Tips on browning

[spugnoid]

I'm getting ready to brown a barrel with plum brown. I have polished the barrel with 240 grit and am quite happy with the finish. However, this is a used gun, a T/C hawken kit to be exact, and the barrel was never finished.

I removed everything from the barrel but the front sight which is quite stuck. I applied some heat from a heat gun and poured on the WD-40 and tried to tap it out gently with a brass drift. The only thing I succeeded in doing was to mushroom the dovetail on the sight slightly. Must be soft if brass will squash it.

I polished it up the best I could and I believe the browning will hide any slight finishing imperfections but I don't want to screw this up.

Also, should I be concerned with the plum brown getting into the screw holes for the rear sight and the barrel rib?

And do most people brown the hooked breech even tho it can't be seen most of the time?

I appreciate any tips you may have.

Spugnoid

 

[paulvallandigham]

I cn't think of any reason to brown the hook on the breechplug. Heat the barrel up so that water sizzles on it, then apply the Plum brown solution liberally with a cotton swab. Take long strokes, and try to cover at least 8 inches per stroke on each flat. Work you way up the barrel from where you are holding the flame. Don't get your nose in the fumes. A yellow scale will from on the surface from the heat and the solution, but this will wash off easily when you are done with coating the barrel with the browning solution.

My practice is to close the browning solution and put it some place safe, dispose of the cotton swab, and then, using pot holders, take the still hot barrel into the sink in my kitchen to scrup off the whitish residue on the barrel. I dry the barrel with paper towels, and than take it back to my work area. I heat the barrel up again, but this time I spray the entire barrel with WD40, which displaces any remain water, and burns oil into the pores of the steel along with the browning, to give the barrel a rich dark chocolate color. I leave the barrel to cool over nite, and give it a very good inspection the next morning in natural sunlight. If there are areas that didn't brown enough, or ( Heaven forbid) I missed, I strip the oil off with alcohol, then soap and water, and then begin the process over again in my shop. I suspend the barrel from a coat hanger hook from the ceiling or an overhead pipe, so I have both hands free to hold the propane torch in one, and the browning solution swab in the other. I move very fast, because the solution does the work, and rubbing it on the metal does nothing. I just slop it on, and move my heat up the barrel to do the next portion of it. I work from the bottom up, so that any spills or excess of solution flows down over an area I have previously browned. It doesn't hurt anything, nor does it seem to leave streaks.

 

[billk]

Paul,
When you touch up the areas that did not get browned, do you rebrown the whole barrel or just the area that needs to be browned?
Do you do one application, or more?
How durable is the browing coat? Does it wear off with time? What precautions/maintenance do you suggest over time?
Thank you,
Billk

 

[jtmattison]

Cold browning with LMF browning solution is much easier. You can plug screw holes so they don't rust. LMF gives a nice plum to chocolate brown finish.
I used LMF on my barrel and B/C plum brown on all of the smaller parts. It was a lot easier to keep small parts hot for the plum brown. Depending on your humidity level, you can get a good LMF brown finish in a couple of days.

HD

 

[bigdatab]

I'll add my vote to use LMF as well. It is almost fool proof. The results I have had are so good I can't say enough about this stuff. Best of all it's a lot more forgiving if you left behind a little oil from your fingers etc. because it's also a degreaser. The more coats you apply the deeper the color. Easy to do. :thumbsup:

 

[jtmattison]

Here's a pic of my LMF browned barrel.

HD

 

[paulvallandigham]

IHad some bare streaks that turned out to be imperfections in the steel, and apparently was slag that was rolled out into the steel when it was made. It would not take the stain, until I heated the streaks up very hot. I just kept heating the streak and applying the browning solution until I saw the solution begin to work.

I just hit the patches that second time. Then cleaned and dried the barrel, heated it again, and sprayed it down with oil. The next day, when I insected it, I was looking to see if you could still see where the streaks of slag were. I could see them, but my wife could not. So, just to be sure, I repeated the browning operation over the complete set of barrels again. The following day, when I inspected the finish, even I could not see any difference where the streaks had been. I then tried to scratch the finish with my thumb nail, and nothing happened. I cleaned the bores, and oiled everything, and put the barrels back on the stock. I was done.

I have not used LMF stains. I know there are people here who rave about how easy it is to cold brown a barrel with the stuff. Maybe that is true. But back when I was shopping for browning solutions, people were raving all about Plum Brown, and a couple of other commercial browning solution. I bought several bottle of stuff when I was at Friendship, deciding the little extra cost was worth not having to wait to have something new shipped to me. When I tried a little of each on a bare piece of scrap metal, none of them performed according to prior claims. They were slow to rust, the rust was very flaky, or powdery, and came off easy in my hand. I was looking at having to spend days to get my barrels browned. That is when I hauled out the propane torch and gave it a try. I liked the dark, hard finish that I got using B/C Plumb Brown. So, that is what I used. I have owned the gun for more than 20 years and the finish has endured several hunting trips and many more trips to the range. No scratches, nor bare spots from rubbing against anything. The finish is as dark, and solid as the day I finished that last coat. In very good sunlight, I can point out where the slag streaks are located on the right barrel, but even the guys I have shown them too have to look at just the right angle to see what I am talking about. There is no difference in color. Although I didn't expect to run into that problem with my barrels, when I was testing the compounds I bought, so didn't try the cold approach to the slag, I suspect that the cold browning solution would not touch this slag stuff any better than my plub brown did when I heated the barrel only up to about 200 degrees. I had to heat it up to probably double that temperature to get the slag to brown.

I am not speaking out against LMF brown. I haven't tried it. I don't have a gun in the works to try it on. It may be wonderful. But, it also might be more wonderful applying it on a heated barrel.

 

[billk]

Thank you Paul for your reply.
Billk

 

[LFC]

How should one prepare the metal before using browning solution? I've heard people speak of using some kind of sandpaper and/or steel wool. What grits / finenesses are good for this?

 

[jtmattison]

You can file the flats and then sand them to smooth them. I didn't do anything to my barrel. I wanted the freshly tooled look. It took the browning nicely and I think it looks a little more rustic.

HD

 

[LFC]

What grit of sandpaper does everyone like to use for this?

 

[jtmattison]

What grit of sandpaper does everyone like to use for this?

I'd say 220-320. Wrap the sandpaper around a flat file or the like. Make sure you keep it flat so you don't round the edges of the barrel flats.

HD

 

[LFC]

Thanks for the tip!

 

[Old40Rod]

With LMF I wouldn't recommend going any higher than 220, and 150 to 180 is preferrable IMHO to get things going. If you are having trouble getting things to rust up, try the next rougher grit.

 

[mykeal]

I've used both BC's Plum Brown and the LMF cold brown. The BC solution was used on two long rifles and 4 pistols in the 1970's and the finish on all 6 guns is still perfect. Very durable.

I just recently did a shotgun side by side double barrel with the LMF solution. I picked it because it could be used cold and I was concerned about warping the barrels or loosening the rib with the propane torch. I followed the directions carefully but was not happy with the coverage. I used a room humidifier under the barrels to try to keep humidity up, but it still seemed spotty to me. I used a folded up cotton rag to apply the LMF solution; I had used a large cotton swab with the BC product earlier and that seemed to be easier and give better coverage.

Now about 3 months later the finish is better but there are still some barely discernible streaks, and one very prominent spot that just wouldn't take the stain. Overall it's a good finish but not as nice as the result with Birchwood Casey's product.

Preparation for both products was the same. I polished them with steel wool (lightly, more to get surface contaminants off than to smooth the steel), degreased the barrels with a Birchwood Casey product and washed them in hot soap and water.

The LMF product was easier to use because I didn't have to use a torch or be concerned that the surface was hot enough. However, the BC product produced a better result, in my opinion. I will say that I've seen other work done with LMF that came out just as nice as my BC barrels, so I'm sure the problem was my technique; perhaps the choice of a cotton rag was a mistake and I should have used the large swabs.

I'm going to do a flintlock rifle this winter, and I'll probably go back to the BC Plum Brown for that. I'm just more comfortable with it.

 

[Vaino]

Years ago I tried the BC hot brown on a bbl and became ill from the fumes {2 wks} in an unventilated basement {dumb}and haven't tried it since. Perhaps BC has changed the formulation for a more user friendly browning solution. The next brown I tried was a cold brown from Davis and the results were excellent and did a few LRs w/ it although handling was critcal {no finger prints}. Then LMF was tried w/ just a "Dawn" detergent wash and hot water rinse w/o any precautions as far as handling. Results were just as good as the Davis brown but the LMF didn't require "hands off". Because of the deeper etching of either Davis or LMF that yields a matte finish, a draw filing w/ a light "brushing" w/ 220 grit is sufficient prep.Depending on the time, temperature and humidity, an assortment of textures and colors can be achieved w/ LMF brown and it has always given excellent results. Due to it's strong acting chemicals, the only neutralizer I've found that completely "kills" the reaction thereby eliminating any after rust, is household ammonia. A "sweatbox" is used for better control of the process......Fred

 

[jtmattison]

Due to it's strong acting chemicals, the only neutralizer I've found that completely "kills" the reaction thereby eliminating any after rust, is household ammonia.

I neutralized mine with a strong baking soda and water wash.

HD

 

[Zonie]

BC changing its Plum Brown formula?
Well, yes and no.

Many years ago it contained mercury which was given off in the fumes. They changed the formula to remove that metal but the resulting formula still gives off some pretty bad fumes. That is why it should never be used in an enclosed room.

 

[spugnoid]

Well, I went ahead and browned my rifle last night. Took almost 4 hours with prep and cleanup. I'm quite happy with it except for a few light colored patches. I may burnish them out and brown those areas again. I did 3 or 4 coats but don't remember which.

Now that I have an idea of what is supposed to happen I could prolly do it in 2 and half the time. For now I'm going to assemble it and take it out to the range. I can always work on it over the winter.

Thanks for the hints.

 

[Zonie]

Every time I've used Plum Brown (and that's at least 15) I've had to apply at least 4 coats to get it even. That doesn't include the times I had to remove the copper deposit left from having the metal too cool.

Letting the barrel/part sit overnight before applying oil will often even out the appearance quite a bit, and letting it sit overnight after applying the oil will also both darken and even out the color.

As I've posted before, I used to use PB for everything, and like most of the folks who have used it on barrels, I've found that it is a 3-5 hour job to get a fairly even color.
I still use PB for small, easily heated parts like lock plates, butt plates etc but I've switched over to the LMF for the large things like barrels.
Although LMF takes a day or two, most of that time the barrel or part is sitting in my sweat box so I am not "really" working on browning. I'm off doing other things like, "...And the sink isn't draining like it should...Don't forget to clean up that mess you made out in the storage room..." :grin:

zonie