Traditional Muzzleloading Association

Craftsmanship => Gun Building and Repair => Topic started by: paw on February 10, 2010, 11:11:20 PM

Title: laurel mt forge browing
Post by: paw on February 10, 2010, 11:11:20 PM

i am attempting to brown a new green mountain barrel. I followed the instructions to the letter. I have applied 5 coats and all Im getting is a mottely grey. I have had the solution several years and I am wondering if it has lost its fizz or there is some other reason it not browing. any thoughts from past experiences. this was my first time to use this stuff and many swear by it.

Title: browning
Post by: Shawnee Mike on February 10, 2010, 11:57:02 PM

That is a good question,
It IS possable that the solution has lost the part that does the browning. Some chemicals do change with age.
  Assuming you have degreased the barrel,And the temp is right.  I would drop the company a note and ask if the chemical loses it "fizz" with time.

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Post by: tall bear on February 11, 2010, 09:19:37 AM

Paw
I would think that your problem is lack of humidity.In the winter when my heat is on and the house is dry I have to brown my barrels in a humidity box.I made a box out of scrap wood,suspend the barrel in the box after lineing the bottom of the box with damp paper towels.Keep it covered for at least 6 hours,then repeat until it's brown.I have used browning solution as old or older than yours with no problems.

Mitch

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Post by: Captchee on February 11, 2010, 09:33:31 AM

in with tall bear .  but out here  the humidity is lowest in the summer . I to have a damp box . But I wired up an old coffee pot  to the bottom and suspended a light receptacle from the inside.  A 60-100watt bulb  and I get  a cycle of browning every hour to hour and a half  ,
IF im using the box to brown . A vastly large % of the time  I don’t .

. Just last week I used up the rest of the bottle of LM I had
 As I said , I don’t use it much . But the bottle had to be maybe 10 years old ,. I found it still a strong as every

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Post by: Gordon H.Kemp on February 11, 2010, 05:15:42 PM

Captchee , I used Birtchwood Carey Plum Brown on a TC barrel The only problem I had was it worked too well. A lot darker then I had imagined with only one applacation.

Title: browing
Post by: paw on February 17, 2010, 12:56:56 AM

thanks for all the input. It must have been lack of humidity because I ordered some new lmf browning from tow and got the same results just a lite shade of grey. although its humid outside I guess the heater in the shop dries the air out. I guess I will have to build a box and start from scratch
thanks

Title: laurel mt forge browing
Post by: Capt. Jas. on February 17, 2010, 07:04:24 AM

Here is a link to a swamp box

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Post by: Captchee on February 17, 2010, 09:37:06 AM

with out a box , its just alot slower .
 keep adding coats tell she starts to brown

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Post by: Osprey on February 18, 2010, 07:35:01 AM

What sort of heat do you have in your house?  I do all my barrels in my furnace room.  The oil furnace makes it nice and warm, door keeps it closed off, I just do a load of heavy towels or jeans in the washer and hang them in there to dry while the barrel browns, makes the room like a sauna.  Never had a problem using that system in any season or weather!