Browning Solutions

[Old Ford2]

I have just been at Track of the Wolf's site and found out they no longer send Mark Lee or Laurel Mountain browning solution out of country 
Does any one else have a source of browning solution?
That is a REAL BUMMER!
Fred

[Joey R]

I don't know but try Brownells.

[Old Ford2]

Brownells are the same, it is US Homeland Security that has put a hold on all dangerous chemicals.
They can't stop crack or cocaine but others like browning solutions, stock stains, wood stains and the like are out of the question.
Go figure.

[WadePatton]

Brownells are the same, it is US Homeland Security that has put a hold on all dangerous chemicals.
They can't stop crack or cocaine but others like browning solutions, stock stains, wood stains and the like are out of the question.
Go figure.

Prohibition only works for those who abide.

Can't we just "roll our own" with readily available chemicals sold in dry form?  Probably a thread on this, I didn't search-just guessing aloud. I suppose this thread will put a "run on" ready-made solutions from all the normal suppliers.

[Herb]

Carl Walker, gunsmith of the old Green River Rifle Works, told me he likes "Track's Tried and True Browning Reagent".  Said it even worked in his cold basement, and it is unheated.  He has the recipe for GRRW's browning solution, but he said "it had some nasty stuff in it".  Gave a very good brown, though.  You could ask Track if they can ship their product out of country.

[Tim Crosby]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?51845-Anyone-got-a-formula-for-Browning-solution

  Sounds weird but I knew one guy that used it exclusively. I tried it a couple times and it works but just the idea is a little odd but you don't have to worry about shipping. Same guy used to use Pork brains to tan deerskins, a lot of work but they were beautiful.

  Tim C.

[JBJ]

There is a previous thread on this Forum re homemade browning solutions. Try this http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=18869.0. The go to "Bible" on blueing and browning concoctions is R.H. Angier's book "Firearm Blueing and Browning". Note that many ingredients called for in these older recipes are difficult to impossible to obtain today and often are quite toxic. Many old ingredients go under names that almost require a code book to decipher. Case in point - "sweet spirits of nitre". Try that name on your friendly vendor. They might know it as ethyl nitrite spirit. Older Dixie Gun Works catalogs used to have a table in the back on obsolete chemicals and "current" names - not a bad code breaker. I seem to recall reading that Hacker Martin actually used urine! Good excuse to drink more beer!
J.B.

[gusd]

Fred, I believe it was Heinz A. on this site, some time ago, told me of sal ammoniac .
It was used to clean soldering irons, comes in cake form, like a bar of soap. Takes very little (added to water)
to brown a bbl. I have been using it for years now. Stained glass people use it.
Should find it on computer.
Gus

[Scota4570]

Avoid any hombrew solutions that contain mercuric chloride. 

You can check the MSDS for Birchwood Casey Plumb brown.  That will give a recipe for a workable quick brown.  It contains nitric acid which is now controlled.  BC can  be left to after rust for a more even brown.  I bet one could look up the MSDS sheets on other products and make a workable substitute.  Failing those get a copy of Angier's book on blue and browning firearms. 

[John Archer]

I use Iron Nitrate i.e. Aqua Fortis.
One chemical to stain the stock and brown the steel parts. Couldn't be simpler.

John.

[Cory Joe Stewart]

I have had my best luck with the Browning Solution that RE Davis sells. 

When it is as humid as it is right now it can work overnight.

Cory Joe Stewart

[Mtn Meek]

I have just been at Track of the Wolf's site and found out they no longer send Mark Lee or Laurel Mountain browning solution out of country 
Does any one else have a source of browning solution?
That is a REAL BUMMER!
Fred

Try to find a computor geek store near you and buy some of this stuff--PCB Etching Solution.


It doesn't have to be Radio Shack.  Just about any brand will work.  Check the label to see that it contains Ferric Chloride.

Use as you would any browning solution, meaning apply a small amount with swab, cloth, or Q-tip.  Card and re-apply until desired build up is achieved.  You can also boil the browned part in water to form rust blue.

Another plus is that PCB Etching Solution is a lot lower cost than most of the formulated browning solutions sold by muzzleloader supply companies.

[t.caster]

I'm browning a barrel right now, using Laurel Mnt. Aqua Fortis in my humidity box. Working very well!

[Craig Wilcox]

Wow!  Thank, Phil.  I had been thinking that a photo etchant would work, but wasn't brave enough to try it.

[Bill Madden]

I am with Cory Joe. The Davis product, called Gunmetal Brown, gives a true bluish plum brown color that most of the other products  I have tried do not. I polish to 320 grit, degrease, then apply per the instructions.

[Hungry Horse]

Bill, you are correct. They called it plum brown for a reason. It should be a clear reddish brown with a hint of blue. It should not look like something somebody forgot to pick up at the dog park.

  Hungry Horse

[Old Ford2]

Fred, I believe it was Heinz A. on this site, some time ago, told me of sal ammoniac .
It was used to clean soldering irons, comes in cake form, like a bar of soap. Takes very little (added to water)
to brown a bbl. I have been using it for years now. Stained glass people use it.
Should find it on computer.
Gus

Thank you Gus!
Fred

[Old Ford2]

I have just been at Track of the Wolf's site and found out they no longer send Mark Lee or Laurel Mountain browning solution out of country 
Does any one else have a source of browning solution?
That is a REAL BUMMER!
Fred

Try to find a computor geek store near you and buy some of this stuff--PCB Etching Solution.


It doesn't have to be Radio Shack.  Just about any brand will work.  Check the label to see that it contains Ferric Chloride.

Use as you would any browning solution, meaning apply a small amount with swab, cloth, or Q-tip.  Card and re-apply until desired build up is achieved.  You can also boil the browned part in water to form rust blue.

Another plus is that PCB Etching Solution is a lot lower cost than most of the formulated browning solutions sold by muzzleloader supply companies.

You the MAN      MTN Meek
Thank you!
Fred

[Old Ford2]

I realize the world has changed, with terrorists,  angry evil people doing bad things, that we need agencies like Homeland Security protecting borders.
But soon you won't be able to purchase a pound of sugar ( we know what can be done with that stuff ) or even a "band aid", I'm sure someone can create a dangerous device with that.
In my quest for a relaxing past time, making a classic 1775  rifle ( somewhere  in that time frame ) I never thought I would be dangerous to some foreign country, religious faith, or people in general.
But with today's evil doers even a tooth pick can be a weapon of mass destruction.
I'm glad that I am old and my time here on earth is coming to an end. Sure as all can be, someone will find me a threat to some national security, political movement, hockey team etc. and will have to contain me for world wide security.
Browning solution, wood stain. Eh! Give me a break!?
End of my rattle!
Fred

[runastav]

Old Ford2, I see only one possibility we must emigrate to the land of guns America if Donald let us in
Runar

[JCKelly]

Scota4570 I must agree. Mercuric chloride, HgCl2, is a serious poison. Nevertheless, using it can make the very best of browning solutions. In Ancient Times when we were all Evil People by contemporary standards, fully deserving of federal prison, I got a beautiful brown on a rifle using Ted Cash's stuff. Didn't know what was in it, but the brass nameplate I inlaid in the barrel got all silvery & shiny during this process. Gave me a hint.

A number of Evil Formulae are shown in The Modern Gunsmith, by James Virgil Howe, 1941, Vol. II pp212 - 216.

[JCKelly]

Just for fun, here are a few older terms I put together:
Old Chemical Names

Aqua Fortis                  nitric acid, HNO3
Black Brimstone                  crude sulphur
Black Lead, Plumbago          graphite
Blue Vitriol, Blue          copper sulphate  CuSO4•5H2O
    Copperas
Butter of Antimony          antimony trichloride  SbCl3
Brimstone                          Sulphur, S
Copperas                          originally blue vitriols. Later this term was sometimes used for   
                                   all vitriols/sulphates
blue copperas                  copper sulphate, CuSO4
green copperas                  ferrous sulphate  FeSO4•7H2O
Corrosive Sublimate           mercuric chloride  HgCl2
Crystallised Vertigris           cupric acetate, Cu(C2H3O2)2•H2O
Cyprial Vitriol                   copper sulphate  CuSO4
Dragon’s Blood                   the resinous fruit of Daemonoraps; also resin
                                     from the fruit of a Malayan rattan palm Calamus   
                                     Draco, other species of Calamus, or the tropical   
                                     American tree Lingoum Draco, or the blood tree   
                                    Croton Draco
Minium                           red lead,  Pb3O4  (formerly this term referred to cinnabar,
                                   which is mercuric sulphide, HgS)
Muriate of Iron                   iron chloride
Spirits of Wine                    ethyl alcohol  C2H5OH
Sweet Spirits of Nitre             4% solution of ethyl nitrate, C2H5NO3 in alcohol
Shell lac                             orange shellac
Spirit of Hartshorn             ammonia, NH3
Sugar of Lead                       lead acetate, Pb(CH3CO)2•3H2O
                                      (saccharum saturni - it does taste sweet. Ask me how I . . .)   
Tincture of Steel, of Iron      alcoholic solution of ferric chloride  FeCl3•6H2O
Gum Sandarac                      resin from the Sandarac, or avar, tree, Morocco.
Vitriolic acid, or                      sulphuric acid, H2SO4
   Oil of Vitriol

Yellow Prussiate                      My favorite. Our Gov't says it is poisonous if used in Kasenite,
  of Soda (a.k.a.                       which one might touch. But, Our Gov't says it is alright to use it 
  sodium ferrocyanide,       as an anti-caking agent in Sea Salt. Which one does eat.
  Na4Fe(CN)6•10H2O               And feed to one's children. Read the label some day.

[Pukka Bundook]

Thank you for this list, JC.

My old solution had Tincture of steel, and I never figured out what that was.  (until now!)  thanks again,  Richard.