1728 frenchlock

[Joe Sullivan]

Cold blued my lock today. I've re-blued 3 rifles so far so I'm getting used to the stuff.
Clean with soap twice and rinse twice, wipe quick de-water with wd-40 then oil.

One bottle last many projects. I've found
that the stuff hardens up after a week. I'll probably 000 steel wool to lighten up some of
the surfaces. I need to do the hole gun. It shines like a mirror in the woods. To flashy
for hunting. Anyone doing a blue project?

 

[Firelock937]

Just throwing out a method I used on a friend's Indian made long land pattern bess. It came mirror bright and he wanted it toned down. I used a cold brown solution on the barrel and lock, let it sit a couple days, then removed all the brown with Brownells rust remover, and oiled everything. It left everything a dull grey--no shine. If you still wanted to subdue it more you could add the cold blue after removing the brown. The bluing solution will also work on taking some shine off any brass.

 

[Joe Sullivan]

That interesting, I haven't used the cold brown yet.
The way you describe the new finish it sounds like it
would have a glass bead look to it or etched. I might try something like that.
Maybe in reverse of what you said and 000 steel wool the cold blue and
apply the cold brown. I got home from work and went right to it. I got the clear off with the
wire wheel and 400 emery with soapy water.
I still have five more pieces to do.

I did the barrel, barrel bands and the screw. I
did the ram rod too.
The guns gota completely different look to it.

 

[Joe Sullivan]

I finished my little project and I'm ready to put the gun to work. I blued everything. Re-stained and shellac'd the stock.

 

[LeeinVA]

Just throwing out a method I used on a friend's Indian made long land pattern bess. It came mirror bright and he wanted it toned down. I used a cold brown solution on the barrel and lock, let it sit a couple days, then removed all the brown with Brownells rust remover, and oiled everything. It left everything a dull grey--no shine. If you still wanted to subdue it more you could add the cold blue after removing the brown. The bluing solution will also work on taking some shine off any brass.

You can also use plain old yeller mustard :thumbsup:

 

[rickystl]

WOW!! That looks a whole bunch better. Good job. :thumbsup:

 

[Rifleman1776]

A little too blue-blue for my tastes. My preference is more towards a black-blue. But, it looks like a fine job. :thumbsup:
What brand cold blue did you use? Contrary to what many believe, blueing of firearms goes back, at least, to the 1600s. John Braxton once showed me a Jaeger he built that was blued and it was a thing of beauty. As for documentation, Braxton is, or was (I don't know if he is still with us) one of the countries best kept secrets when it came to masteful gun builders. He often made guns for museums to fill in collections. And, after looking at his work, I'll take that as "documentation" anytime.

 

[Joe Sullivan]

Thank you guys. Berchwood/Casey "Superblue" is what I got. I've done 4 complete long guns with that one 3 oz. bottle. A rifle, two shotguns and this muzzleloader. Theres still enough left to do another one. I think the bottle cost $7. You can't have that much fun for 7 bucks anywhere. I had to do something about the flashy look. I want to do a little duck hunting which is right around the corner.

LEE M; Yellow mustard? If it dose'nt have a skull and cross bones on the bottle, it's not going to work. :shake:

 

[LeeinVA]

Thank you guys. Berchwood/Casey "Superblue" is what I got. I've done 4 complete long guns with that one 3 oz. bottle. A rifle, two shotguns and this muzzleloader. Theres still enough left to do another one. I think the bottle cost $7. You can't have that much fun for 7 bucks anywhere. I had to do something about the flashy look. I want to do a little duck hunting which is right around the corner.

LEE M; Yellow mustard? If it dose'nt have a skull and cross bones on the bottle, it's not going to work. :shake:

I have an indian made 1740 Potsdam with metal polished to a high shine.. On a humid day i cleaned the metal parts with alcohol and wiped on a coat of mustard. After 4 hours the shine was gone and had turned a dull gray..

 

[JohnN]

Just wondering why you purchased this particular model of gun. It seemed from your original post you were mostly interested in hunting so thought you might be served better with a fusil or fowler.Not being critical just nosey.

 

[Stumpkiller]

I like the blue better than the chrome bright.

I toned down my Bess with applications of hydrogen peroxide and (no kidding) wiping it with apple slices. The peroxide puts a light rust on and the apple is a very mild acid to "set" it. It was splotchy so I had to work the lighter spots repeatedly.

You can also strip the blue with Naval Jelly if ypu want to 'xperiment.

 

[JohnN]

I went the opposite direction with my Tulle. When I first built it I browned everything but have since removed the browning and left it bright but not polished. I also have a 1728 but since it was a military weapon it historically would have been left bright and most likely polished.

 

[RBrooks]

How did you remove or tone down the brown, my
rifle barrel is too reddish/brown and prefer an aged pewter/dark grey

 

[JohnN]

I originally used the type of browning where you heat the piece then apply the solution. To remove I just used sandpaper and elbow grease. After that I just used progressively higher grits of wet-dry paper (wet) until I got the look I liked. I believe Tulles' came from the armory bright but not polished. Been thinking about trying the mustard thing and see how I like that look.