth,then take a swab with the solution and with long even strokes down the full length of barrel and put aside for 12 hrs.
After 12 hours there should be a good rust on the barrel  then holding the barrel by the plug take some medium steel wool and remove the rust,recoat with the solution and let stand for 12 hours ,repeat this operation until the desired colour and pattern is reached this will take depending on the type of steel 5 to 7 days.
After the final de rusting the barrel is dipped in a log wood chip bath.this should be only warm ,it is best the mix the logwood chips with boiling water an let it cool in a dipping tank ,if you dip it in the boiling mixture the barrels will change black.
When the colour has changed to a chestnut colour and enhances the grain of the damascus remove the barrel  and dilute the barrel with diluting solution , dry off  and warm the barrel with a propane torch and coat with beeswax. This should be left on the barrels for a least a month until the browning has bedded in ,to rub the barrel with a gun oil at this stage will remove the browning.
Damasus twist barrel should using this method should show the twist patten ,on a iron barrel the pattern is of a marble with water marks .
I have enclose images of some barrels I have done ,always remember  if the original browning is still good leave well alone only re brown if barrel is pitted ,thick rust,or polished bright.
Feltwad

A badly pitted barrel of a D/B Rifle



The finished job



An etched barrel



A Herring bone pattern from a French sxs Flintlock shotgun



For the locks and furniture these can be toned down with the same solution or use a cold metal brown onlly use one coat do not make too dark.

[Dave B]

Nice work Feltwad,
I asume you removed the ribs from the rifle barrels to clean them up and resolder the ribs once smoothly polished? Do you index them in some way to keep them in the same possition when resoldering to limit the amount of regulating the barrels?

[Feltwad]

Before you do any work on barrels using heat always check to see that there is no charge left in.If you have to remove both top and bottom ribs it is best to part the tubes  it makes it easy to clean away the old rust and solder.Also it i makes it better to inspect the tubes for any pin holes that could not have been seen if they were together.At this stage it is also a good idea to remove the breech plugs{see image}and check the threads and lap the bore.
With the ribs cleaned  and tinned screw home the plugs and using the standing breech to secure the breech end and a fencing staple hammered together to secure the muzzle,place the barrels on a flat surface and level the barrels making sure that one barrel muzzle is not higher than the other.Most barrel tubes of a sxs have a flat side at both the breech and the muzzle of about 4 inches in length.Make sure these are squared together and solder first,then fix the tinned ribs  using  wire and pin to hold then in place and solder.With this finished clean up the barrels remove any old browning ,rust , and small Pitts ,Polish and brown'
Feltwad

[R. Hare]

Longknife,

I'm not sure the Wahkon  bay product will work alright.

I don't know for sure, but Think it's just made to brown new barrels 'brown' and don't know if the figure in the stub twist or damascus will show.

If this proves to be the case, I'm sure a suitable mix could be made up with instructions from Feltwad.

Feltwad,

Very nice work indeed!

Richard.

[T*O*F]

Also it i makes it better to inspect the tubes for any pin holes that could not have been seen if they were together

A simple way to do this if inspecting a gun is to plug the nipples.  Then pour both barrels full of alcohol.....something cheap like Heet (gas line deicer).  Put masking tape over the muzzles and stand the gun in the corner.  Alcohol is very "wet" and if there are any pinholes, it will find its way thru them.  If they are under the ribs, the alcohol will run out of the breech end between the plugs.

[Longknife]

Feltwad, I know Bill Brockway uses Laurel Mountain Forge Browning solution to do his damascus barrels and he has gotten excellent results. The Wahkon Bay browning is a slow rust cold brown also, but I don't know the composition of it. I will order some LMF if the WB don't work, or maybe use your recipe, if I can get the chemicals....Ed

[Feltwad]

Longrifle .

Most cold brown are rust and card till the desired colour is reached , the most important part is the dipping if too hot it will turn black it must be luke warm .For your first time it may be trial and error but good luck and let me know how it turns out.
Feltwad

[doug]

     I would suggest that resoldering ribs/barrels is something that you should avoid if you possibly can.  It is a lot easier said that done.  I use a home made jig for securing the barrels and a machinist's level to get the barrels as close as possible to parallel.  Most popular description I have run across involve wedges to hold the ribs down and in place but for me wedges were considerably less than perfect for the job.  My latest attempt, I made up some sort of C clamps that seem to work fairly well although you need to put pad on top of the rib to prevent it being scored by the screw portion of the clamp.  Shown in the photo are 3 clamps but I think if I succumb to doing another gun, I will increase that to 4 or 5 clamps because it allows soldering a longer stretch between readjustments.  Also be sure not to use acid core solder because of the corrosive residues it leaves.  I have done the top rib first because it is the most difficult then wash the space between the barrels with lots of hot water to remove flux residue and finally the under rib which seems to go on fairly easily.