Historically correct - Brown or Blue?

[mario]

If you simply want to dull the finish:

Remove the barrel from the stock. Wipe down really well and allow to dry. Wipe down with a solution of lemon juice and water (50/50) and let stand for an hour.

Wipe down with a hot, wet rag, allow to dry. Repeat.

After 4-6 cycles, it'll start to develop an nice "French grey" patina. After that point, wipe down with a hot wet rag again, and after it dries, give it a heavy coat of oil.

Then take it out and use it. The grey will darken as you use it.

Mario

[Stormrider51]

Mario,
Thank you for that info.  I've used other types of acid etching in the past but never tried lemon juice.  I'll give it a try.

Storm

[Captchee]

i had to go back in look this up as I couldn’t remember exactly
William B, Harrison :  Gunsmiths Manual  , Practical guide to all branchs of the trade ,1883
Library of congress :ISBN:978-1-62087-720-3

To Prevent Gun Barrels from Rusting .----
 Heat the barrels to about the temperature of boiling water, no higher , and then cover it with a good coating of copal varnish .Let its stand at the same temperature about a half hour, then rub of the varnish while still hot with a soft cloth. In this process the varnish  will enter the pours of the  metal sufficiently  to prevent rusting, but will not show on the surface after being carefully rubbed off as directed. A polished surface like that  of a finished gun barrel . Is not much liable to rust, and , indeed, seldom begins to rust , the rust starting  in the pores of the metal and finally working outward.. This being the case it would readily be seen that sheltering the pores by filling them with some substance impervious to moisture cannot do other wise then act as a splendid preventative

 While I have not  used copal varnish , I have used  linseed oil  in French grey barrel . It does work to some existent. However im not sure it works any better then applying a paste made from soda and then letting it  completely dry ,  then brushing it off  .

[Geezer in NH]

I have blued steel with DU-Lite products for commercial apps. Commercial accounts can be 6-8 dollars a barrel depending on the amount more = cheaper.

My son has blued by other methods Rust or Belgium blued, that takes many hours of labor. That may be 2-300 each depending on the time needed. WHEN THEY NEED FINAL POLISH OR FINISH ADD $$$$

[Muley]

I have a question that I hope isn't off topic.

 Hawken repros being built today are always browned. I've read many times when the real Hawkens are checked in areas that weren't exposed as to the elements that they are rust blued. Do you think this is the case, and why aren't newly built Hawkens using rust blue instead of browned?

[Kermit]

I think it's because "buckskinners" have only a passing interest, if any, in being historically accurate. If the big "primitive" doin's were to insist on all items being documentable, participation would plummet. But hey, it's better than the fantasy world of SCA events.

[Captchee]

i would agree that to   the  most hawkens would be blued , either rust or fire blued ..
 IMO the browning we often see today is do a  miss conception that it was what was done and that Bluing didn’t come tell later .
 Factually it’s the other way around . I have heard of some mention of early browns being offered but  myself , I don’t believe they were common .
 I also sometime wonder if folks don’t  or did not mistake browning for patina

[cb]

I have a question that I hope isn't off topic.

 Hawken repros being built today are always browned. I've read many times when the real Hawkens are checked in areas that weren't exposed as to the elements that they are rust blued. Do you think this is the case, and why aren't newly built Hawkens using rust blue instead of browned?

Partly due to the fact that rust bluing can and will revert to the brown stage due to usage/wear and time. So when looking at originals what once may have been blue 150-200 years ago is most often now brown.....also a lot of the parts such as the breechplug, trigger guard, nose cap, and buttplate were casehardened rather blued or browned - not the color case hardening necessarily, but a simple forge casing that leaves a sort of French gray finish.
And not just Hawkens - Henry rifles made with iron fittings during the 1830's were ordered as steel mounted, not iron mounted, an indication that the iron was casehardened thus a type of simple steel.

[Muley]

That makes sense. It's still curious that they aren't made that way now. At least a few of them.

I wonder what Don Stith recommends?