Bead blast is a waste of time and will produce a low quality short lived finish. I have owned a number of guns with beaded and caustic blued barrels. Finish will start to show white pretty quick if used much. The "points" of the mat finish wear off too fast.
Dan
What media and grit size was used?
- "Beads" come in four types of glass; seven types of ceramic; six different iron base alloys; two aluminum alloys; and more than a dozen synthetics/composites. All these different media options exist because there is no "one-size-fits-all" for use in all applications. Simply stating the generic term "bead" means nothing without specifics.
What process was used?
- To go along with the multitude of medias, there are many different process options such as: pneumatic, hydraulic, mechanical and aggitation to just the four most common methods. As with the different types of media, so too do the different processes produce different results. Again, use of the generic term "blasting" means noting without identifying the specific process being utilized.
Suppose you took your car to the shop to get "painted" and the only term used in the contract was "paint" ... would you be a bit miffed if you assumed the generic term "paint" implied two-part epoxy primer with base-coat color and clear-coat finish but the autobody shop considerd the generic term "paint" to mean latex house and trim? All those products absolutely fall under the generic term "paint" yet they are vasty different in composition and made for completely different applications. The same goes for using the generic term "bead blasting" which includes everything from Bubba with his Harbor-Freight cabinet and a bag of play sand to a completely automated hydromechanical system. Ingorance is not bliss.
Take the challenge ... correctly identify the preparation process used before these four pieces were rust blued
How about I make the challenge a little easier with these four pieces ...
You sound like a salesman for air compressors and bead blast cabinets.
Pray please tell me what does the composition of automotive coatings and how they are applied have to do with a Kentucky long rifles?
Yes you can blast in all sorts of grits and compositions. With enough experimentation its possible to recreate a surface finish that can be done with nothing more than a polishing medium and a block of wood or piece of leather. But it likely will look different anyway. Using modern mass production technology is usually pretty silly if making 1 or 3 or 10 guns a year. Sure its possible do "French Grey" of sorts on case hardening with wet beading in small sizes and low pressure. It can be done on engraving but I think its a BS thing to do to a high end engraving job. But I have seen it done routinely.
But its still silly to bead blast a Kentucky long rifle trying to get the original finish.
It requires more equipment but in a
high production scenario it REDUCES LABOR COST. Its like button rifling barrels. It has nothing to do with quality its about profit margins. One can put a bead blast finish on a part in seconds that will cover up machining/sanding marks that would take at least an hour of hand polished and the average gun buyer looks at the cheap, fast wearing mat finish on gun like a Ruger #1 "Craig Boddington" and goes gaga "a matt finish" OOOOO!! "Craig Boddington". Super cool! Kaching, oh sorry, beep, beep, boop goes the cash register. Of course the guy hardly uses it so he never notices the rapid wear rate of the matt finish.
Cheap to apply, people will buy it and maybe even pay extra, whats not to like? Kaching! (beep, beep, boop). Put some more parts in the blast and turn some barely trained worker loose and viola parts ready to blue. Take the money to the bank. Ever use a "satin nickle" Colt 1911 much? Like having it in a holster all the time in motion and finding it develops bright, shiny spots from holster wear? Looks wonderful, until its in use for a year or two. Bead blast blue as applied by every maker will do the same thing only faster.
If the part is polished to 220 or 320 and RUST blued it will take on a soft semi-mat finish from the natural etch anyway so why would anyone want to have it bead blasted to get a matt finish? The matt can be controlled by the process if the operator knows how. All thats needed is a place to hang a the barrel to rust and a tank to boil it in. A propane camp stove will serve for heat if nothing else is available. All this can he hung on the wall of a small shop when not in use. How much room does the blast cabinet and the beads and the hose and the compressor take up? Can it be stored in the back yard under a tarp if the shop is small?
No room for all this? Lets send it out to someone to have it bead blasted so it can be screwed up and require rework. OR have the guy buy every conceivable grit, have them try them all with various pressures to get the finish desired on scraps, then do the parts in question, hang the cost we have an unlimited budget right?
Or the poor slob could buy a blast cabinet himself and a bunch of media, a regulator for the air, maybe a wet system. Play with this for a week and find out the finish you want is not really obtainable since the technology was not used on the original guns. But hey! Hey! its cool and high tech and cost enough to buy parts for a couple of more guns so its just gotta be, better, new and improved etc etc.
The question was trying to
recreate the finish on old guns. Old guns are not bead blasted and the original finish can be recreated by simply using the simple, low cost, low tech processes of the past as indicated by the photos in my post above.
Want it softly matted and white? Finish, degrease and dose with Naval Jelly.
Or maybe soak it in Coca Cola or vinegar.
Dan
