There are as many ways to brown a barrel as there are stars in the sky . Some ways can produce like colors . Yet others produce something completely different . As such you can end up with a color any where from deep chocolate brown to light brown to purple reds .
Some products that are out there , are really nothing more then a coating that rides on the surface . Others are Oxide stimulants and produce a brown that grabs onto the barrel when done properly . A true brown is nothing but Rust “Iron oxide “
There are basicly two types of brown . Hot brown and cold brown
Below is my process for cold browning
Personally, I no longer buy solutions . But LM is about the best out there IMO if your going to buy something .
Now that being said . LM is not what it used to be .
Here is how I do a browned barrel
1) draw file the barrel
2) come back with a solid block and paper down to 200-300 grit . . I don’t polish .. If 300 grit is good enough for the likes of Greener , Parker and such ,,, well enough said
3) I degrease the barrel . In this process I wear cotton gloves and from then on tell the barrel is done , it will never be touched with bare hands even when carding .
Now you will read where some companies state rubber gloves . Myself I have came to the conclusion that this practice is what many times leaves spots on the barrel .
4) now comes the part where one can put on a product like LM or one the make themselves . If you plan on doing lots of rifles then make up a solution is the way to go . it’s a nasty job and you must be carful . But once made , you will have enough to last most of a lifetime
5) the barrels go into a humidity box . Now this box isn’t needed but it does speed things up . With the box you can double the amount of cardings you can do in a day over just setting the barrels out side. that’s with or without a oxide stimulant . If you live in an area of low humidity like I do . A simple, cheep sweat box is a great help
6) after an hour or two in the box the barrels will be coated with a good coat of rust .
NOTE; keep an eye on things because you don’t want the barrels to grow fur .
the barrels are then removed “again with cotton gloves . They are then washed and lightly carded back with either denim or burlap under cold water . What carding does is remove the heavy scale . You don’t want to scrub the barrels . Just use enough pressure to start to lighten the brown .
7) the barrels are put back in the sweat box and the process starts again . Normally 5 to 7 cycles will produce a very even , smooth brown that looks as if you have polished the barrels . When in fact you have not
A Note on polishing here . You can actually polish to the point that you will pay the devil to get the rust to grow. You also can come out with an un even job . On top of that , the rust you can start to get is a staining rust . Staining rust can be a bugger to remove and many time even when removed will still produce a darker area .
once a barrel has a good even color I wash the barrel down with a whitening made from backing soda . This neutralizes any of the acids from solutions.. I then coat the barrel with oil . For oil I use I of two types depending on the color I want . Simple 90 W or Trany fluid . If you use trany fluid it must be the non detergent kind .
90W will give you a solid and sometimes dark brown . Trany will give that brown a read tint .” See the under hammer I did for Chair slayer a couple years back that he posted photos of , here on the TMA .
The barrel is kept washed in oil and not allowed to dry for a minimum of 24 hours . After that , simple wipe the barrel down , removing any excesses oil .
Now for a hot brown I use simple household bleach ‘Clorox’
WARNING : do this in a well ventilated area and wear gloves . Hot bleach can give you very bad chemical burns
Using a clean heat source “IE propane torch” I heat the barrel to the point water will sizzle . No need to de grease unles the barrel is coated in oil or grease as the heat will boil off most any light oils like from your hands and such .
using a clean rag I wipe on the bleach . You will see the barrel turn brown then a yellow to white coating will cover the brown . Keep your rag soaked and dripping in bleach and continue on down the barrel . Once the complete barrel is coated , I then card the barrel . Then re heat and apply the bleach again . Normally it take 3 to for cycles and you will have a very strong and even brown that a medium chocolate color .
Again with this . Carding is what makes the rust smooth . The process of carding removes the heavy scale and leaves only the fine small scale
anyway , hope that helps some
Topic: How to brown a barrel? (Read 1325 times)