TC Hawken Brass

[bwhoffman]

Evening folks,
month and a half I posted on a hawken kit I stumbled into and posed some questions.
Stock came out nice and ow I want to darken the brass. Someone chimed in about putting the furniture in ammonia, either submerged or by vapors and would give almost a black chrome appearance.
Can anyone elaborate on this??
currently all brass has been polished and cleaned and is soaking in straight ammonia in a gallon ziplock.
anyone have insight?

Brett

 

[bob1961]

i used birchwood caseys perma blue on my brass fer my T/C hawken....just swaged it on and paper towled it off....thats one way of doing it...........bob

 

[davy]

Evening folks,
month and a half I posted on a hawken kit I stumbled into and posed some questions.
Stock came out nice and ow I want to darken the brass. Someone chimed in about putting the furniture in ammonia, either submerged or by vapors and would give almost a black chrome appearance.
Can anyone elaborate on this??
currently all brass has been polished and cleaned and is soaking in straight ammonia in a gallon ziplock.
anyone have insight?

Brett

Well I suspended my parts in a sealed gallon bucket filled part way with ammonia, leaving the parts a couple of inches above the ammonia. Left them for a day or two and they tarnished nicely. :hatsoff:

Davy

 

[paulvallandigham]

A simpler and faster way to tarnish brass is to make a paste of a small amount of black powder, and rub that on the brass. Instant tarnish!

 

[CrackStock]

I have heard the smearing of black powder residue to darken brass many times. I tried it and it left a splotchy and ugly finish which got me through a few deer seasons, but I prefer prettier effect on my guns these days. Does the ammonia method give a pleasing finish?

By ammonia, I assume that you mean household bleach?

Thanks,
CS

 

[Russianblood]

Bleach and Ammonia are not the same thing.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Ammonia is not bleach. It is sold as a cleaning agent, and is best used to clean glass windows. You should find a generic brand cheap at the grocery store.

The splotchy look will disappear with time, or if you apply the powder several times. It still is faster to do it that way than hanging parts over a dish of ammonia. If you are going to do the ammonia thing, do it outside. The fumes are terrible and can burn your eyes, and other soft membranes.

 

[Zonie]

I agree with the statement "do it outside" but let me add the items being darkened and the ammonia need to be in an airtight container so the fumes can evaporate from the solution and surround the part.

When you open the container, stand up wind of it.

 

[paulvallandigham]

I agree with Zonie. If you have a 5 gal. plastic bucket, and you can suspend the trigger guard and other parts off the bottom, then you can simply pour some liquid ammonia into the bottom of the bucket, put the parts on hangers , and then put the lid on the bucket and leave them for a week. If you don't have a bucket, I have made good use of Garbage bags, tied off well. I prefer to put a bucket, or pan in the bottom to hold the ammonia, but with the bag, you can place the parts in the bag, and not necessarily above the pan of ammonia, to get the desired effect. Just be careful to mot punch any hole into the bag, or use at least two bags, one on top of the other, to insure that the ammonia does not evaporate, and no more air enters the space. There are other, less caustic substances you can use to darken the brass, including vinegar, in you kitchen. Even mustard, and tomato sauce can do the trick, or anything else with citric acid, such as lemons and oranges. Their big advantage is they are easier to handle, and smell a lot better than ammonia.

Let us know how it comes out.

 

[bwhoffman]

what will the end result be?
will it give an aged tarnished look or will it actually blacken or make real dark?

I had all the brass on my just assembled hawken totally submerged for 48 hours and results were minimal, with the most change on the trigger gaurd, that being very dull and the appearence of being blasted with fine sodium bicarb.

Your insight Paul?

Thanks,
Brett

 

You do not submerge the parts, you hang them above the amonia. The fumes do the work, not the liquid.

 

[paulvallandigham]

ghost has it right. This is an oxydation process. If you dunk the parts, they get no oxygen to speak of. You have to suspend the parts over the ammonia. As to what color they turn, it usually begins with a dull patina. You can buff the parts with a coarse cloth, such as burlap, if there seems to be uneven color. Basically, if you just leave the parts un- oiled, They wil develope a patina all by themselves. You asked for a quick way to do this, and that is what is being suggested by using ammonia- a common household cleaner- black powder( really the sulfur in the powder is what combines with Oxygen and Hydrogen to form Sulfuric acid, and tarnishes the brass, while the water dilutes it enough that it won't eat holes in the brass doing so), and other acids you have in your kitchen. Apple cider will give brass a nice patina in no time, for instance. Just wipe some on and let it evaporate in the air.

to clean the brass back to shiny, you reverse the process by mixing salt( alkaline) with a weak acid like citrus acid, and rub it on the brass. The two chemicals will remove the oxides from the brass in the process of neutralizing each other.

 

[bwhoffman]

... learn something every day!

Thanks for the clarity.

Brett

 

[paulvallandigham]

Brett: YOu are entirely welcome. One of the few nice things about growing older is that you can help other people learn things that you screwed up doing many years ago, and had almost forgotten that you knew now how to do it correctly! It is a comfort when I recall all the things I have done wrong, to know I can help someone not go through that frustration, and occasional pain! If I knew I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself!