Removing scratches

[hortonstn]

I spent a lot of the day draw filing a new colerain a-weight 36 cal barrel
Used a new nickleson mill file with chalk on the file
It looks better but has a lot of scratches still on the barrel. I would like to have a nice finish
What am I doing wrong ?

[Stophel]

If you want an authentic finish, you've got it.   

If you want polished and shiny, you gotta scrub it with abrasives.  A stone, sandpaper, etc.

[Daryl]

Are the scratches from the file or from the original milling/grinding?
If from the original milling/grinding, you have more draw-filing to do, if from
the draw filing, it's time for abrasive paper/emery.

[hortonstn]

Thanks for your thoughts I know when using a buffer on round barrels for hot blueing
You need to change the direction from grit to grit but I guess that is impossible with an octagon
Barrel so do I just continue back and forth?

[smylee grouch]

Use a single cut file

[Clark Badgett]

Get some blue Dykem and paint all the flats to be draw filed. It will tell you in good fashion when the mill marks are gone. I suppose a marker would work about as well, but the Dykem is faster to apply.

[jerrywh]

If you have a real sharp fie lighten up on the pressure and hold the file at an angle.  If you don't have a real sharp file get one. Your file might be loading up, Tha twill scratch the barrel. Lightening up on the pressure will help prevent the loading up. I always sand my barrels with 220 and then 400 wet and dry. Some of them I even go to 1000 grit but those are very expensive guns.

[flatsguide]

What Jerry said! Plus I change the position of the file on every stroke so a clean portion of the file is cutting after about five or six passes I tap the front edge of the file smartly on the vise or hunk of metal to clear the swarf.
Richard

[flehto]

Get an 8" mill file...but check the sharpness of the teeth......files today are kinda lousy. Hold the file at an angle and don't press down too hard. I've never used chalk but some do. After the draw filing is done, a light rub w/ 220 grit paper is used. The very shallow scratches still remain when the bbl is cold  browned  and are invisible when finished......the  etched texture from   the  LMF hides them. .....Fred

[577SXS]

Keep your file clean and once you get a good file finish then use wet or dry emory and go to as high a finish as you want. I wrap emory paper around a piece of flat bar or old file and draw it like draw filing. Keeps things flat and edges sharp.

[Scota4570]

If the file is pinning and gouging the surface that is no good.  IF that is happening try working your way down the flle to a fresh spot for each stroke.  Clean the file when you are to the other end.  If you have any bit of steel stuck in the file they must be removed  Use the mouth of a cartridge case to push them out.   IF it insists on pinning it is a bad file.

 I use this file for barrels.  https://cripedistributing.com/products/johnson-ft70212-14-mill-bastard-file-usa?_pos=1&_sid=64ebe5205&_ss=r  After filing I blend it with burgandy scotchbrite type pad (Norton #74700).  They say that one is  like #320 paper.  IT blends the surface to a satin look.  After that I finish with blue or brown.  I never go finer than that anymore.  IF you try most of the work will be lost in the browning process. 

[Frank]

I use Laurel Mountain Forge cold browning and never have to draw file a barrel.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I have come to prefer the polished well carded look on a browned or blued barrel.  And for that, you must draw file, and polish with abrasives to at least 400 grit.

Op, your file is pinning....holding on to little pieces of steel that stick in the teeth and on the next stroke, leave a lengthwise scratch.  These will need to be filed out.  Abrasives are just too slow.

My draw filing file is a 22" single cut mill bastard.  I've had it since the mid 80's and have drawfiled over three hundred barrels with it, and it is still working well. When I'm done filing a barrel, the ball of shavings that result look like steel wool.  I discard these carefully because an errant spark will ignite this ball and become a red hot glowing ball of disaster in your shop.

[Daryl]

For clearing swarf from your file that does not tap out, the mouth of a ctg., case run with the angle of the teeth will clean it out. This is kinder to your file, than a tool-steel file card.

[B.Habermehl]

Thanks for your thoughts I know when using a buffer on round barrels for hot blueing
You need to change the direction from grit to grit but I guess that is impossible with an octagon
Barrel so do I just continue back and forth?

After draw filing the barrel I’ve often used abrasive paper backed with a file with the strokes running about 30 degrees across the barrels flats. Then switching directions with each grit change. Finishing longitudinally. This makes the scratches more visible to me to remove with the next grit.   BJH

[Daryl]

Exactly. Taylor has mentioned this on several posts, as-have others, but it bears repeating as often as needed.