Refinish or Fix

[Jon Williams]

Im not happy with the finish or texture of browning. What can i do to fix the texture its to rough and grainy?

[Hessian]

If it's "rough & grainy" you should probably polish the metal prior to appying the browning solution. I'm sure there will be others with more experience along shortly to expound on this.
Hessian

[Jon Williams]

Can i sand it down a bit or strip and redo?

[Bill-52]

Jon,

Naval jelly will remove the browning.  That may be a better and easier first step as opposed to sanding.  You can then judge what further needs to be done.

Bill

[BJH]

Best way is sand and redo. Use a file for backing your sand paper to keep the barrel flats flat. Use 120 grit and work till you see no trace of the pitting. Do not touch the barrel with your hands. This will prevent problems with surface contamination with skin oils. Since you want a finer texture brown finish to 220 grit. With each grit change, vary the angle of your strokes to help you see where you missed scratches. Shouldn't take more than a hour or two. If you did not touch the clean sanded steel with your fingers, the steel is ready for application of your favorite browning solution. BJH

[Curtis]

After you sand it down and start over, you should rust it for shorter periods of time before carding.  It will take many more applications of your browning solution but if you card and re- apply before the rust gets too heavy you will end up with a finer grain.  You can reduce pitting by lowering the amount of time between applications, and adjusting the temp and humidity levels.  You may also want to sand it down to 400 grit if you are looking for an extremely fine finish.

Curtis

[Mark Elliott]

With any kind of metal or wood finish,  it is not unusual to have to sand, scrape, or burnish between coats if you want to maintain a smooth finish.  Of course,  if you want a smooth finish, you must have a smooth finish to start.   It takes an awful lot of finish to create a smooth finish from a rough initial surface.   

In going for particular look,  I will sand off a finish several times.    If you want a uniform finish,  you need to sand the old finish off uniformly, which may be almost completely.   I think that really gets to the heart of your question.   Also,  as someone else said,  make sure the surface is completely oil free, including from your fingers.  Otherwise, you will get a blotchy result, which you may want in some cases.   Just know that a smooth, clean starting surface is required for a smooth, uniform finished surface.   You must also card uniformly between coats.   

[smallpatch]

Before you go crazy, try steel wool first.  If it still doesn't smooth out to your liking, you can get more extreme from there.
A rough grainy finish means that the browning is deep in the metal as well.  So a lot more sanding will have to be done to strip completely. 

 There's no doubt that if it's that coarse, the metal is well protected, so consider how far you want to go, and how important that smooth glossy finish is worth.

[smart dog]

Hi Jon,
Others gave you good advice about cleaning and redoing the browning.  Rough, grainy, and pitted texture often happens if the rusting is going too quickly.  Perhaps, your environment is too humid.  If so, try creating a drier environment to slow down the rusting.

dave

[Micah2]

I had the same problem.  In my case the roughness came from the rust process not being entirely neutralized.  Thanks to the sound advice on this forum I made a very rich mixture of baking soda and water and stopped it. It was a tough decision to take the barrell off of my newly finished gun and start over but it was SO WORTH IT.
I sanded the browning off and started over and am so happy that I did.  It only takes ten minutes with fine paper to strip it....  good luck

[Gene Carrell]

Sometimes  a finer grain can be had by cutting your browning  solution  50% with  distilled  water. Easier to control  too.

[BJH]

ALL Posts are great advise. All finishes are some what trial and error. By changing variables like humidity, temperature and rusting times, Plus rusting agent strength.  We all persevere putz, and learn what we need to do.

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

Before you go crazy, try steel wool first.  If it still doesn't smooth out to your liking, you can get more extreme from there.
A rough grainy finish means that the browning is deep in the metal as well.  So a lot more sanding will have to be done to strip completely. 

 There's no doubt that if it's that coarse, the metal is well protected, so consider how far you want to go, and how important that smooth glossy finish is worth.

Another strategy is to use the steel wool or scotch brite some and then burnish with a burnishing rod.  I use Dangler's Browning solution a lot and have found that after several coats if I leave it on longer I get a slight matte finish that I like alot on fowling pieces because it eliminates glare from the barrel that can get in my eyes even from a browned barrel if it is too slick........

[Jon Williams]

Thanks for everybodys advice!! Looking forward to spending time on this forum.