Browning question

[burnsranch]

I am in the process of Browning my barrel with LMF. I am not sure how much scale you should have before you card the barrel.  I have the barrel in a gun case in front of the wood stove trying to produce a little humidity. I think I have been carding too soon. This is about 10 hours after the last carding. I have never done this before, it is all just a WAG (wild A guess) for me.

Thanks
Russ

[greybeard]

Be careful with LMF browning solution. If used straight and leave it on too long it can start to pit the metal. If using it straight I card with   super fine wheel in my lathe every 3 hrs or so at whatever the room temp is in my shop. LMF is good stuff and I understand that some of the chaps use it diluted so it's not so agressive. Cheers   Bob

[Long John]

I have had very good results with LMF, used straight, per their instructions.  The only thing I did different is I degreased the barrel thoroughly before applying agent.

In front of the wood stove is probably not the best location.  Try the shower/bathroom, with wet towels hanging on the curtain rod.  I think you let your application go too long, from the picture.  De-oil some OOOO steel wool and rub the barrel down until it is smooth, unless you want a pitted finish.  I use burlap bag, wool blanket and OOOO steel wool for carding.  I let it sit for a couple of hours, card and then re-apply.  The first few applications will not show lots of rust.  Don't let that fool you!  The agent is working at a microscopic level, initially.  After several applications you will begin getting a nice even bitter-chocolate brown.

Best Regards,

JMC

[chuck-ia]

I just browned a barrel for my trade gun last weekend. I put the first coat of lmf solution on Friday night, let the barrel set all night, rubbed it down in the morning with a course wet rag, put 6 more coats on at 2 hour intervals through the day, (wiping down the barrel every 4 hours)  put another coat on before going to bed, wiped down the barrel good with a course wet rag in the morning, more solution at 2 hour intervals till 2:00 Sunday afternoon, the barrel turned out pretty good, nice even dark brown. I have browned a barrel in the summer, (hot and humid) in 12 hours. The winter seems to take a lot longer, in this case over 36 hours and close to half a bottle of solution. chuck

[FRJ]

I'm just a beginner at this stuff, but I just browned all the metal on my GPR and followed the directions on the bottle exactly. Worked great, actually looks professional.Not being a wise guy but an old saying in the shop I worked in was "If all else fails try following the instructions".  Frank

[keweenaw]

I never, ever let a barrel get as rusted as the one on the photo as I don't want my finished barrel to look like it's covered with rust pitting.  I know I differ from some others but my idea is not to have a rifle I built look like it spent 100 years in the corner of a barn covered with manure and lime.

Tom

[Roger Fisher]

You will certainly get various thoughts on this.  I card with burlap, rub the h     of of it then reapply the solution.  I build mine for shootin not to hang on the wall, so I let my barrels go till the pitting starts,  Little glare when out in the bright sun shooting her.....  I use a 55 gl barrel with wet rags hanging and laying in side to get the humidity.  Barrel/tank is built up with boards to get the length. And a light bulb hangs in side to get the warmth needed in winter time.  I pull the plug overnite however (safety)  This is only my idea that works for me so far.  

BTW when you kill the browning process with your baking soda slurry make sure you use 'new' baking soda not stuff that sat around open for a year.  Don't ask how I know this.

[Swampwalker]

Ya, that looks like it's gone a little to far.  I would aggressively card that off and make sure you don't have any pitting.  If you have adequate humidity, carding every 4 to 6 hours is usually about right.  You're looking for an even reddish-brown coat of rust, not very thick.  The first and second application won't look all that rusty, but as you repeat the cycle, it will look more and more even.  What are you carding with?

[James Rogers]

I know I differ from some others but my idea is not to have a rifle I built look like it spent 100 years in the corner of a barn covered with manure and lime.

Tom

    Boy, I saw that and it really tickled my funny bone this morning.

I like to fall somewhere in between the 100 years of manure/lime and off the wal-mart rack.  

[burnsranch]

I am using a combination of a green pot scrubber and some denim material. The LMF is old, been stored in unheated room for a few years, don't know if that makes a difference.
This is where it is at today. The edges are bare.
If worse comes to worse, I will have to sand it down and start over. 3 to 12 hours is quite a variation if you don't know what you are looking at LOL

[Blacksmoke]

Russ:  In my opinion the "pitting" in doing a browning is normal!  The main concern is getting the Pits uniform ac cross the surface of the barrel.  This is accomplished by "carding" and applying multiple coats of the browning solution with "carding in between.  I use de-gresed steel wool to card with.  The microscopic Pits will give the barrel surface a "matt" appearance which will be an advantage in reducing "glare" and heat waves of the top flat when on the firing line.  Also the "matt" surface will give the final finish a better surface to adhere to.  After the final pass of browning I will use a good quality floor wax as the final finish.   The whole process usually takes one week to 10 days to do.   Also keep in mind that this browning which you are doing is not on a "Damascus" barrel - if it were there is another whole process to adhere to.    Good luck,     Hugh Toenjes

[Dave Faletti]

Are you trying for the smooth finish or more of a matt finish?  The smooth brown looks the nicest but a matt finish is better for hunting.  I tend to go more with a matt finish but its preference.  It does end up darker and smoother looking when its all done.  Better to take the steps to make it a smoother finish than desired than the other.  The finish can be made rougher late in the process.

[burnsranch]

The is just a shooting, hunting gun, I am looking at more of a matt finish. I have never played with the stuff so I am just figuring out as I go. I found some 0000 steel wool and degrease it  that seems to work better.

Russ

[Dave Faletti]

The last barrel I did ended up with a nice flat finish.  I carded with a piece or denim after it started getting a decent brown.  When the barrel is wet it has a little darker color than when I was all finished.  I seal it with linseed oil which will make it less matt than before its sealed. 

[Swampwalker]

In general, the more aggressive your carding, the finer grained the browning will be, and the more times you'll have to repeat the rust/card cycle.  Try carding with a rough terry cloth rag (from a towel), used wet, and try not to work the octogon 'corners'.  But really, it's comming along just fine.  I often use the steel wool to card with to get a very fine grained 'in the steel' brown.