I like your method. I think it's the same as mine.
Laurel Mountain Forge rust browning with humidity box?
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I've always used car wax on a patch to protect the bore. It seems to work fine.
Johnny Tremain
Silversmith in training
Used a pine box, sprayed water on the walls, put a 60 watt bulb in it and what came to 3 days later is still rich thick smooth finish from 2005.
Sounds like a good idea to me. When I did my Traditions Kentucky pistol build, protecting the bore from bluing was a major PIA.
I coated the bore with oil and PB blaster and put a cork in it. Worked fine.
The instructions that come on the bottle are a bit oversimplified. Use the online instructions, they are a lot more informative. Fortunately for me I live in Florida so humidity and heat are not an issue! My barrel came out so dark it almost looked like I rust blued it except in bright light you can see the brown. The actual parts I did rust blue, the trigger guard and butt plate, are just ever so slightly darker than the barrel! It took about a day and a half. After I took a handful of damp baking soda and rubbed everything down and rinsed it with warm water. Then heated with a heat gun and soaked it in motor oil for 12 hours or so. Wiped it down and put some renaissance wax on it and assembled.
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Trivial fact: New engine oil is "overbased", meaning it contains additives that make it slightly on the basic side of neutral pH in order to combat the etching effect of combustion acids such as carbolic acid that leak past the piston rings. Using new engine oil to set a brown finish seems like a good idea to me. Used engine oil may be slightly acidic.
Comfortably_Numb
The Evil Mike Brooks
I use synthetic motor oil after my antiquing process.
No kidding; I'll check that out. Thanks!!
I use non detergent 30 weight engine oil.
I use a homemade basement greenhouse made from a metal shelf, grow lights, and a queen size mattress cover. I add a metal bowl of hot water. It works very well. The humidity is very low where I live. I’ve found LMF rust brown to work the best.
My box is called SE Texas
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i am finishing my rust box... i came into a bottle of Mark Lee slow (not sure how, i think he sent it to me by accident & when i asked if he wanted me to pay for it, he said never mind ... got a loyal customer for the price of a bottle of goop - pretty smart fellow) ...
been tinkering for almost a year with this ... a little here a little there .... i was gifted a chewed up 4x8 sheet of half inch plywood (which would be the major expense) and it's off square (came miscut) and now has a fan in the top and a heat lamp in the bottom ... the base and the lid are detachable (in case i need to change the bulb ... it's even got a plexiglass window ... probably the most overengineered, overdesigned tool in the basement ...
my wife calls it the "giant wooden badger" ... a reference to the Monty Python movie about the Holy Grail
TLDR: the English king makes a trojan horse in the shape of a rabbit, but they forget to get into it and the French throw it back over the castle wall ... the chief knight says "perhaps if we built this giant wooden badger..." English King: faceplant...
been tinkering for almost a year with this ... a little here a little there .... i was gifted a chewed up 4x8 sheet of half inch plywood (which would be the major expense) and it's off square (came miscut) and now has a fan in the top and a heat lamp in the bottom ... the base and the lid are detachable (in case i need to change the bulb ... it's even got a plexiglass window ... probably the most overengineered, overdesigned tool in the basement ...
my wife calls it the "giant wooden badger" ... a reference to the Monty Python movie about the Holy Grail
TLDR: the English king makes a trojan horse in the shape of a rabbit, but they forget to get into it and the French throw it back over the castle wall ... the chief knight says "perhaps if we built this giant wooden badger..." English King: faceplant...
I did a lock with Mark Lee Express brown last night, took about an hour and most of that was hand-carding. I really like being able to control the color by the temperature of the water used to set the brown.
It depends on where you live. Here in the AZ desert, I had to use a box since the humidity is so low it would take a very long time. A friend gave mea plastic box/tote. I put a bowl of water in and placed the barrel and other parts on some small fire bricks to keep them off the bottom. The sunlight and subsequent heat did the rest. I would check on it every couple of hours. Did a great job. Might have a Pic or two if curious.
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I don’t need a box. I live in Indiana we have humidity all the time everywhere.
So no box is needed at all.
So no box is needed at all.
Lots of varied responses. FWIW, I simply put in a corner in the bathroom and carded each day until desired effect was reached the neutralized and stopped the browning process.
I ended up using Jax Black and was very happy with the result.
Some pics of the iron in this thread:
https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/my-stock-finish-secret-weapon.168153/
Some pics of the iron in this thread:
https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/my-stock-finish-secret-weapon.168153/
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