To rust. Or not to rust. Laurel mountain forge browning solution.

[thatoneguy]

Alright, thanks! I will get started on that as soon as the tenons decide to get into place. Having hell trying to get these things on. And the sights as well. Thank you, sir.

 

[Col. Batguano]

Generally yes, but if you don't use as much water you can get the concentration higher and form it in to a thicker "past" sort of goo, and rub it in there really well with your hands or a stiff brush.

I never thought to use household ammonia as the carrier for the baking soda, but that would work too I suppose. The broader point is to be extra sure to get the stuff in to the metal pores to neutralize the LMF. After all that time to get to this point in the build, now is NOT the time to get a dose of the "I think it's good enoughs". Just because you've knocked off for the day, the chemical reactions won't if they're still active.

 

[thatoneguy]

Will do! Just gotta drill the holes for the tenons. Then I start the browning process.

 

[M. De Land]

LMF is my favorite browning solution for muzzle loading long guns and hand guns but I like the color so well I recently did a barrel for a rolling block black powder cartridge gun.
I really like the look as many of the originals have turned brown over the years that were initially rust blued.

 

[fishmusic]

One thing I have done after neutralizing is to coat the barrel with motor oil overnight. It darkens the finish and soaks into the brown. Wash and dry thoroughly and let the finish harden for a couple of days.

 

[thatoneguy]

I actually have some full synthetic Mobil 1 in my crx. Would that work? Or would it have to be oil oil?

 

[Zonie]

Synthetic automobile oils are just very high quality oil in which man has controlled the types of oil molecules that go into it.

It will work fine.

 

[Col. Batguano]

If you use old dirty oil and the hit it with a torch a few times, you can produce a very tough "blackened" finish.

 

[thatoneguy]

Awesome! Thanks! I start the browning process right after this post and I put on some gloves! I'm not taking the tenons off because it was impossible to get them on. Scarred my precious barrel a little. But sanded it down smooth. Figured the brown would take care of it. I guess I'm all set. When it's all done I'll figure out a way to upload a picture! I was 1cm away from messing up on the front tenon haha but I got it. Had to use a titanium drill bit to finish the hole. Alright gentlemen. I'm gonna strap on the family jewels and brown this barrel!

 

[thatoneguy]

Question. When it says "quality gun oil" what kind of gun oil are we talking about? Or will 3 in 1 work?

 

[Zonie]

If it was mine, I would look for some oil that was made specifically for guns.

There's a lot of sources but I think Remington gun oil is pretty good.

3 in 1 oil is ok but I suspect it has some very thin oil in it that is fairly volatile.
It seems to "dry out" in the electric fans I've lubricated with it.
Other, thicker oils and gun oils don't seem to do this.

Remember, the dry, hard rust that was formed in the browning process is going to absorb the first oil applied to it. This oil becomes the shield against air and water that would try to form soft red rust which we don't want.

I think I would even choose a good synthetic motor oil for the task before I would use 3 in 1.

 

[thatoneguy]

Well I put some Mobil 1 full synthetic 5w30 for 27 hours. But it says high quality gun oil after that. But I have some 3 in 1 oil. But cool! I'll pick up some rem oil from work tomorrow night. Do I just apply all over and leave for another 24 hours?

 

[smoothshooter]

Heat is not required for the LMF chemical.

 

[thatoneguy]

Thanks! But I wanted to know what the purpose of applying something like rem oil would serve? Or if it was just an extra care step

 

[necchi]

Really? Are you sure you want to enter this realm of gun ownership and associated gun care?

 

[thatoneguy]

Positive! Just never built one before so I'm curious as to the why's so that if something happens I at least have some knowledge to help me figure out what exactly happened before I start scouring google and coming up with 80 different answers. All I know about gun care is to keep it clean, clean it after every use. And rust is the enemy. I just had to throw out 2 of those 3 hardwired facts. So yes, I would like to know. We all gotta start somewhere I suppose.

 

[jimmy82]

Once you do it, you'll realize how easy it actually is. I've done three barrels so far with LMF, and they all turned out really good. Number 4 is a couple months out, and I won't be switching products.

 

[Blslopshot]

When I brown a barrel,I use a wooded dowel in the barrel hand use a propane cook stove to heat and a bottle torch. You can go to a weld shop and buy melt sticks at diffrently temps. I like to heat the whole barrel slightly to about 175 degrees. That way you don't get hot and cold spots then use the bottle torch to work the browning agent in and blend as you work. I like mine darker near the breach for some reason and blend out the end of the barrel.make sure u don't touch it while doing this and if you use a temp stick use on the underside and wipe off with steel wool. Best of luck.