I decided that I really, really, really didn't like all the shiney brass/bling on the .32 T/C Hawken I bought from our classifieds section, MUCH preferring a more muted/sedated look, that's also less reflective in the game fields - like either the tarnished brass (25 years worth) on my T/C Cherokee, or the blue/black furniture of my T/C Renegade.
Since I don't think I have much more than another 25 years to wait for it to tarnish, I decided to accellerate things a little, chemically. The process took me two days, from dismounting the brass for coloring, to remounting it when done.
Here's what the .32 looked like earlier this week (lower rifle, with my .54 Renegade)
Here's what it looks like, today
The chemical tarnishing came out very mottled, much like color case hardening - I'm pleased with the results.
FWIW, I used a 2 gal plastic lidded container, with a plastic coffee can (empty) in the middle/upside-down as a platform for the brass.
I put $1.50 in copper pennies + 6" of 1/2" copper tubing scraps in the bottom of the large container, then poured in about 1 1/2 gals of common household ammonia ($3 at the grocery).
I left it covered for two days, while the fumes did their work on the cleaned (with acetone) brass (it was laquered by T/C).
A water rinse, drying, then an oil bath, and some waxing seems to have set everything nicely.
.
Since I don't think I have much more than another 25 years to wait for it to tarnish, I decided to accellerate things a little, chemically. The process took me two days, from dismounting the brass for coloring, to remounting it when done.
Here's what the .32 looked like earlier this week (lower rifle, with my .54 Renegade)
Here's what it looks like, today
The chemical tarnishing came out very mottled, much like color case hardening - I'm pleased with the results.
FWIW, I used a 2 gal plastic lidded container, with a plastic coffee can (empty) in the middle/upside-down as a platform for the brass.
I put $1.50 in copper pennies + 6" of 1/2" copper tubing scraps in the bottom of the large container, then poured in about 1 1/2 gals of common household ammonia ($3 at the grocery).
I left it covered for two days, while the fumes did their work on the cleaned (with acetone) brass (it was laquered by T/C).
A water rinse, drying, then an oil bath, and some waxing seems to have set everything nicely.
.
