Out of diluted nitric acid solution for browning barrels. Any one know if vinger would work or some thing easy to obtain.
If you want that professional brown, then you want either the Laurel Mountain cold brown, OR the Birchwood Casey browning solution, which is a DIY browning that needs high heat.
IF you want to patina a barrel, in other words you have a rifle or gun that may have been sold "armory bright", or was bought that way then shipped overland and by canoe to where you bought it..., and it didn't start life browned or blued, and you want the exterior of the barrel to look like it has spent may days and nights out in various weather, misty, rainy, foggy, humid since you bought it, so has changed color as rust has started to form, but has been halted by you using oil...
..., you want to use
mustard.
Yes the inexpensive, yellow condiment, has a large amount of vinegar, but unlike straight vinegar, the mustard may be applied in a layer while straight vinegar will bead up on a metal surface like a rifle barrel. So you apply a thin layer of mustard to the barrel with your finger tip, after you have removed the barrel from the stock, and have degreased it. Hang the barrel up via a wire coat hanger and the tang screw hole so the barrel touches nothing as touching the mustard will remove it and thus not stain the steel. Allow the mustard to dry for two to three days. The mustard will go from bright yellow, to a dull, hard brown color. Using a soft toothbrush, you then rinse and scrub the barrel under some tap water (the shower works great for this), dry the barrel and repeat. After two or three applications, the surface of the barrel will be stained, but not in a uniform manner as you would get with Laurel Mountain. It also does not give you pits in your barrel as chlorine may cause, and it doesn't give your barrel a case of freckles as you get when using plain vinegar and it beads up on you.
After the third application, remove the dried mustard, rinse with a gallon of water and a 1/4 cup of baking soda, followed by drying and a coat of oil. You're done if you like the results.
if not, and you want a little less staining you can carefully using a very fine piece of emery paper and gun-oil (like 800-1000 grit) polish the barrel stains down a bit..., it's your choice. If you really don't like the results you can continue to polish the barrel back to an unstained condition.
I hit upon the mustard idea about a 15 years ago when working a barrel while at the same time having a very active 2 year old boy in the house. The advantage of the mustard is that it's also non-toxic, while nitric acid solutions, hot browning solutions, and bleach are a different matter.
LD
Topic: rusting barrel (Read 1942 times)