How do you brown a blued barrel?

[trossen]

Hi,

The Pedersoli Kentucky pistol that is being closed out at Cherry's comes with a blued barrel. It is at a great price.

If I get one, how can I brown it? What is the process to strip off the bluing and put on the rust brown?

Thanks,

Terry

 

[44-henry]

There's a couple ways you can go about it, chances are the finish will be a bit rough on the barrel as is, you can always polish the old blue off going up to about 220-320 your choice. Try to remove the sights and underlugs from the barrel and than polish up to 220, or 320 if you want a finer finish backing the paper with a file or block of hardwood to preserve sharp edges.

You can also buy rust and blue remover and take everything off with this chemical. I don't really like using this since it is a harsh chemical remover and I don't like playing with such things, plus most factory guns benefit from a careful polishing by hand which properly done removes the original finish anyways.

Once done you can brown with a prepared solution like LMF's excellent browner degreaser. You can find many articles in the archives on using these solutions, they are not hard to use, but it does call for some special steps.

 

[trossen]

Dear Alexander,

I was thinking about getting one of the .45 cal Kentucky flintlock Pedersoli pistols that are being closed out.

The Pedersoli close outs are blued. The lock also looks diferent from the browned version. Several posters in the pistol forum indicated that the $195 model had its touch hole in an awkward positon (too far down). The browned version also has a maple stock.

I have never seen either one up close to check the 2 different locks. The $370 Kentucky model looks better made.

I was thinking about stripping off the blue and re-finishing it with Birchwood's Brown. I can also use Dutch Mordant,etching acid/muriatic acid to give it a old used look also.

Cherry's has the best prices on all their Kentucky flintlock pistols I have found: $195 w/ $15 S&H for either .45 or .50. or $370 for the upgraded Kentucky.

For their "Superb" Kentucky browned model with the white lock, it is $370.

The question is the lock really different and the touch hole lined up any better? Is one model better than the other? Is it really worth the extra dough? I just don't know.


Thanks,

Terry