Brass patina

[bub524]

Any suggestions on what I can use to oxidize the brass on a rifle. I used to use liver of sulphur for silver years back, but can't find that any more. I want to give it a nice aged patina.
Thanks.

 

[gordy]

I just let mine dull up by the nature of brass to gather "patina" just from the contaminates in the air and from body salts Etc.I just wipe it off with a dry rag, mostly.Every once in a while I get a wild hair and polish it.Then the process starts over again.It takes mine about 3 or 4 months to gather the dull look. :results: :front:

 

Just rub the brass with used cleaning patches from a BP shooting session and wait. All the patina you could possibly want will be there after a week or two.

 

[Zonie]

I haven't tried it, but I have heard that ammonia fumes will really darken brass.
This does not mean rubbing ammonia on the part. It means hanging the part above the ammonia in a sealed container (think wires thru the lid with the part hanging from them but not touching the ammonia).

Others have mentioned that if the part is subject to any kind of stress (like a barrel) this treatment can cause invisible stress cracks in the brass which can fail at any time without warning.

For things like nose caps, butt plates and side plates there is probably no danger of the part cracking.

The fumes that darken the brass will damage your lungs, so when removing the lid, do it outside.

 

[gmww]

I haven't tried it, but I have heard that ammonia fumes will really darken brass.
This does not mean rubbing ammonia on the part. It means hanging the part above the ammonia in a sealed container (think wires thru the lid with the part hanging from them but not touching the ammonia).

Others have mentioned that if the part is subject to any kind of stress (like a barrel) this treatment can cause invisible stress cracks in the brass which can fail at any time without warning.

For things like nose caps, butt plates and side plates there is probably no danger of the part cracking.

The fumes that darken the brass will damage your lungs, so when removing the lid, do it outside.

I believe ammonia fumes will work. My bottle of ammonia bore cleaner for my modern rifle was loose in my box. All of my brass cleaning jags were black!

 

[reddogge]

I prefer the "au natural" method of aging brass.

 

[George F.]

How about BRASS BLACK by Birchwood Casey?
......George F.

 

[AZ-Robert]

The crud that comes out of the bore on my cleaning patches does a mighty nice job of discoloring (aging?) the brass nose cap on the stock, as well as the patch jag and tip of the ram rod. I'll bet if you wiped one of those nasty patches over the brass, let it sit for few minutes, and then hit it with a dry cloth you could get some instant aging.

 

[more powder]

Bub try this it might gave you some idea's www.coscosci.com/patinas/patinachems.htm

 

[rusty]

I have been told that egg yoke applied to brass will tarnish it ,but I have never tried it myself.But I plan to use it on my trade gun...rusty

 

[johnrtse]

Most cold blue solutions will quickly turn brass to dark brown. I use Brownell's Oxpho-Blue, then use 0000 steel wool to taylor it to my liking!

Hope this helps,
John