rust blueing

[Eric D.]

Hello, I'm refinishing a gun, let's call it a smoothbore, the barrel is badly pitted on the exterior but the bore is shiny. I'm planning on rust bluing the firearm with LMF, so the question is, does using rustoleum rust reformer accomplish the same thing as boiling the parts.

Thanks, Eric.

 

[Zonie]

I've never used it but after a bit of digging on the web it seems to be some sort of oil based product that paints rusty things black.

Boiling a browned steel part in distilled water doesn't paint anything.
It converts the ferrous oxide (hard brown rust)into ferro-ferric oxide which is hard black rust.

Unless someone else has used the Rustoleum Rust Reformer and can recommend it, I wouldn't bother with it.

On the other hand, this is your opportunity to be the first to try it so you can tell us how well it works.

Of course if it is an oil based product and it doesn't work, you will have to sand off all of the contaminated brown rust and start the LMF process all over again. :hmm:

 

[Davemuzz]

Can you post a picture of the "badly pitted" part of the barrel. One man's idea of badly pitted is another man's view of "Hey....that's not all that bad. I'll just do a light filing, sanding, and re-brown or re-blueing and it will look darn good!"

Just a thought.

Dave

 

[jdkerstetter]

Rustolem Rust Reformer is their brand name for their rust conversion compound, simular to Extend and other products. It provides a base for paint and will inhibit browning or bluing.

Enjoy, J.D.

 

[Eric D.]

Thanks for the replies, I think I will stick with boiling the parts. Working 11 hrs a day along with a nine month old baby leaves little time for projects in the evening so I was hoping I might of found a short-cut. The pitting isn't horrible, I've been shooting the gun since I was 14, just figured rust bluing would look better covering pits than cold blueing. Plus give the metal better protection up here near the salt spray. I wasn't planning on removing the pitting,am I asking for trouble when it's time to brown? Also is it OK to boil one end of the barrel then flip it over and boil the opposite end, or will the middle take on a different hue?

 

[crockett]

If you haven't started yet I'd try to remove as many pits as possible. I take it that you think the more rough appearance of a rust blue will hide them. I'm not so sure, I'd sand them out as much as possible. Take it down to #240 grit paper and you'll be okay.

 

[jdkerstetter]

It's much easier to draw file pitted barrels than trying to sand them out. To remove a pit you have to take as much metal off as the pit is deep. Even on small pits that takes a lot of sanding.

Crockett is right, the pits will not cover with browing or rust blue. Though they won't be as obvious as they would be on a shiney factory blue surface.

Pits causing trouble with browning? Pits will not prevent browning, provided there is no oil in them. Metal must be oil free to brown.

Boiling is best done on the entire barrel at the same time. What you suspect is correct, that you will probably see the difference if you boil one end and then the other.

You can construct a vessel to boil a barrel in from a section of steel rain gutter or pipe and boil it on a Coleman stove.

Enjoy, J.D.

 

[Bruce Bogart]

When I rust blued my friends sideslapper (refinish of a neglected gun) I just went thru the rust brown procedure right up to the point of oiling it and stopped. I then took a length of pvc 8" plumbing pipe and a cap and used a coat hanger for a suspension support. Once browned I suspended it in the pipe, boiled water and poured in and emptied about 4 times, and viola, very nicely black/blued (mostly black). One tiny brown spot on it (owner swears he can't see it but I sure as heck can). Do not get any sort of contaminent on the brown barrel or you'll have a spotted barrel. Easy peasy!!
I may have just got lucky too :grin:
Bruce

 

[Rusty_Nail]

Do you have to change the water? For some reason I remember from the LMF Browning paper at the top of the Gun Builders Bench (which the link isnt working now ) It said cover in the boiled distilled water and let cool to room temp?

I ask because I am thinking abpout trying it, but don't want to mess up and have to start over! :td:

 

[fleener]

My tank is a AL down spout with the top cut out and end caps screwed in with sealant. Works great done many barrels. Easy to make and cheap

Fleener

 

[Bruce Bogart]

I pulled the barrel between scaldings. Just hung it up, poured out the water, slipped the barrel back in and scalded again. I boiled the smaller parts (screws, triggers, etc.) on the stove, the result was the same. Like I said it worked for me. I may have been lucky???? :grin:
Bruce

 

[Zonie]

When I rust blued the barrels on this CVA 12 guage Double I used a turkey roasting pan on my Coleman gas stove to boil the water.

Because of the length of the pan I ended up having to not only turn the barrel end for end but I had to use a Pyrex measuring cup to dip the boiling water and then pour it onto the middle of the barrel.

It took a lot of boiling and a lot of dipping but when I was finished, the barrel became a nice uniform black.

 

[M. De Land]

I have been sand and bead blasting before rust bluing or browning with very good success.
One needs to get to the bottom of the pits to loosen the corrosion and get to clean steel.
Sand blasting does that very well and the glass beads smooth up the rough cuts from the sand grains and makes a perfect surface texture for LMF solution to bite into. Mike D.

 

[Eric D.]

Thanks for all the help, I think I'll Borrow a sand blaster to clean deep in the pits. I don't have the heart to file and sand that much metal off the gun, maybe next time I refinish it. Great idea about the rain gutter to boil the parts in, I think I have some laying around here somewhere.

 

[Jason Lewis]

I use a 3" dia PVC pipe with a cap glued onto one end, I place the barrel in the tube with an old coat hanger through the tang bolt hole to pull it out of the tube. I then pour boiling distilled water in the tube and let the heat do it's thing. takes a couple of go rounds but it works just fine.

 

[mike3132]

I use a 3" dia PVC pipe with a cap glued onto one end, I place the barrel in the tube with an old coat hanger through the tang bolt hole to pull it out of the tube. I then pour boiling distilled water in the tube and let the heat do it's thing. takes a couple of go rounds but it works just fine.

Thats how i do too but i dont use the coat hanger. Put the barrel in the tube and poor boiling distilled water in. The key to a good LMF bluing is warm area with high humidity so the barrel will rust. I put a heater and humidifier in the bath room and hung the barrel on the shower rod. Kept the humidity up around 80%. I ended up doing the rust treatment 5 times and turned out with a great bluing job. Mike

 

[Barry Duggan]

If you don't mind me asking, what do ya'll use to plug or seal off the muzzle end of the bore, while all this rusting is going on? Rubber/cork stopper?

 

[necchi]

Just oil the bore well, the rust won't start where there's oil.

 

[jdkerstetter]

I do as necchi but also use a cork to plug the bore. I don't want to risk oil contaminating the process. Enjoy, J.D.

 

[wulf]

Zonie, you live in Arizona. I would let sit out
in the sun till it got good and warmed up then
do the boiling water bath. It will take far less
to get it hot enough to rust blue...I worked in
the hot sun and could barely touch metal tools.
That would be my first thought...it might work.
Wulf