how to age metal

[littlefat]

I've been looking at a lot of custom rifles and most of the barrels don't look blued or browned. they look sort of gray . how is this done ? anyone know ? 

[Joe S]

Check the search function on this board and in the archives.   There’s tons of stuff on this topic.

[Brian Jordan]

Try a search for charcoal blueing you might like that finish.

[Z. Buck]

there are about as many ways to do it as guys making guns, you can rub back blueing, you can do a light blue, use vinegar, clorox, the list goes on, but the search is a wonderful tool be sure to check the archives from the old board, at one point, the mods auto-magically signed everyone up for the system with the old archives, you may have to message a a mod to get your sign in info to work on the archive system, so be aware of that

[long carabine]

 I heard that Naval Jelly worked great and also mustard aged parts...never tried it though. Let them age on there own.

[lew wetzel]

i love the way ken netting ages his rifles....cold blueing and bleach!!!card back to desired effect...they sure do look good...

[Gene Carrell]

The Super Blue and Clorox bleach that Tom Caster uses looks great to me.

[Acer Saccharum]

Nothing rusts steel like 44-40 cold blue. Don't get it on your workbench. Every steel tool you lay on the spot will rust.

How they can sell this as a practical means for a blue, I dunno.

I use it for rusting my steel parts, for browning brass. It's a great oxydizer.

Tom

[Brian Jordan]

So far on knife baldes I have used cold blue, and clorox / mustard / vinegar / and even pickle juice.

[Dphariss]

I've been looking at a lot of custom rifles and most of the barrels don't look blued or browned. they look sort of gray . how is this done ? anyone know ? 

A lot of this does not look old it looks "aged" old guns generally do not look like a lot of the "aged" guns out there.
If you want it aged leave the steel parts bright and oil free shoot the rifle numerous times, clean and oil the bore but leave the rest dirty, leave out in the back yard protected from rain by an over head but exposed to dew etc.
Soon it will start to look old rather than aged.
You could try smearing the breech area with pyrodex/pyrodex fouling if you want to replicate corrosive cap flash pitting.

Dan

[tg]

I think mustard or Naval jelly is a good way to put a few years of patina on a gun, which in many cases is really the thing to do, if you have a gun from 1730 and do a 1755 persona it is unlikely your gun will look like it just came from the armoury. There is a faction out there that insist that if you try to age a gun it makes it look 200 years old and one SHOULD let a gun age (this is where it gets good) "Honestly", usually they are found sitting on a taller rock on the hill to present their opinion

[t.caster]

I had forgotten about mustard and naval jell to remove rust and leave a nice dull grey finish to a shiney piece.
I just never liked standing in the sun shooting a shiney rifle.

[Dphariss]

I think mustard or Naval jelly is a good way to put a few years of patina on a gun, which in many cases is really the thing to do, if you have a gun from 1730 and do a 1755 persona it is unlikely your gun will look like it just came from the armoury. There is a faction out there that insist that if you try to age a gun it makes it look 200 years old and one SHOULD let a gun age (this is where it gets good) "Honestly", usually they are found sitting on a taller rock on the hill to present their opinion

Yes there are exceptions.
However..
The vast majority of aging done makes the gun look like it was aged with Chlorox rather than actually used. So they look *chloroxed*, not used, not old, chloroxed.
Look at an original and then see if it looks chloroxedor Navel Jellied, they don't. So the chloroxed guns are NOT PERIOD CORRECT. They look WRONG. Thus a newer looking gun would be MORE CORRECT (horrors).
Like I said leave it in the back yard with some fouling on it from shooting and let the dew work on it. Let it rust a little. Then use it somemore and let it rust some more. Simply do not clean the outside. Just don't let it rust till you can cut yourself on it. When it has a fair layer card it lightly making sure it does not get oiled. Pretty soon it will look about right. 
Of course it won't look like a chloroxed gun. But then it can always be "fixed" so it looks like the other chloroxed guns if thats important to its owner.
Dan

[Mike R]

I have used good ol' French's mustard for years to put a gray finish on steel. A gunsmith friend uses Birchwood Casey Brass Black on steel--it turns it black but a quick steel wooling ends up with a gray finish. 

[Dphariss]

I have used good ol' French's mustard for years to put a gray finish on steel. A gunsmith friend uses Birchwood Casey Brass Black on steel--it turns it black but a quick steel wooling ends up with a gray finish. 

A friend rubbed knife with lye and got a pretty decent subdued look.
Locks and other steel parts that are casehardened without color look good even if a little color creeps in. It generally produces a semi-flat gray.
Rottenstone or one of the fine polishing pastes that Brownell's sells can be used to rub metal finishes to look worn from abrasion from handling but may make too much shine. But worn finishes are shiny if not oxidized.
This or similar is one thing done by Hollywood to make "used" guns for movies.
A bright white like a polished lock or a brass part that is too bright can be rubbed with an acidic fruit or leaves from some vegetation, mustard is likely the same process. I have heard of people using grape leaves but in winter they are hard to come by. Just shooting the gun will sometimes darken the brass. BP fouling has a rapid effect on clean brass.
Very aggressive stuff like strong acid or bleach is like a nuclear weapon. It tends to be too much.
Though a dip in fairly strong nitric can do an etch that looks pretty good on small parts.  But great care must be taken. I found this out by accident and have not tried it since. Of course it was not what I had intended but the acid was still much stronger than I thought... Doing an entire barrel makes for a finish that does not look old, just corroded. Wiping a barrel, for example, with strong nitric will do an instant microscopic etch and give a base for further work and can aid in browning or rust bluing a part. The stuff I have is really strong and will "smoke" if appled to steel. BE CAREFUL.
As I previously stated perchlorate powders produce aggressive fouling that could be used to age a lock or barrel breech in a week, or even a day. It should give the corroded, pitted look found in areas subjected to powder fouling.  Just be sure to use a lot of water to stop the "etch". The parts will need to be well washed to get the corrosive components washed away. Wiping and oiling will not work.

Dan

[SR James]

This is obviously not a muzzleloader but I "aged" this USFA Rodeo by stripping the factory matt finish and antiquing it with Plum Brown and a combination of cold blues, much of it applied with Q tips in small areas to simulate dark areas where handling wear is less.   I did not antique the hammer.

[Dphariss]

This is obviously not a muzzleloader but I "aged" this USFA Rodeo by stripping the factory matt finish and antiquing it with Plum Brown and a combination of cold blues, much of it applied with Q tips in small areas to simulate dark areas where handling wear is less.   I did not antique the hammer.

I once read an account of the Wild Bunch or some such ne'er-do-wells going to town and buying new guns cause theirs had gotten "shiny".
But I am no fan of those matt finishes either.  I would be tempted to polish and refinish if I had one.

Dan

[tg]

I would think it is the judgement of the builder or patina putter oner as to how it looks old guns have a wide range of appearances, I had an old CvA barrel in the white that sat in the shop for over ten years and it does not look much different than the fusil I worked over with some naval jelly,which I try to make an un uniform appearance, this is all a matter of choice there is no right or wrong,if a guy fiddles around with some mustard, jelly or browning/blueing and carding back to where he wants it and feels it looks like what he feels a 30 year old gun would look like given his persona and location/usage that is his call, what you or I think is not even part of the equation. I would agree on the clorox when boiled it can get pitted pretty quick one needs to tread cautiously with that stuff,but you can get a grey with some mottling that looks like some older guns I have seen and one I have in the closet with the jelly if the application is random, if a guy says his gun looks 20 years old that is his call, there is no way to proove differently.

[Leatherbelly]

  I like them new(1755) or the ten to twenty year old look(1765-75). They fit better into your persona with a new look or a used look, but not an antique look. JMHO in layman terms.
Blackpowder fouling rubbed on your brass takes the shine off.

[Dphariss]

  I like them new(1755) or the ten to twenty year old look(1765-75). They fit better into your persona with a new look or a used look, but not an antique look. JMHO in layman terms.
Blackpowder fouling rubbed on your brass takes the shine off.

This what people miss. There is a lot of difference between used and "aged".
A 15 year old gun does not look like its 150-200. So boiling parts in chlorox (or what ever happens to be the current fad) is not going to produce a representative piece for a 15 year old used gun.

Dan

[roundball]

Nothing rusts steel like 44-40 cold blue. Don't get it on your workbench. Every steel tool you lay on the spot will rust.
How they can sell this as a practical means for a blue, I dunno.
I use it for rusting my steel parts, for browning brass. It's a great oxydizer.
Tom

How brown will it make brass?
Is the degree of brown a function of how much is applied...or how long its left on the brass surface, etc?

I'm still looking for a satisfactory way to significantly darken a brass ramrod like a dark wooden rod...not brass patina...darker than that.

[Rinehardt]

I've had good luck with first applying a suitable browning solution and letting it rust until it is slightly rusted. Then apply Brownell's 20/20 and rub it back. A number of gunmaker friends of mine use this method.

[Rinehardt]

I've had good luck with first applying a suitable browning solution and letting it rust until it is slightly rusted. Then apply Brownell's 20/20 and rub it back. A number of gunmaker friends of mine use this method.

Oops! I meant to say, I've had good luck with first applying a suitable browning solution and letting it rust until it is slightly pitted. Then apply Brownell's 20/20 and rub it back. A number of gunmaker friends of mine use this method.

[tg]

". There is a lot of difference between used and "aged".
A 15 year old gun does not look like its 150-200. So boiling parts in chlorox (or what ever happens to be the current fad) is not going to produce a representative piece for a 15 year old used gun"

I agree 100% about the clorox, but you can add a bit of age/use with naval jelly or mustard (I prefer the jelly) that gives a used appearance  but in no way makes the gun look 200 years old, on the last gun I did I just used scrapers and this left a few (flaws for lack of a better word) which gives the gun a used look, you can fiddle with the stain here and there as well, the point is it is possible to knock of the "new" without creating an antique.

I have shown this gun and lock to quite a few people some are builders some are gun history buffs and no one suggested it looked 200 years old, it is pretty close to an old 30/30 Winchester a friend has that has been around long enough for the blueing to wear off and a  overall greyish look is the result, I did not have the Macro setting on so this pic is not the best but should give the general idea.

[Chuck Burrows]

A 15 year old gun does not look like its 150-200. So boiling parts in chlorox (or what ever happens to be the current fad) is not going to produce a representative piece for a 15 year old used gun.

Like everything ese it depends on how applied and how controlled - clorox/blue can be controlled to vary the look from used to abused......

all three were etched using the cold blue method - ignore the spines as they were left with an as  forged finish - the middle blade is an example how lightly one can use the method, while that on the left is a heavy etch and the right in between...
As with most things there are different methods to achieve the same ends and there is no single right way.
As to 15 years wear - all depends on how one's gun was used and cared for - as a knifemaker for close to 40 years , I've had folks send back knives of the same age for refurbishing and the differences in use/abuse can be substantial......