Rust Bluing?

[Hood]

Has anyone here tried rust bluing?

I'm curious how it turned out and some examples as well.

In fact, any type of bluing as well. I'm thinking about trying this on a gun and would like to have a deep dark almost flat black look to it....

Thanks

[plmeek]

Well, Hood, nobody has replied to your question, so here is a comment from a know-it-all that's never done it. Take my info for what it's worth.

Rust bluing is one of the more durable bluing finishes you can do.  Better than cold bluing and some hot bluing.  You basically brown the barrel with a browning solution and boil it in distilled water to change the chemistry of the iron oxide compounds which cause them to change color from brown to blue/black.

Most browning solutions will work, though from what I've read, a lot of folks like Laurel Mountain Barrel Brown & Degreaser because it is more forgiving in how you prep the metal.

You can vary the grain of the finish by allowing shorter periods for the browning solution to work, carding, and boiling in repeated steps until you get the finish you want.  This results in a fine grain finish.  If you let the browning solution work longer and card less, it will make a courser grain finish.  Some people rust, card, boil in repeated steps.  Some build up the brown to a final finish and boil just once.  Different techniques can achieve different final finish.  I know one master builder that can create a brown/black finish that gives the metal kind of an antique look.

Here is a link of a highly respected gun maker showing how he does it to achieve the ultimate rust blue finish.  Note his carding is essentially polishing.

http://www.finegunmaking.com/page60/page60.html

[Hood]

Thanks for the info!

[Captchee]

Im  sorry , I guess I missed the question ?
 Yes I have done a lot of rust bluing . Its just a mater of converting red iron oxide to black iron oxide.
 This conversion happens when  Normal red rust is   subject to  heat and H2O .
 Rust blue   was used on a lot of very fine arms made by the likes of Parker , Colt  and Winchester to name a few .
 As  the previous poster pointed out , the key is carding  often so as to only build the very fine staining rust . This added to polishing the barrel to at least 300 grit and boiling between  rustings  , produces a very nice  finish .  If you chose a matt type finish , simply card less often

[Hood]

Thanks Captchee

I have never tried anything like it, but I really would like to....
Any other tips or suggestions?

[Bigsmoke]

Once you have degreased the barrel, never ever touch it with your bare hands.  Always wear plastic gloves when you are carding.
When it has reached the desired color, stop the browning/bluing using a water/washing soda solution.  Washing soda is like baking soda, only better.  Can find it in the laundry detergent section of your super market.  Then oil the heck out of it.
Have fun, you should turn up with a coloring that the mass makers can only wish they could produce.
John

[Captchee]

well past what big smoke said .   I only  finish a barrel to around 320 grit . It does no good IMO to go any finer . Also when you card , card under cold water . i also like to use a piece of burlap . Just lightly  wipe the barrel down so as to remove the heavy rust  scale , yet leave a light  faint brown layer .
 From there place the barrel in  boiling water . You can pre boil  the water  and then place the barrel in a tank  and pour the  water over  it . However I find that  setting the barrels in  water that’s already boiling . Then leaving it there  for at least 15 minutes  sets the color better .
Also you will hear some say you need to use distilled water I cant comment on that as I  have never used distilled water . Just good old well water .
  I then come back and re rust the barrel again . IE , you let red iron oxide build up on top of the black . Then card and re boil ………….

 Now if your looking for that very fine shine and feel  to the barrel along with  more of a deep ,black blue like on a Parker ,  then I do things a little differently and more along  the lines of what  I do  when refinishing Damascus barrels.
  You start off with  the same preparation process   right on through the rusting  and boiling .  But I use a weak rusting agent as I want fine rust . If your using something like say LM , then cut it with water at least 50/50 . Seriously  you want that real fine slow rust  . Not the heavy rust that  creates pitting
  . I then  boil the barrels in a log wood bath .
 To make the bath your  going to need powdered logwood  and  ferrous sulfate.
 The logwood you can get from most any place that  carries trapping supplies.  I get mine from rocky mountain hide and fur. Costs me around 5 bucks for 2 lb bag  of very fine saw dust . You  should only need about 6-10 oz   for every 1 ½ gal of water ..  Next you will need Ferrous Sulfate .  To day we call it Iron pills . Go to the drug store and get the cheep  iron supplement. don’t get the one with a lot of other stuff . You just want “Iron Pills “.. what the ferrous Sulfate does is change the log wood from a red brown to a deep black purple . Add 5 tablets to  you mix . Let it set for around 5-10 minutes . Then put some in a jar and see of you can see light through it . If you can , add more log wood . It should be so black/ dark purple , that you cant see though it  .

 Now if you have never used logwood ,  well lets just say that  walnut dye , is kids play . So be sure and wear gloves or you will have black hands for some time . Also don’t get it on anything you don’t want to be black . I mean anything  or any part of you ..
  The barrels or barrel then gets boiled in this mix  for at least 5 minutes .  Then lightly carded .  The process then starts all over tell  you get the color your after

[Hood]

Thanks for the info!

[10thumbs]

I know this is an old post, but since I'm just now reading it, maybe someone else has the old-and-slows, too.
  At any rate, I've rust-blued several guns. The formula you use will determine the work, but since I tried Mark Lee Express Blue #1, I quit trying other stuff. It will also work for browning if you don't boil it right away. (Comes from Brownells'). I've tried polishing to 600, 400, and 250 grits, and just draw filing. The rougher the surface, the better it seems to work. Probably because the surface gets cut down to clean metal with rougher grits, but the final result isn't much different with the extra work, and sometimes it makes it worse. Draw-file jobs always seem to come out looking really good.
  The way the stuff works is, you use a heat gun to apply the first 3 or 4 coats, carding with a fine wire wheel at slow speed, then boil it for 5 minutes. Card, apply, and boil, etc.
  Each time you card it, it burnishes it smoother, so the extra work to buff it beforehand is useless.
  To stop the process, or quit for a spell, like overnight or next year, clean, oil and/or wax.

 If you have a double bbl, or another rib with gunk under or between the ribs, if it runs out when pulling it out of the boiling tank, it might turn brown and leave that stain, but some sanding there, another coat and wax on the whole thing sort of lets the dirty hater run off over the wax that comes out of the pores of the metal, preventing more stains.  -Just a trick born out of desperation.
 As far as wax goes, I like Johnson's paste wax, but only if I can get it on a hot bbl, or heat it to liquid after putting it on. That will be sure to get the moisture out. Otherwise it might rust.  -Learned that on my lathe before leaving home for a month, then had another job to do.
 
 As far as the old processes or recipes, horse urine is supposed to be a good "rusting agent", and if you can get the old nag to hit the bucket, there ought to be enough to keep you going for quite a while. Haven't tried that one. But there is an old book of bluing and browning formulas laying around here somewhere. ...so many drachmas of lunar caustic, so many gills of sweet oil of vitriol, etc. All greek to me.
 
 Though it doesn't produce a deep shine, rusting it will give a nice "sheen". The metal that shines the brightest is easiest to mar the finish on, so the rusted surfaces are real durable.
  Interestingly enough, any parts with a rust patina that isn't sanded off first just end up being brown with a satiny sheen from the burnishing of the carding wheel.
    I don't even want to go back to hot caustic salt bluing. I like rusting that much better.  Except maybe sometimes nitre-bluing for something not heat critical (screws, mostly).

[Hood]

Thanks for the additional information!