Jason holgate
40 Cal
Any ideas on a trough for rust bluing a barrell 43:" I was thinking rain gutter to boil distilled water on a Coleman stove but I'd like to hear ideas
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Rust bluing
- Thread starter Jason holgate
- Start date
Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:
Laurel Mountain Forge rust browning solution.
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Several threads in building section of this forum have suggested using guttering.
Jason holgate
40 Cal
Pvc pipe
Do you want a rust brown or rust blue?
Jason holgate
40 Cal
Rust blue
I made a trough out of a scrap section of gutter with two ends caps; laid across a 3 burner Coleman stove. Worked like a dream.
NRFord
36 Cl.
PVC cheapest. You do not have to boil the part, boiling water poured over part does the deed...
You can get a nice blue with various browning solutions, depends on the process you use while doing it which color you get. Boiling the parts in distilled water converts any iron oxide into ferric oxide (converts/kills the active rust), then card to get that nice deep blue. Either way you need rust to begin with to get what you want.
Hot dip bluing is another option but that's expensive especially for a one-time project.
Check out Mark Novacs channel on YouTube. He has vids explaining and showing the process for bluing.
Also, the nastier your water is the better the process works. Like find a bunch of old rusty junk and boil to make the water red in color before doing you parts.
Hot dip bluing is another option but that's expensive especially for a one-time project.
Check out Mark Novacs channel on YouTube. He has vids explaining and showing the process for bluing.
Also, the nastier your water is the better the process works. Like find a bunch of old rusty junk and boil to make the water red in color before doing you parts.
PVC also works well for barrel/ram rod storage. Cut to length, glue one end on, slip/push the other end on and stand it in the corner. 
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I used rain gutter and my turkey fryer burner. Saved my water from my dehumidifier for boiling. I've tried a couple different bluing solutions which include Laurel Mountain Forge, Rust Blue and Mark Lee's fast blue. The Mark Lee's product is hands down the easiest to use and gives a beautiful deep blue finish.
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High temp RTV sealant is all that I used.
Had a friend in my reenacting group who was a gun builder. He pickled the barrel of my longrifle. Pickling is not rust blue, but rather a good way to make a barrel look like it's at least 20 or 30-years ols. He used a gutter long enough for my rifle barrel and made a custom burner that went the entire length of the gutter. Then we filled the gutter with a 50/50 solution of bleach and water and lit it up. He learned this method from Hershel House. I had removed the factory bluing with rust and bluing remover (surprisingly easy); sealed the barrel with a wooden plug that had a hook coming out the end. The wrapped a bolt that was the same size and had the same threads as the touch-hole liner, with teflon tape to ensure a watertight seal. I then de-greased the barrel with rubbing alcohol.
We got that poisonous concoction boiling in his well-ventilated barn. When we had a good even boil with small bubbles in it. We picked the barrel up by the vent-hole bolt and the hook in the muzzle plug using some bent Haywire to cradle them, and put it into the boiling concoction. In just a minute or so, the whole concoction turned red because it instantly rusted the barrel. Half-way through we pulled it out of the boil and turned it end for end so we got little rust balls evenly throughout the barrel.
When we took it out, it looked like the barrel was ruined. It had thousands for tiny red rust balls all over the barrel. We let it dry for a while and then pulled out the plugs and took it to the bench grinder. Used a wire wheel on it to knock all the rust balls off and took the rust off most of the way. We didn't want a shiny pickled barrel because that would spoil the aged appearance of it. So we knocked it down until it just looked old and used and then oiled it well.
I don't really use this Longrifle anymore, but I'll have to pull it out of the close and get a shot of the barrel. After all that description of what we did, the whole point was that the gutter worked really well as long as you had a lot of butane flames spaced evenly across the entire length of a barrel. So just get some guttering, cut it to size if needed; replace the ends; and boil away. By the way a copper pipe with holes drilled evenly spaced along the top works well for a custom burner..
I steamed my barrels using a coleman burner, a pot of water with a cover with a hole cut in the top. I stood a length of pvc pipe over the hole with barrel suspended inside.
Felix the Cat
40 Cal
I'm with John on this one...
Steam barrels after browning with Laurel Mountain and then card with a proper carding wheel from Brownell, or use wet 0000 wire wool. Only takes 20 mins or so..
rinse & repeat!
I came across the steam method while researching how arsenals would refurb Krag's around 1900.
I apply the LMF then hang the barrel in a steamy hot bathroom. Gets a nice crust on it. Then wipe it down with a piece of old denim. I usually do this about 6 times. Then rinse the barrel in hot water and wipe with denim. I then heat the barrel with a torch to get any water or LMF out and coat with non detergent motor oil. Inlet it sit with oil on it for a couple days. Then wipe off the oil and cost with a rust preventative oil to help kill the rusting process.
Felix the Cat
40 Cal
Yep, that would be my browning regime as well. I usually use 0000 wet wire wool on the second or third pass to flatten the finish.. it looks like you have removed all the brown, but with a few more passes the brown comes back, but more even than before..
If however you are looking for a black finish, 20 mins in the steam pipe will turn all the brown to black.
I often give a browned or rust blue barrel a coat of boiled linseed oil to fill the pores after the initial soak in motor oil. It gives a better finish than plain oil, particularly on Damascus barrels.
