Bleach Antiquing

[George F.]

Well, I did something that I regret. I took a nicely hand polished lock , disassemblied it and cooked it in bleach for 15 minutes. The dumbist thing I've done in years. All that hand work now has to be done all over again. I was trying to give it alittle aging, not the rusted mess I now have to clean up. I am trying to french grey the lock. Now I'm wondering if naval jelly will help me clean up this easier than re-polishing all the parts[plate,pan,cock,jaw screw, and top jaw screw] Any helpful short cuts will be appreciated.  ...Geo.

[jim m]

George, feel your pain, and bet you won't do that again. not sure at this point but the naval jelly sure won't make it worse. on clean lightly polished metal[220/320 grit] naval jelly will give you a nice french gray. some times it takes several applications carded back with steel wool to get the gray you want.   BLEACH WILL PIT AND RUST THE METAL as you have obviously learned.

[projeeper]

soak it in navel jelly for a few hours get a goor stiff toothbrush some light rubber gloves and have at it,the end results are worth the extra effort imho , ask me how i know

[T*O*F]

George,
You're the 2nd guy who has done this recently and I wonder where you get your information from.  Boiling in bleach is the most aggressive action you can take on a gun.

The proper way to do a lock is to polish it, but it needn't be a high polish as it will be destroyed.  Take your lock and apply some type of resist to areas you don't want pitted, for instance the backside of the plate.  You can use beeswax, fingernail polish, shellac, or anything that is easily removed later.

Coat the parts you want to pit with a cold blue such as Birchwood Casey.  Lay the plate on a cotton cloth with the resist side down.  Spritz the lock with bleach, fold the cloth over it, and then dampen the top of the cloth too.  High humidity days are best.  Let it sit for an hour and check progress.  If you want more action, spritz the plate again and redampen your cloth.  Always keep the top of the cloth damp.  Do this until you have achieved the look you are wanting.  4/0 steel wool the surface.  It should be gray if that is your desire.  If you want to age it, reapply the cold blue and wool it back again, leaving your aging color where you want it.  Rinse the plate, remove the resist, and oil everything.

[George F.]

Thanks for all the tips. This was definetly a learning experience. I cleaned everything up with a green Scotch Brite pad, then applied some Wahton bay blueing agent. Again I carded with the Scotch Brite Pad, then applied Birchwood Casey's cold Blue, and carded again. A baking soda soak and a oil bath. It wasn't as bad as I thought after looking at that rusted mess. I unfortunately didn't think about protecting unwanted areas. But you can bet your boots I won't over look it the next time. Again, thank you.  ...Geo.

[projeeper]

i found this treatment on this forum under fr.gray and the lock did not get any pitting but it looked like it had been tarred and chucked in a fire.i boiled the lock for around an hour and thought i had ruined it thats how bad it looked.i had polished the lock down to 400gr then cold blued it then pulled it back with 4/0 steelwool.
  after the boiling the next day i soaked it for 4-5 hrs in navel jelly and spent at least that long scrubbing with a toothbrush what i ended up with was frosted appereance on a nice flat silver gray that is on the lock not in it[i tried posting pics but they ended up very bad and am having someone teach me on monday]

[George F.]

How would go about etching a barrel? I'm pleased as to the way the lock turned out.  ...Geo.

[Ed Wenger]

George...

I've done a few barrels with bleach and like the results very much.  I cut a 4"-6" PVC pipe in half and capped the ends using regular PVC cement. 

After draw filing the barrel (that's all you need to do) I cold blue with Super Blue or Oxpho Blue.  Plug the vent hole and Muzzle!  I use a tooth pick with wax for the touch hole and a dowel rod with wax for the muzzle.

Pour Clorox bleach into the PVC pipe, then place the barrel in the bleach, submerging it.  then it's a matter of watching to see how much of an effect you want.  It's very aggressive and works quickly, so be careful.  It'll come out looking like a big rust cicle.  Wash the barrel and scrub with a rag to get the worst off, then use naval jelly and steel wool to take off the rest of the rust.  I usually give it a good soaking in WD-40.  After that I usually re blue the barrel then rub back with steel wool and WD-40.  That shows the "age" marks well and gives a nice French grey look.

The other method that works well is to brown the barrel way past normal to promote rust.  I'm pretty sure there's info in the achieves about both of these methods.  Good luck!

           Ed

[George F.]

Thank you Ed, I'll do this tommarro.  ...Geo.

[ironwolf]

  Too much work and smelly to boot.  Much easier to go either the Mike B. black paint route or the cold blue/iodine patina, ala Mark Elliot. 
  Try it, you'll like it.

  Kevin

[Dphariss]

Part of the problem is that most people who attempt to antique a gun.
1. have no idea what the thing should look like.
2. have no idea how to make it look that way.
"Antiqued" gun looks like someone "antiqued" it rather than looking old or used.
So they end up with something that is even more "incorrect" than the gun was when it looked new.

Dan