LMF Barrel Brown Carding

[azsixshooter]

I think I polished it too finely, I was following a Hawken building video series from YouTube and he said to go all the way to 600 grit so I did. Today I put on the 8th application and carded with 0000 degreased steel wool. It was looking awesome until the finish just kind of chipped off in one or two small spots and also the corners of the flats now are bare metal again so I have a nice smooth, even browning on the flats but ugly, shiny lines running the length of the barrel. It's starting to get frustrating and I might even need to order another bottle of this stuff because I still need to do the buttplate and toeplate. All the other pieces are getting done with the barrel but I'm still working the wood on the stock so I'm leaving the metal on it for now until I have the sanding all finished.

It seems to me that the problem is I polished it too highly and the LMF isn't biting as well as it should. I'm going to have to continue applications and back off on carding so aggressively I guess. I wish I would have stopped polishing at a courser grit. I think that is the main problem. I really like how it looks in the areas where it is holding after carding with the degreased 0000 steel wool. I bet it will look great once it is oiled and cured if I can just get it evened out over the entire surface of the barrel.

 

[rchas]

300 is the finest you need to go with LMF whether you are rust browning or bluing. The degreased 0000 steel wool is fine, but don't scrub the barrel and go easy on the edges. All you are trying to do is remove the loose rust bloom, not what is sticking to the metal, so be gentle.

 

[azsixshooter]

The bottle of solution I received came with a small instruction manual, I figured it was probably the same as the instruction on the website. I was wrong. I took the advice some of you previously gave about reading the directions on LMF's website and they were extremely helpful. Much better than what came on the bottle and the supplementary paperwork in the package. Thanks for the help!

 

[GREENSWLDE]

I don't think the suggestion of natural Browning over a long period rings altogether true.
Old gun makers like W(not WW) Greener would not have made up concoctions as serious as the one shown If it had not been meant to colour Damascus or iron barrels and show up their pattern & beauty and to help stop them Rusting. The second formula is of unknown origin but is published with several others(which become increasingly caustic) in the same volume.. All remembering that almost all early barrels were wound from strip not drilled from a round blank and had a weld line spirally along there length. A Damascus effect can be made with Synthetic(plastic) open weave ribbon soaked in a Mild acid solution or vinegar wound down the length. Skelp effect with a single piece of string.. Next door to my families factory in Aston, Birmingham. G.B. was the Remains of Smith's Gun Barrel Works. In the 1940s and 50s there was still some of the old line shafting for the Drop stamps used to forge tubings still in situe. OLD DOG..

 

[GREENSWLDE]

I don't think the suggestion of natural Browning over a long period rings altogether true.
Old gun makers like W(not WW) Greener would not have made up concoctions as serious as the one shown If it had not been meant to colour Damascus or iron barrels and show up their pattern & beauty and to help stop them Rusting. The second formula is of unknown origin but is published with several others(which become increasingly caustic) in the same volume.. All remembering that almost all early barrels were wound from strip not drilled from a round blank and had a weld line spirally along there length. A Damascus effect can be made with Synthetic(plastic) open weave ribbon soaked in a Mild acid solution or vinegar wound down the length. Skelp effect with a single piece of string.. Next door to my families factory in Aston, Birmingham. G.B. was the Remains of Smith's Gun Barrel Works. In the 1940s and 50s there was still some of the old line shafting for the Drop stamps used to forge tubings still in situe. OLD DOG..

 

[GREENSWLDE]

I would like to send Photos of Greener browned barrels but can't find Any of the buttons Zonie tells me. I still use Windows 7. Just suppose I'm a bit too old.. OLD DOG..

 

[azsixshooter]

Thanks for the pics! I decided to do one more application of LMF last night and I carded it lightly today with the rough side of a piece of leather dipped in hot water. It got most, but not all, of the rough scale off. I really liked the smooth beautiful finish I got from carding with 0000 degreased steel wool, but I couldn't get the flats done without polishing the corners down to bare, shiny metal each time. I'll have to live with it for now. It's not too bad, but I know it could be better. I'm running low on LMF though and I still have to do the butt plate and toe plate and escutcheons. The rest of the metal pieces went better than the barrel and the triggerguard. Those were the 2 parts I polished the brightest so I guess that is why I had trouble getting the LMF to bite.

Here are a few pics of the barrel. It is coated liberally in 5w30 right now and there are some bits of fiber stuck to it in some places from the rag I used to wipe the oil on with after I heated the barrel. Also, in a couple pics it looks like there is bare, shiny metal, but that's just the light reflecting. It's all pretty well browned, but in some areas there is buildup or streaks that I really dislike so I'm not very happy with this right now but after 10 applications I'm done.

 

[flinter1977]

That look very good to me. I did my gpr with lmf three years ago and its holding up very good .

 

[GREENSWLDE]

All the three barrels shewn in my post are coloured with Greeners Solution. Brings out the pattern on the top two. From the top:-
An 11 bore Flint gun circa 1800. Fairly course Damascus. B,ham proof.
A 13 bore Live pigeon gun by Thomas Stensby,Manchester,Circa 1840.
A 12 bore BSA Steel barrel sleeved into Mild steel tube machined to Octagon. Interesting to see how differently the Barrel steel and the Mild steel took the colour as with Damascus Iron and Steel of the previous century . OLD DOG..

 

[GREENSWLDE]

Jim, Thanks for sorting out my photo's. I don't know how they came out so well. The dogs in order are :- Wig(curlywig) - Grouse -Tern - Ruff & Lark. All used to hearing Black powder and now gone to much better hunting grounds. OLD DOG..