I'll start by saying, I have the equipment to do a slow rust blackening and have done it many times. However, I felt like looking into this product just because. I had the barrels smooth as glass with paper from 240 down to 2500 grit. Used a folded square of cotton fiber material and soaked with LMF solution. Wiped down barrels from breach to muzzle with hardly any pressure. Slight coloration occurred almost immediately. I hung the barrels in 88.6% humidity for two and a half hours. Rust formed as it should have. I noticed some shiny, coppery spots in a few places. I gently wiped the barrels in one direction from break to muzzle with 0000 steel wool. The orange rust crud came off easily. The barrel appeared streaky and mottled. I want a blackened finish so I need to boil it for 5-minutes. Don;t you know it, my tank that is supposed to be 27.5 inches apparently is not because the 26 inch barrels don't fit fully. Not to waste time, I put the boiling distilled water in the tank and put the barrels in as much as I can. I use a ladel to keep the boiling water all over the barrels, swapping the barrel around half-way into this to let the other side be fully submerged also. After 5-minutes I rinse with cold water. The result is a streaked, greyed barrel with a few shiny copper spots still showing. That's when I realized I should have boiled, then carded.
Take two: I use a cotton swab soaked with LMF to coat the barrels and hand them for two and a half hours. This time a use a 2" PVC tube as a tank. After the allotted time, I put the barrels in the tank, and fill with boiling distilled water. Wait 5-minutes. Remove with heat gloves. Now I gently removed the surface "powder" with 0000 steel wool and then rinse with cold water. Much better! The black is deep and much more even, but not perfect. The shiny copper spots are gone. I left it overnight because I could not fit another two and a half hours in that night. In the morning, the black has turned slightly darker and a little hazy. There is some orange rust here and there but not much. The plan is to repeat the same method for Take Three. Maybe do this four or five times.
Am I on the right track?
Take two: I use a cotton swab soaked with LMF to coat the barrels and hand them for two and a half hours. This time a use a 2" PVC tube as a tank. After the allotted time, I put the barrels in the tank, and fill with boiling distilled water. Wait 5-minutes. Remove with heat gloves. Now I gently removed the surface "powder" with 0000 steel wool and then rinse with cold water. Much better! The black is deep and much more even, but not perfect. The shiny copper spots are gone. I left it overnight because I could not fit another two and a half hours in that night. In the morning, the black has turned slightly darker and a little hazy. There is some orange rust here and there but not much. The plan is to repeat the same method for Take Three. Maybe do this four or five times.
Am I on the right track?
