Iodine and aging steel

[B. Hey]

Hey Folks .. I know this subject has been discussed quite a bit. I have searched the site for the last 15 minutes, but no cigar. I thought I read about using iodine as part of the aging process. If anyone can point me in the right direction, I'd be grateful. Thanks ... Bill

[LRB]

  Never heard of using iodine. Cold blue then an application of Clorox is fast. Cold brown is the most controllable and safest if you have a few days to work with it.

[caliber45]

Bill -- Don't know about aging, but I do know that iodine does an excellent job of browning, if slower than the more commonly used browning chemicals. My early barrel brownings were accomplished by coating a "white" barrel with iodine, then suspending the barrel over an elongated container of water and covering with a plastic "tent" to keep the atmosphere moist. Repeated applications of iodine deepened the browning, 0000 steel woolling gently between applications.

[David R. Pennington]

I had an old mechanic tell me once that it makes a great penetrating oil to loosen frozen threads but I never tried it.

[Randall Steffy]

I copied the following from a post on this site quite some time ago but have since lost the original poster's name, for which I apologize.

1) Sand / polish barrel to your liking
2) Use whatever cheap gun blue in a bottle you have to blue/black it.
3) Paint it with iodine & let sit overnight, more or less
4) Scrub off all the brown crud that forms on the barrel with steel wool & oil it
You should end up with a nice silvery gray finish.
Try it on scrap and see if you like it. Dirt simple!
This is Mark's (originator of this site) recipe and has worked well on steel for me.

I never personally tried the iodine so I cannot give a critique.

[smallpatch]

I've aged many barrels and never used iodine. Sound simple....maybe too simple.

One thing for sure.... If you're gonna use steel wool.....make sure you degrease it, or you'll have a MESS!

[Randall Steffy]

My search of the word iodine brought up quite a few results pertaining to aging iron. Just saying...

[Dennis Glazener]

Hey Folks .. I know this subject has been discussed quite a bit. I have searched the site for the last 15 minutes, but no cigar. I thought I read about using iodine as part of the aging process. If anyone can point me in the right direction, I'd be grateful. Thanks ... Bill

Bill,
Check with Mark Elliott, he has used it in the past. I have tried a couple of times and too be honest I was not happy with the result, really didn't do much to the metal. Maybe my iodine wasn't strong enough. It was some I picked up across the counter at a drug store.
Dennis

[Mark Elliott]

I use cold blue and tincture of iodine to get the nice gun metal gray finish I like.    It must be tincture of iodine and not proviodine.    You need lots of actual elemental iodine.     The cold blue needs to be wet when you apply the iodine.    Also,  the metal must be completely clean. 

[Virginiarifleman]

Don't know about Metal but a gun builder friend of mine use to stain his curly maple stocks with it ,then when dry he would 0000 steel wool the stock and apply his homemade dark maple stain over it. it brought out a beautiful rifle.

[B. Hey]

Hey folks ... THANKS for all your comments. Randall, I guess I was doing the wrong search phrase. Mark, you hit the nail on the head ... exactly what I needed. Again, thanks for all your help .. Take care .. Bill

[Hefner]

I built 7 rifles in the 70's and early 80's.  I was working at the Arizona State University Research Farm at the time and found Lugol's Solution in the veterinary supply cabinet and decided to give it a try.  We used it to disinfect newborn calves umbilical cords.  I browned all of the barrels and furniture with the Lugol's Solution (a strong solution of Iodine).  The browning was very rough looking but has worn down to a very nice color over the last 30 years.