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Can you rust blue parts long after the browning process?

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RobertIN

West Harrison, Indiana
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Say you have a lock that was browned up to a year ago, can you throw the parts in boiling water and get a satisfactory blue finish out of it or is it best to strip and redo the whole process?
 
I use my tap water which is hard water and I get very good results using it. So for me tap water is fine.
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Oil the parts and let them set over night then rub with an oily rag. The red will come off. A longer boil wouldn’t hurt.
The rough metal will not allow the parts to look as good as they could be but you have some protection now.
 
Oil the parts and let them set over night then rub with an oily rag. The red will come off. A longer boil wouldn’t hurt.
The rough metal will not allow the parts to look as good as they could be but you have some protection now.
I'll check back in with an update after I card some of the scale off, I'll need to get some more distilled water tomorrow I had a brain fart and poured it down the drain 🤦. I appreciate your help and advice Phil.
 
You can always degrease, hit it with the brown again, then boil and card again with degreased steel wool. Flood with WD-40 or an overnight soak in kerosene will help set the blueing. Repeat the rusting, boiling, and carding until it is even all over.

This process is called "hot water bluing" and is in effect an express form of slow rust blue.
 
You can always degrease, hit it with the brown again, then boil and card again with degreased steel wool. Flood with WD-40 or an overnight soak in kerosene will help set the blueing. Repeat the rusting, boiling, and carding until it is even all over.

This process is called "hot water bluing" and is in effect an express form of slow rust blue.
Think I'm going to just to make sure it's a uniform finish.
 
Improvement after a second boil. **** is still a little shiny/not gray, so doing another rust on that overnight. Possibly a higher hardness than everything else?
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