Browing to Black

[Davemuzz]

If I've read enough to understand the process, when I want to blacken my barrel and furniture what I need to do is first brown the parts, then dip 'em in boiling distilled water (for how long?) and remove 'em.

Then "card" them with either a power brass brush on a drill (I'm not fond of power tools when it comes to making anything with a flinter) or simply take a hand brass brush and "brush it's teeth" :thumbsup: .

Then repeat this process until I get the color I want.

Now....my other question (other than how long to dip into boiling water) is....I want to blacken my 12" pistol barrel. I believe I want to plug the end of the barrel so I don't get water into the barrel. I have not yet drilled the flash hole....so that's easy. But...what do I use to plug the barrel? I have pleanty of wine bottle corks around. (You can only guess why?? :idunno: )

Thanks for your help

Dave

 

[Black Hand]

I believe it would go as follows:
Brown
Card
Brown
Card
Repeat as many times as necessary to get a good brown
Boil until the black is the "blackness" you desire.

I'd go with a wine cork myself, but only to have a drink while waiting for the water to boil. I wouldn't bother plugging the barrel since the water isn't going to harm the bore in any way and will dry very quickly.

 

[Bill Hall]

That's pretty much it. You want to have all the carding completed before you boil, as the boiling won't remove the fuzzy rust, and you may get a different color if you card it off after it's been boiled. Also, parts only get so black. Leaving them boiling longer won't make them get blacker and blacker. Someone here once mentioned that leaving them boil too long will cause them to turn gray. I don't know, but I take stuff like that to heart, cuz I don't want to see alot of hard work dissappear before my eyes . I boil them until they stop getting darker, about five minutes.

I never plug the barrel during browning or boiling. I start out with a lightly oiled bore, then clean and re-oil the bore when I'm done. Good luck, Bill.

 

[Rogue River]

I leave the barrel in the scalding hot water until the water is cool! I have a PVC trough I made and I set the barrel on the bottom flat. I card it w/burlap or denium cloth. If it's not dark enough I do it again. Small parts I boil in a pan. As far as plugin the barrel I don't, I just clean it as soon as I'm done and I never have had a problem. Instructions on how to do this is at the top of this forum! :grin:

 

[rich pierce]

Mike Lee's Express Blue from Brownells is superb for a black color and fast to use. On the latest barrel, after each session of rusting I immersed it in boiling water in a piece of galvanized "pipe" or tubing meant for a gate on a chainlink fence. The "cap" for the tubing meant to go on top served as the plug. I kept the pipe vertical. A propane torch applied to the side of the pipe kept the water boiling for 5 minutes. The black I got was very deep and impressive. I too generally abhor power tools. There's a way around it. Use an eggbeater style drill with a wire wheel on it.

 

Been a while since I did rust blueing, but if I remember rite I browned, boiled, then carded. Repeat as needed, generally 3 times for the cap and ball revolvers I was working on. I used a carding wheel from brownell's and a battery drill. It's got very soft stainless wires. The times I've carded by hand were with steel wool, I pored acetone through the steel wool to remove any oils and handled the steel parts with vinyl gloves to prevent finger oil. Seems like the blue did better if I carded while it was still warm.

If I was home I could look, but I think I used Laurel Mountain rust blue formula. Also the best finish for me was a good 400 grit finish, any finer and it didn't look as good.

 

[mikemeteor]

5 minute boil bath worked for me.
and I only bathed 'em once, at the end.
I plugged with a beeswaxed tapered wooden dowel, but not sure it was worth the trouble.
/MM

 

[Davemuzz]

Thanks guys. :bow: All of your reply's have been very helpful and have got my thinking in the right direction.

Since I'm only going to boil the barrel for 5 minutes, I'll just give the bore a light oil and clean it when I pull it out.

Dave

 

[Rolfkt]

A 5 minute boil will only turn the very outer layer of browning black. Before I rust blued these pistols, I did a series of experiments on scrape metal. I found out, the to turn the complete layer of browning black, all the way through, I had to boil the scraps for 1 hour.
I posted the experiment here http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/...d/248565/post/881010/hl//fromsearch/1/#881010

Best regards
Rolf

 

[Davemuzz]

Rolf....thanks for the link!!! :thumbsup:

 

[Shack56]

My question, is there a mixing ratio of baking soda and water for the neutralizing solution? Thanks, Steve

 

[rich pierce]

I use a saturated solution. Add it till no more will dissolve. Here's the results with Mike Lee's Express Blue boiled each time, 4 applications.

 

[Frank Savage]

From my own experiments and hints from a person from our local gun factory, you need to boil about 3/4 hour for 1-3 aplications of browning solution and carding. I would advocate for boiling after each aplication, since the black-blue is an Fe3O4 (ferrous-ferric oxide, if I´m not mistaken in english chemical terminology-english is not my natural language), while the brown is a mix of FeO and Fe2O3. They turn into the combined (?) oxide by affect of oxygen from boiling water (by sort of reactions between the water and brown oxides). This needs some time even in thin layers and since Fe3O4 is pretty inert, so since certain thickness and/or quility of metal finish the reaction can not protrude through the whole layer-so when boiling just once after more aplications, you may end with black layer of Fe3O4 separated from unoxidized metal by partial residues of brown oxides-a BAD thing. Tends to turn back brown even after boiling in oil.
The boil do not nedd be somehow vigorous, about 102-105° of celsius is OK. You can lose by boiling not enought, but you can´t lose anything by boiling a bit longer.
I have pieces of well-boiled scrap which I intentionaly degreased-NO change in colour, nothing-even where I put on a drop of browning solution. It´s 1,5 years now and it´s still intact. Compared to, pieces which were just put into boiling water and let chill (as the plastic tube + pot of hot water method) can rust badly in 3 days beyond other repair than sand it down, sand down the pitting and start again.
Just my 2 cents.

 

[sean30ber]

I usually make a paste of the baking soda and coat it liberaly. I let it set until its dry (about an hour) then wash with super hot water. Not sure about others but afterward I torch it lightly to evap any moisture left then give it a good soaking in used motor oil while its hot, then let that set and penatrate for 24 hours. Ive never had an issue with it rusting more and the motor oil gives it a protective coat for a while, even after I rub it off and buff it. Smells bad but im a motor head. Just the way I do it. Im sure others have different ways to finish it off.