Brass on a Hawen rifle

[gunguy98]

Could someone tell me how to knock the shine down on the brass pieces of my Hawken? I'd like them to looka little older and not so shiney.
Any help would be appreciated. :bow:

 

[Swampman]

Wiping the brass down with the first dirty patch out of your rifle after a day of shooting is the best way. Cold blue will work but it requires a little playing around to get it to look natural.

 

Tried that cold blueing before.Works really good.Try it on a polished empty rifle case first and see how you like it.

 

[Legionair]

Sweat---- get out in the woods hiking, and handle it. That shine will fade quick into a dull, golden yellow...

Legion

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Van's Gun Blue, works fine for me. The fouling patch wipe down others have referenced also works great.

 

[buzz bait]

i polish my brass a couple times a year the last time i do do a about 3 months before deer season i let it tarnish naturly by doing nothing to it. has a nice dull gold color to it.

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Shiny brass will get your hair lifted in hostile country. :grin:

 

[Zonie]

Birchwood Casey also makes a solution to make brass black.
It won't make the surface look dull, just black and it isn't very durable.

If I wanted a black non glossy finish I would use the BC Brass Black and then spray it with a clear dull coating like Deft Dull.
(Deft is a lacquer type finish available at many Hardware stores.)

 

[rusty]

If you put egg yoke on your brass it will darken it.It must be the sulfer....rusty

 

[TANSTAAFL]

I used to take some brass parts out to the oil field where there was H2s gas. It darkened it up in short order, make that, very short order.

 

[mikelange]

I tried the egg yolk -- can't remember where I read that that would do it -- but it did.

 

[Cherokee]

Do a search on vinegar

 

[Brawdhead]

Could someone tell me how to knock the shine down on the brass pieces of my Hawken? I'd like them to looka little older and not so shiney.
Any help would be appreciated. :bow:

If the furniture has been lacquered to protect the polish, none of the chemical processes mentioned (including sweat) will likely yield good results until you remove the clearcoat. For this, I would use very fine steel wool, like #0000. Or coarser if you need it to look a little more worn.

After that, even a small amount of handling will change the brightwork to a brassy yellow.

If handling doesn't dull it fast enough, I would go with the vinegar suggestion. Apply a weak solution with a piece of cloth (don't let it touch your wood finish or your iron). It'll brighten up some, but should dull overnight. For further darkening, follow the vinegar treatment with a soap treatment.

 

[RedFeather]

In the Navy they used to make us do "bright work". We were supposed to use a good brass polish but someone always came up with a can of the outlawed NeverDull - an impregnated cotton wad. It shined the brass up in short order. Of course, 24 hours later it was a nice dull bronzey color. Which was why it was banned, dontcha know? Sometimes I wonder if an application of that to some brass furniture will dull it right out.

I think the search on vinegar in the Builder's Bench section will point you in the right direction. Doesn't the fouling blacken the brass?

RedFeather