Gun Barrel Patina Question.

[Taygrd]

I have been making knives for about thirteen years and recently have been working on some flinters of mine. I would like to use a patina other than the "brown" type and tried to mustard patina a Green Mountian barrel, however it did not take as well as it has on my knives. It did darken the blade but not near enough, any ideas?
Thanks in advance for your advice.

 

[necchi]

Use the "Search" feature in the blue bar up top and type in Vinegar,
,check the box that says "search this forum only" and you should find some picutres and explanation of a technique you'll like. (you'll have to do some looking)
It lends a gray tone and can etch steel barrels.

 

[Taygrd]

Thanks, found it.

 

[fm tim]

Opening a can of worms. You will get 20 replies. 5 with a technique to do it and 15 arguing weather or not you should do it.

Allen Martin suggests:

Brown the barrel like normal but do not card or remove scale like you if you were making a even brown . What you are looking for is the pitting . I normally I leave my barrel in the damp box for about 8-12 days . The barrel will look ....rough !!!!!!
Some folks use bleach but I feel the pits get to large ......... and uneven .
Step two ....
At this point, sand all the browning off to the bare metal, but not deep enough to sand off the pitting. I sanded down to 320 to polish the sanding marks out. It's very messy job . Using 100 grit sandpaper going to a scotch-brite pad , I also you use hot -soapy water and wet sand .
Step three .....
Apply cold blue . make it as black as possible.... Brownell's 44/40 works for me ..... Rub the cold off with steel wool or a scotch-brite pad & oil to get the desired gray color, leaving the corners and areas around the sights dark, and remove most of the color on the high points, barrel edges, etc.
And that's it !!!!!!!!
Simple takes time and it's messy .Every job turns out different ..... but thats the beauty of it !!!!

 

[rabjr]

+1 :thumbsup:

 

[Pete G]

fm tim is spot on. Depending on how far you let the browning go, you can either antique a barrel or have a look of a well used, but not abused piece. Boiling in bleach was popular for a while, but those still look just like a gun that was boiled in bleach, and I have yet to see a genuine antique that looks like a bleach gun.

 

[Bill Hall]

I agree with that bleach finish. It can give a very unique look, but doesn't look like anything that could happen naturally. Hershal House does alot of bleach finishes, kind of his signature finish. More of a contemporary artistic technique than a traditional finish, but he does make some beautiful pieces.

I tried it once and really hated it, since it was not what I was expecting. Ended up sanding down the parts and browning the usual way. Bill

 

[fm tim]

If obsessed with bleach, cold blue it first then spray on the bleach and wait and see what happens.

May or may not work.

 

[Taygrd]

Thank you all for your input. Finished her up a month or two ago.