To brown or not to brown

[Justin]

So I was originally planning to rust brown my barrel (using Laurel Mountain Forge browning solution) but I was not sure what I was going to do with my lock.

Would it be strange to brown the barrel and not the lock? I'm trying to reproduce an Isaac Haines rifle that will be used for hunting in Wisconsin.

If I don't brown the lock, do I have to polish and burnish it? I'm not sure how to do that but I'm sure I can figure it out.

If I do brown the lock, I'm assuming I should not brown the frizzen face or where the pan and frizzen connect when the frizzen is down. Should I also avoid browning the backside of the lock or should I just do it lightly?

I'd honestly like to leave the whole thing bright but I don't want it to be a maintenance nightmare (above oiling and cleaning regularly).

Is it all personal preference or is there real maintenance differences between browning and bright?

[Dennis Glazener]

There are all sorts of ways to treat a bare polished metal barrel. Jim Kibler sells a product that works well. Many (me included) have used different type of cold blue than rubbed it back. Many use several coats of rust browning then rub it back until it has the look they want. Some use Clorax. Some use iodine. I am sure there are many others I haven't mentioned. Oh, I have used the patches that I just cleaned my barrel with to tarnish brass and bright polished metal.

I like to leave the lock bare polished metal but most often use a cold blue (I like Brownell's Oxpho blue for this) then rub it back so it looks grayish colored.
Dennis

[Justin]

Another follow up... If you do brown the lock, do you fill threaded holes with something to prevent corrosion of the threads?

[RichG]

many originals were left armory bright. just polish to 400-600 grit. rust doesn't have anything to get a hold on. eventually you'll get a patina on the finish. or you can do as Dennis suggested and patina the surface your self. if you use a good rust inhibitor like break free on the threads and internal parts rust will never be a problem.

[smart dog]

Hi Justin,
There are a lot of options but the most important thing is what you plan to use the rifle for.  If hunting and woods walks, a lightly tarnished barrel left in the white is fine and probably the most historically correct. However, if using the gun to do a lot of target shooting, perhaps even competing, I prefer a browned or darkly blued barrel.  A light tarnish can be achieved by simply painting on instant cold bluing like what is sold in gun stores for touch up bluing, and then rubbing it back to the desired darkness with Scotch Bright pads.  I never brown my locks, rather I either leave them polished in the white or I simply heat color them to a bronze or blue color. I typically case harden by lock plates, frizzens, and flintcocks and place potassium nitrate in the quench water. When quenched that gives the metal a grey blue color and then the temper at 490 degrees for the plate and flintcock add a nice bronze undertone. The frizzen is tempered at 400 degrees. The hardening also resists rust. If you brown the lock, you don't need to brown the face of the frizzen, rather that surface should be polished bright. No need to put anything on the screw threads or holes. Below is a gun with polished lock and deeply browned barrel.

dave

[Justin]

Dave, I really like the look of your barrel there. How did you achieve that color?

All, thanks for the info! Much appreciated.

[ltdann]

To get the barrel blue like that, you rust brown following the LMF instructions, then scald/boil the barrell with DISTILLED water.  The method is described in the LMF instructions as well.

I really like that method, the barrel turns a deep light absorbing black.

To scald, I made a trough out of 3 or 4" PVC pipe, that I cut a barrel sized chunk out of horizontally, glued on end caps.  Then you can pour boiling distilled water on it and watch the magic happen.  I usually do it twice, since the first one seems to cool quick because the barrel is cold.

Dan

[Daryl]

There is browning to cover, then there is browning to cover only what you want covered. ON this set of Damascus barrels,

heavy carding on the barrels themselves, with less attention to the rib.  With heavy carding, a smoother surface is also the result'

but careful polishing must be done first, if a highly polished surface is what is desired.

[Justin]

To get the barrel blue like that, you rust brown following the LMF instructions, then scald/boil the barrell with DISTILLED water.  The method is described in the LMF instructions as well.

I really like that method, the barrel turns a deep light absorbing black.

To scald, I made a trough out of 3 or 4" PVC pipe, that I cut a barrel sized chunk out of horizontally, glued on end caps.  Then you can pour boiling distilled water on it and watch the magic happen.  I usually do it twice, since the first one seems to cool quick because the barrel is cold.

Dan

Ah, LMF calls that Rust Bluing in the instructions. I was hesitant to go that route because of the trough and boiling distilled water process but if it looks that nice, I'll do it.

[Justin]

There is browning to cover, then there is browning to cover only what you want covered. ON this set of Damascus barrels,

heavy carding on the barrels themselves, with less attention to the rib.  With heavy carding, a smoother surface is also the result'

but careful polishing must be done first, if a highly polished surface is what is desired.

I want a pretty smooth surface but not like a modern rifle or shotgun barrel (those barrels you posted are beautiful, by the way... I'm a side by side enthusiast myself).

[Justin]

Oh, another question...

The frizzen spring on my Chambers lock is black. Should I also sand that down to bright or leave it alone? I'm not sure why it's black... From heat treating maybe?

[Goo]

It will turn brown on it's own, age naturally. Just clean it don't allow heavy pitting to set in.

[smart dog]

Hi Justin,
I polish off the black color on springs, which comes from the heat treating. Most important, however, is to sand and polish the upper leaf of the frizzen spring over which the toe of the frizzen slides. Bring that to a high polish, which helps smooth the action of the frizzen and spring. Also, polish the toe of the frizzen that touches the spring.

dave

[SingleMalt]

I prefer to charcoal blue barrels which is also historically accurate.  Some place the barrel in a pipe packed with charcoal and others (like me), just put the barrel in a pit or box filled with hot charcoal

[ltdann]

To get the barrel blue like that, you rust brown following the LMF instructions, then scald/boil the barrell with DISTILLED water.  The method is described in the LMF instructions as well.

I really like that method, the barrel turns a deep light absorbing black.

To scald, I made a trough out of 3 or 4" PVC pipe, that I cut a barrel sized chunk out of horizontally, glued on end caps.  Then you can pour boiling distilled water on it and watch the magic happen.  I usually do it twice, since the first one seems to cool quick because the barrel is cold.

Dan

Ah, LMF calls that Rust Bluing in the instructions. I was hesitant to go that route because of the trough and boiling distilled water process but if it looks that nice, I'll do it.

It's really easy to do.  I get the distilled water at the grocery store, boil it in my turkey fryer, put the barrel in the pipe.  Pour the water in.

Make sure you plug the barrel and touch hole and lube the bore.  Even then, the some water gets into the barrel.  Let the water cool completely down before removing the barrel.  That helps prevent flash rusting. 

I usually finish with a coat of motor oil over night, then some kind of sealer like permalyn or spray laquer.

[Justin]

To get the barrel blue like that, you rust brown following the LMF instructions, then scald/boil the barrell with DISTILLED water.  The method is described in the LMF instructions as well.

I really like that method, the barrel turns a deep light absorbing black.

To scald, I made a trough out of 3 or 4" PVC pipe, that I cut a barrel sized chunk out of horizontally, glued on end caps.  Then you can pour boiling distilled water on it and watch the magic happen.  I usually do it twice, since the first one seems to cool quick because the barrel is cold.

Dan

Ah, LMF calls that Rust Bluing in the instructions. I was hesitant to go that route because of the trough and boiling distilled water process but if it looks that nice, I'll do it.

It's really easy to do.  I get the distilled water at the grocery store, boil it in my turkey fryer, put the barrel in the pipe.  Pour the water in.

Make sure you plug the barrel and touch hole and lube the bore.  Even then, the some water gets into the barrel.  Let the water cool completely down before removing the barrel.  That helps prevent flash rusting. 

I usually finish with a coat of motor oil over night, then some kind of sealer like permalyn or spray laquer.

Some others on here suggested Boiled Linseed Oil instead of motor oil. Would that be acceptable for this method?

Also, how do you stabilize the PVC pipe so it doesn't roll when you put the water in?

[Justin]

I prefer to charcoal blue barrels which is also historically accurate.  Some place the barrel in a pipe packed with charcoal and others (like me), just put the barrel in a pit or box filled with hot charcoal

That looks really nice too but I worry about the hassle involved with this method... Seems the rust bluing approach is more controlled.

[Hungry Horse]

Justin, I use a section of metal rain gutter, with end caps soldered up water tight, for boiling barrels. I fill it with enough water to cover the barrel, plus some for boil off, and put it on my Camp Chef three burner camp stove. I have put it over two burners of the kitchen stove in the past, but quickly decided it wasn’t worth household friction.
 Whatever you do if you decide to brown it,don’t btown it to the point that it looks like wet dirt. It should be a clear reddish brown.

  Hungry Horse

[ltdann]

To get the barrel blue like that, you rust brown following the LMF instructions, then scald/boil the barrell with DISTILLED water.  The method is described in the LMF instructions as well.

I really like that method, the barrel turns a deep light absorbing black.

To scald, I made a trough out of 3 or 4" PVC pipe, that I cut a barrel sized chunk out of horizontally, glued on end caps.  Then you can pour boiling distilled water on it and watch the magic happen.  I usually do it twice, since the first one seems to cool quick because the barrel is cold.

Dan

Ah, LMF calls that Rust Bluing in the instructions. I was hesitant to go that route because of the trough and boiling distilled water process but if it looks that nice, I'll do it.

It's really easy to do.  I get the distilled water at the grocery store, boil it in my turkey fryer, put the barrel in the pipe.  Pour the water in.

Make sure you plug the barrel and touch hole and lube the bore.  Even then, the some water gets into the barrel.  Let the water cool completely down before removing the barrel.  That helps prevent flash rusting. 

I usually finish with a coat of motor oil over night, then some kind of sealer like permalyn or spray laquer.

Some others on here suggested Boiled Linseed Oil instead of motor oil. Would that be acceptable for this method?

Also, how do you stabilize the PVC pipe so it doesn't roll when you put the water in?

I just lay mine on the driveway, block it with wood or rags so it won't roll, pour the water in the slot, just deep enough to cover the barrel.  Nothing fancy to it at all.

I personally don't like BLO for anything.  While it may be HC,  I find it to be a sticky mess that takes a long time to dry and I've found it be a poor finish.

If the gunsmiths of old had access to our cornucopia of modern finishes, I feel confident they'd gave up on it too.

The motor oil brings out that plum color that looks so nice.  It's cheap, everyone has it and it's what LMF recommends as part of the process.

[Greg Pennell]

I do quite a bit of rust blueing. I also run a dehumidifier in my basement shop, especially in the spring and summer months. I save the water from the dehumidifier catch can in a couple of 30 gallon plastic barrels.  It’s free, and works perfectly for both rust blueing and in the quench tank when I’m color case hardening.

Greg

[Pete G.]

I like to cover the lock with phosphoric acid, sold as a rust remover on most hardware stores. It leaves sort of an antique gray looking finish that is somewhat rust resistant.

[Justin]

Based on the helpful replies here, I decided to Rust Blue my barrel and figured I'd share some photos of the process.

The humidity and temperature in my basement are low so I built my own damp box out of 5/8" plywood roughly following John Bivins plans. My heat sources are two bulbs -- the bottom one is a 150w and the middle one is 60w (both on a single dimmer). The shelf on the bottom has most of the inside cut away with some coated hardware cloth over it to allow air flow. I put an old bread pan on there filled with water (I didn't make the box big wide enough to take a pie plate which would have been better). It took some experimenting to get a good temperature in humidity and if I leave the middle light off and hang a damp towel from the second hook I have in there, I get temperature and humidity in the mid-70s. If I turn the middle bulb on, temperatures get into the high 80s but the humidity lowers as well so I haven't been using it.


This is the scalding tub I made out of PVC (cutting this stuff with hand tools is a messy process and a pain in the arse):




I'm using Laurel Mountain Forge Browning Solution which is supposedly a degreaser as well but I had some trouble with the barrel not rusting near the touch hole. I think it was probably residual cutting oil left over from cutting my off-center vent liner hole

No big deal... I cleaned it off with acetone and a little steel wool and it started to take better. I'll need to hit it with a couple more coats I think and it'll be good.







I like the color -- looks like metal that has been sitting in a fire. I've never char coal blued a rifle but I'd think it would look similar.

I was up until 1am last night because I wanted to get two coats in... 3 hours in the damp box then hit it with boiling distilled water and carding (I card with a cloth). Tonight I am going to give it one more coat and hopefully it'll smooth out the remaining streakiness near the vent liner and it'll be good to go.

[rich pierce]

Looks really good.  Should be durable too.

[ltdann]

Yep, you got it!   Looks good.  Man,  that's a fancy damp box.  Puts my cardboard box to shame.

[Justin]

Yep, you got it!   Looks good.  Man,  that's a fancy damp box.  Puts my cardboard box to shame.

My wife made a comment that went something like "You need to build a lot of stuff to make this rifle." with at least one eyeroll included...