French Grey Finish

[Squirrel pizza]

I would like to try my hand at a French Grey finish on an old rifle I picked up at a flea market. It's not worth much but I could use it to learn on. Is anyone familiar with the process who could take a little time to explain? thanks, Mike

[Bart]

Glass media blast using around 240 to 400 glass beads and lacquer it.

[JPK]

French gray is often done by applying a watch nickel finish and not buffing it out, another way that's used is to case harden then bleach the that out, toilet bowl cleaner can be used then apply a sealer to the metal.

[PPatch]

Clean the old barrel up. Brown it going through all the usual steps, next take some Navel Jelly (big box store) and using a maroon 3M pad apply the NJ and rub off all the browning. Then cold blue it nice and even, then use the NJ to remove that. The result is pretty darn close to a French Gray. Oil it!

Also, using our search engine you'll find the subject covered like a rug.

dave

[oakridge]

Read this:  http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=4531.0


And this:  http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=3353.0


And this:  http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=33262.0

Apparently, there are various shades and textures referred to as "French gray", and numerous ways to achieve it. Some ways are a lot easier than others. Simply rubbing back a cold-blued finish has worked good for me.

[oakridge]

Well, the links I posted didn't work right. You can copy and paste them, or do a search, as PPatch says. Lots of stuff on French gray.

[Squirrel pizza]

I know there's usually more than one way to skin a cat but usually with some variation between step two and three. These are pretty diverse methods. I will try to find the threads you've given me Oakridge, and I appreciate you taking the time to find them. I was thinking a mild acid and heat, the thought of bead blasting never occurred to me. Seems like it would pit the metal, but having no experience with bead blasting and soda blasting I'm likely wrong. 

[Eric Krewson]

Sand your metal to bright, apply oxoblue a little darker than you want and rub it back with a scotch bright pad.

This is the result you will get, the lock hasn't been polished yet;

[Squirrel pizza]

Eric that sounds way to easy so it couldn't possibly work! That looks pretty good to me. Did you seal it with anything?

[Eric Krewson]

Nope, no sealer except oil. I did put some Renaissance wax on the barrel a while back.

On thing about this grey finish; it is not rust resistant and will rust in a heart beat if much moisture stays on the metal for long. I love the color but a browned barrel finish is much more durable.

This pic is after I polished the lock, I left it bright.

[Frank]

Looks great Eric. Didn't realize it was that easy. That will be the finish on my next build.

[Turtle]

 I rub the barrel with multiple coats of phosphoric acid using fine steel wool. I have done several guns this way. It makes a durable corrosion resistant finish which is easily touched up if rust shows up  with more coats. As it gets older it looks better and better.
                                  Turtle

[Squirrel pizza]

Thank you to all who responded. I tried Eric's method first for the simple reason that it sounded the easiest. It was. My problem was a matter of touch. On first attempt I was a little light on the blueing and a bit heavy handed on the scotch bright. It wasn't the French Grey to match my 75 Sharps, but it was a shade I could be happy with. For lack of a more specific adjective I'll call it "warm". I think with some practice I'll achieve the tone I want. But now that the bug has bitten, I intend to try other suggested methods. Thanks again.

[Frank]

I rub the barrel with multiple coats of phosphoric acid using fine steel wool. I have done several guns this way. It makes a durable corrosion resistant finish which is easily touched up if rust shows up  with more coats. As it gets older it looks better and better.
                                  Turtle

Could you give a little more detail on  this method. Time between coats, how many coats, do you need to card between coats, and any neutralizing that may be required?

[Joe S.]

I rub the barrel with multiple coats of phosphoric acid using fine steel wool. I have done several guns this way. It makes a durable corrosion resistant finish which is easily touched up if rust shows up  with more coats. As it gets older it looks better and better.
                                  Turtle

Could you give a little more detail on  this method. Time between coats, how many coats, do you need to card between coats, and any neutralizing that may be required?

ditto on the how to,if this is a good corrosion resistant finish this would be the one to use.Most of these grey finishs do not hold up very well if your hunting in wet weather.

[Turtle]

One of the things I like about this finish other than being uncommon and pleasing to look at is it's real easy to do and repair. Just prepare the barrel to the finish level you want, and rub with fine steel wool saturated in phosphoric acid wearing rubber gloves. let it work for 4 hrs or overnight or so and repeat-no carding. About 4-5 times usually does it, but more is better. I don't bother neutralizing it. Then I apply oil or mink oil or whatever you prefer. If you do get a touch of rust just rub that spot with more acid on wool  or re do the whole barrel. I have never had it hurt the stock finish when doing this. I have done locks this way also.  It gets better looking with time I think-a nice soft pewter color. As luck would have it, I just came back from a 3 day camp with a gun I French greyed and it was shot and stored in my tent with no problems.Wish I could post pictures, but am having an argument with my computer. Phosphoric acid is cheap, but can be hard to find.  I used to be used a lot to etch steel before priming prior to self etching primer for auto painting.
                                Turtle

[Dennis Glazener]

Phosphoric acid is cheap, but can be hard to find.

I have used Ospho with the same result http://www.worldpaintsupply.com/ospho-1qt-metal-treatment/

Its used as a rust killer, I bought mine at a Sherwin-Williams paint store but they only sold it in gallons which was fine since I was restoring an old Mustang with plenty of rust to be killed!

I finished a Lancaster rifle barrel with it one time. It looked good but I now use the Brownell Oxpho-blue. I think it does a better job on new barrels.

Dennis

[Dennis Glazener]

Sand your metal to bright, apply oxoblue a little darker than you want and rub it back with a scotch bright pad.

Eric, did you mean Oxpho Blue that you get from Brownell's? Not familiar with oxoblue but I know the Brownell Oxpho Blue is great for this type of finish. ( http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/metal-prep-coloring/metal-bluing/liquid-cold-bluing-chemicals/oxpho-blue--prod1072.aspx ). It contains Phosphoric Acid.
Dennis

[Frank]

Sand your metal to bright, apply oxoblue a little darker than you want and rub it back with a scotch bright pad.

Eric, did you mean Oxpho Blue that you get from Brownell's? Not familiar with oxoblue but I know the Brownell Oxpho Blue is great for this type of finish. ( http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/metal-prep-coloring/metal-bluing/liquid-cold-bluing-chemicals/oxpho-blue--prod1072.aspx ). It contains Phosphoric Acid.
Dennis

I just ordered some phosphoric acid, because I thought Eric was referring to Brownells Oxpho Blue as well and how it didn't hold up and easily rusted. I have a bottle of the Brownell's Oxpho Blue on the shelf. Just read the specs on Brownell's site and they say that Oxpho Blue is very durable and does not rust. Don't know for sure as I have only used it to touch up modern guns, and they never got wet. Eric, Can you please clarify?

[Eric Krewson]

Yep it was Oxpho Blue, from Brownell's . I have a gunsmith friend who restores a lot of abused modern guns. He had a gallon jug with a little left in it that he gave me.

[Turtle]

  the stuff I use is called Osphorust and is green. I don't know if it's the same as ospho blue,but my barrels have never turned anything but grey.

[jerrywh]

 The French grey that engravers refer to is accomplished by removing bluing with phosphoric acid. It is not the only way to make a grey finish. another way is to brown the metal and then buff it on a high speed wire brush with real fine wire. The old harpers ferry browning solution will give a good looking grey finish if buffed with a high speed wire brush made of .003 wire.
 If the wire brush is too course it will remove all the browning. The speed should be about 3450 rpm. and buffed without too much pressure. In normal browning I don't run the brush over 1200 rpm.  You can get any rpm you wish by running the brush on a drill press with a arbor in the chuck.