doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Damascus Browning Mixes?

G'day Folks
I have been a lurker for quiet some time and have gained a lot of useful knowledge from everyone that has posted here. My question is what browning mixes people have been using to bring out the damascus on barrels that need rebrowning? I know some people are very secretive about the mixes they have come up with but im not after an overly complicated mix or process. Thanks in advance for any help!

Cheers
Elwood

Hello Elwood.
Go back to this Forum and look for FAQ. There is a thread on this subject that might help.
Best,
John

I first use ferric cloride , clean , then Laural Mountain browning . Card off the rust , and do it all over again . This will have to be done a number of times before you see the pattern . Paul

From Graham Greener:

Russ,



I have the following recipes for browning barrels:



The standard recipe we use is as follows



1oz muriate tincture of steel – this is ferrous chloride

1oz spirit of wine – this is isopropyl alcohol other wise called or you can substitute ethanol, ethyl alcohol, fermentation alcohol or grain alcohol

1/8oz blue stone – copper sulphate

¼ oz strong nitric acid (concentrated)

1 quart of water



There is also a recipe for black brown or purple brown



1-1/2oz ethyl alcohol

1-1/2oz ferrous chloride

1-1/2oz mercury chloride

1oz copper sulphate

1-1/2oz ethyl nitrate with a little acetic aldehyde

3/4ox strong nitric acid (concentrated)

1 quart of water



The process of browning takes four to eight days depending on the temperature of the browning room. Either of the above mixtures are laid on to the barrels lightly with a sponge every two hours during the day and scratched off with a steel wire brush each night and morning until the barrels are dark enough. The acid is then destroyed by pouring boiling water over the barrels and continuing to rub them until they are nearly cool

G'day Fellas

Thanks a lot for all the help, had a good look through the forum and found some useful information! Many thanks for the Recipe doublegunhq it certainly gives me a good start, I also have a bottle of Birchwood Casey's Plumb Brown lying around and I am unsure if it would bring the pattern of the barrels out, has any tried and found it successfull?

Thanks for all the help!

Cheers
Elwood

Elwood; In my dealings with B.C. Plum Brown it requires to much heat for a soft soldered double gun. You would be better off to use Laurel Mountain Forge or one or the slow rust formulas given above by others.