Use heat gun for BC Browning?

[stewart.leach]

I no longer have access to a humidity box for browning, nor the pizza oven used several times to brown with the Birchwood Casey solution. Has anyone tried using a heat gun to bring a barrel up to sizzle temperature? Is there any problem with heating a section at a time?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[Tom A Hawk]

I have used a propane torch in the distant past but to be honest I have never been happy with the results with Birchwood Casey instant plum brown method. I guess it might be OK for small parts but I only use the slow True Brown solution now. It takes time and patience but I find the results much more pleasing. For small parts I use a tupper ware type plastic box for humidity and made a barrel box from PVC pipe.

 

[Scota4570]

It would take forever. I mostly use two MAPP gas torches. I check the progress with an infrared thermometer.

 

[Black Hand]

I no longer have access to a humidity box for browning, nor the pizza oven used several times to brown with the Birchwood Casey solution. Has anyone tried using a heat gun to bring a barrel up to sizzle temperature? Is there any problem with heating a section at a time?

Thanks for any advice!

All my cold browning was done by hanging the barrel from the shower-head plumbing and running the hot water every so often. The one barrel I did with BC, I used my home oven to heat the barrel.

 

[rusty]

I have used a Coleman stove to brown a barrel.

 

[stewart.leach]

Tom A Hawk's comment about PVC pipe for a browning box inspired me! Went to Home Depot and bought two 24" pre-cut lengths of 4" white pipe, two end caps and a joining sleeve. Glued on one cap and the sleeve to make a four foot cylinder. Second cap has two 1/4" holes drilled an inch apart to suspend the barrel. Taped the assembly to a stud in my shop area, pushed a damp rag to the bottom, lowered in the Laurel Mtn browner coated barrel and aimed a brooder lamp at the bottom.

Now I need to be patient for a few hours. Will burnish with Osnaburg scraps, recoat and repeat till it looks even.

Thanks Tom!

 

[Tom A Hawk]

Tom A Hawk's comment about PVC pipe for a browning box inspired me! Went to Home Depot and bought two 24" pre-cut lengths of 4" white pipe, two end caps and a joining sleeve. Glued on one cap and the sleeve to make a four foot cylinder. Second cap has two 1/4" holes drilled an inch apart to suspend the barrel. Taped the assembly to a stud in my shop area, pushed a damp rag to the bottom, lowered in the Laurel Mtn browner coated barrel and aimed a brooder lamp at the bottom.

Now I need to be patient for a few hours. Will burnish with Osnaburg scraps, recoat and repeat till it looks even.

Thanks Tom!

ATTABOY! Pretty much my same set up. I made mine horizontal with a hinged lid and a V nest to support the dowel inserted in the muzzle.
Now...you need to be patient for a few DAYS...

 

[Zonie]

I no longer have access to a humidity box for browning, nor the pizza oven used several times to brown with the Birchwood Casey solution. Has anyone tried using a heat gun to bring a barrel up to sizzle temperature? Is there any problem with heating a section at a time?

Thanks for any advice!

Birchwood Casey Plum Brown requires a metal temperature of 280 +/- 10 to 15 degrees to work like it is supposed to work.

Even using a paint removing heat gun, I think getting the barrel up to that temperature would be hard to do. The steel could conduct the heat away from the area about as fast as the heat gun can deliver it.

 

[kansas_volunteer]

I can char maple with my heat gun. It has two settings, one is Death Valley hot, and the other Who Opened The Door To Hell hot. A virile heat gun ought to do fine. Care must be taken not to let the heat drain into something else regardless of the heat source if you want things to stay sizzling hot for a reasonable time.

 

[rafterob]

I use a propane torch, best done outside. You can get a very nice finish with BC Plum Brown. It takes patience and multiple coats as well as proper conditioning.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Birchwood Casey Plum Brown requires a metal temperature of 280 +/- 10 to 15 degrees to work like it is supposed to work.

Years ago when doing a Mississippi Rifle Kit, I had heard horror stories of the results of uneven heating when using BC Plum Brown. I didn't have anything that I thought would work for an even, overall heating, and I didn't want to use the stuff indoors anyway so...

I took extra thick tin foil, and made a trough from it on the grass in the back yard. I laid a line of charcoal briquettes in it, a little longer than the length of the barrel, and lit them up. After about 15 minutes they were good and hot, and I suspended the rifled musket barrel parallel over the briquettes, by a wire through the tang-bolt hole, and a brass coat-hanger made to act as a sort of hook, inserted into the muzzle. I rotated the barrel back and forth until water quickly evaporated off when dripped onto the steel. I then applied the BC Plum brown using a swab. I did several full coats, then removed the barrel and rinsed with boiling water. It being still hot, it dried quickly, and then I applied fresh 30-weight motor oil using very thick hand pads, and rubbed as the barrel cooled. (Hey it was 1978, I was 15, and all I had was a copy of Foxfire 5 to give me some hints)

Worked great...

I did several more barrels for other guys the same way, after they saw mine and liked it ....

LD

 

[Sidney Smith]

I've used Plum brown on one of my builds, and I've used Laurel Mountain forge cold browning solution on the other. IMO, Plum brown produces a much deeper and smoother finish. I use a propane torch to heat up the metal. I would not use a heat gun.