1750 rifle finish

[Horace]

I have a flintlock representing around 1750 which is in the white. Do you guys think that is correct or should it be browned or blued. I like it in the white, but want to be PC.

 

[rich pierce]

In the white is preferred for the lock, the barrel could be in the white or fire blued. Browning is generally accepted as being more common later, say 1770's on. Be interested in what your 1750's rifle looks like!

 

[DrTimboone]

If you want to knock some of the newness off you can use 1 coat of Brownells 44/40 cold bluing creme and then spray/mist it lightly with some bleach, let it sit a half hour or so and then rinse it and oil it. Gives a patina like you had been in the woods with it for a couple of years. If you do any reenacting you probably don't want a gun that looks 200 years old ! :hmm: I just happen to like that better than bright shiny new steel.

 

[Swampman]

Browning is considered incorrect for 18th c. guns.

 

[TN.Frank]

Yep, making a rifle look "old" just woudn't be PC since "back in the day" the rifle wouldn't have been all that old, maybe a few years, so you'd not want it to look 200 years old, just like a new rifle that'd been used a bit.
Another question, when did browing barrels and such come into use? I've always liked brown barrels over blue because to me blue seems "modern" but ya'll are saying they did it back in the mid-1700's , that's interesting, guess I shouldn't be so hardcore brown if blue was used that early.

 

[Flintandsteel]

TN,
Big difference between today's bluing and 200 years ago.
Fire bluing or heat bluing was what they did mid-18th century.
Toward the end, in this country, 1790 -ish, browing became very common place. All you need are humidity and an accelerant of some kind. Any acid, including urine will do it.
Fire bluing is beautiful if done properly, and quite a project. Left in the white, a gun will "age" by it self and get a real nice patina. This can also be accelerated by several methods. I'll try to attach a photo to show you.

:v

 

[TN.Frank]

I used to blue small parts over a gas stove flame, it was funny how they'd take a nice, dark blue colour from just the flame. So that'd be the same as the kind of bluing that they did back in the mid-1700's, interesting, guess I"ve been doing some things "old school" and didn't even know it.LOL.

 

Some primary documentation----- On Browning: Pennsylvania Gazette May 2, 1781 - Perkin and coutty at the corner of Second and Spruce Streets, Philadelphia, beg leave to acquaint their friends, and the public in general that they carry on the gun and pistol making in all its branches, where gentlemen may be supplied with guns and pistols of the neatest and best quality, on the shortest notice and most reasonable terms. They also blue and brown gun barrels in the neatest manner”¦..

On Browning and heat bluing: From AN ESSAY ON SHOOTING, published in London in 1789 - "The last operation [in making the barrel] is that of colouring the barrel,...Formerly, the barrels were coloured by exposing them to a degree of heat which produced an elegant blue tinge, but as this effect arises from a degree of calcination. [oxidation] taking place upon the surface of the metal, the inside of the barrel always suffered by undergoing the same change. This, therefore, added to the painful sensation excited in the eye by looking along a barrel so coloured, has caused the practice of bluing to be disused for some time past. Instead of it barrels are now browned, as it is termed..."


on fire/heat bluing: Virginia Gazette August 8, 1751 David and William Geddy Smiths of Williamsburg, near the church, having all manner of utensils requisite, carry on the Gunsmith’s, Cutler’s, and Founder’s Trade, at whose shop may be had the following work, viz. Gun work, such as guns and pistol stocks, plain or neatly varnished. Locks and mountings, barrels blued, bored, and rifled”¦..

from P.N. Sprengel's 1771 HANDWERKE UND-KUNSTE IN TABELLEN: "For further beautification, the barrel is treated to allow it to oxidize to a blue color,...The gunmaker can rub the barrel down with a sweet-oil cloth so the ash which he dusts through a linen cloth adheres to the barrel; he then lays the barrel onto glowing coals until it begins to turn blue. The best way to blue the barrel is, after polishing, to insert a glowing mandrel, which the tradesman calls a piston into the bore, and to rub the barrel with bloodstone as soon as it -begins to turn blue due to the heat of the piston."

A third period (late 18th-19th century) method of finishing is cold or rust bluing (also called blackening) - the method is nothing more nor less than boiling a browned finish - the boiling changes the chemical properties of the oxidation fro red/brwon to blue/black.......

For 1750 - in the white or with a fire blued barrel would be the most widely used. A light patina though would not be out of place as most guns (and other gear) of the period saw much heavier use under more trying conditions than we see on our gear today. Circumstances often did not allow for the care of the metal as one would like. There is plenty of documentation mentioning how quickly arms wore and/or broke down under the stress of frontier living........

Another factor is barrels and many other iron parts were made of wrought iron not mild steel as most often seen today. Wrought iron oxidizes less quickly than steel and naturally goes more to a blue/grey color rather than the brown of steel, although using acid based reagents as used fro browning will turn it red/brown.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Yep, making a rifle look "old" just woudn't be PC since "back in the day" the rifle wouldn't have been all that old, maybe a few years, so you'd not want it to look 200 years old, just like a new rifle that'd been used a bit.

I have in front of me Vol. 198, No. 2 of National Geographic. One of the articles is the exploration of the ship Elizabeth and Mary that sunk in the St. Larwrence River in 1690 after 2,300 New Englanders attacked Quebec, during which action and this ship was lost.

Of the guns found in the wreckage, many had seen years of use by the time [Sir William] Phips sailed. "Some muskets were likely 60 to 70 years old", says Grenier. Weapons found show signs of modification and repair.

 

[rich pierce]

All accounts of the start of the Revolutionary war mention that the officers like Israel Putnam and Washington were horrified by the condition and age of the guns the militia brought with them. We tend to think of folks in the 1750's as professional hunters, longriflemen, frontiersmen whose guns were their most important and prized posession, and then reason that they must have had the best and latest models in the finest, like new condition. Many more folks were just plain poor, were moving to the frontier because land was free, had barely a stitch on their backs. Others were well-established townspeople or poor city folk whose guns were just something they needed to meet militia requirements. Most of the guns owned by colonists pre-1750 were imported (thousands of trade guns and outdated military models) or were restocked old guns.
However, a rifle in 1750 would be a specialized gun, perhaps more likely made recently, say within the past 20 years, and might display good original bright or fire blued finish.

 

[Bob Ekes]

I have gotten a very nice result by using Birchwood Casey cold bluing and then rubbing it mostly off with 0000 steel wool and then oiling the barrel. It's very easy and it looks nice, sort of a gunmetal grey like left white with a bit of patina.

 

[THORNAPPLE]

Bob E., I like to use this method of aging as well. Most the lads I run the woods with, like to be thought of as experienced woodsmen. So there equipment is well made to stand the rigors, and looks "experienced"! I usually make a gun look like its been used a couple years only, never 100 to 200. A silvery rifle looks as odd on them as a clean NEW pare of buckskins. We aint no PILGRIMS! :thumbsup:

 

[G. W. Gill]

I believe they turned up at muster with the worst fowler the family had. Expecting to be upgraded. Human nature is what it is.

 

[mudd turtle]

how abbout giveing me the correct procedure for fire bluing parts in the white. Never heard how this type of blueing was done. Thanks in advance for any help. Mudd Turtle.

 

[rich pierce]

There are 2 types of fire bluing.
1) simple: heat in flame till metal turns blue. Stop heating and coat with oil, wax, etc while still hot (outdoors). This is not especially durable or deep color.
2)"charcoal bluing"- use real wood charcoal, not briquets, degrease everything, put piece in a bed of charcoal, cover with coals, let it cook 3 hours, remove and oil or wax. This is more durable and was used on barrels before browning.

 

[mudd turtle]

Thanks Rich, your post helps me a whole lot. Mudd Turtle.