doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Boiled linseed oil after bluing?

English gunmakers may have coated barrels with "boiled" linseed oil in the past. However, just like most things "boiled" linseed oil is new and improved from the old days and it is not boiled but processed and part of that process includes chlorine. Do you know what chlorine and chlorides do to steel, especially when the steel or the solution is hot?

One of Jack Rowe's colleagues used boiled linseed oil instead of the regualr "raw" linseed oil that he normally used to heat and bend stocks. Guess what, he had to reblue and re-color case hardened the gun, as the hot boiled linseed oil with it's chlorine did a trick.

Play it safe and use something less likely to play havoc with your shooting instrument.

Bushveld beat me to it, I was about to make the same comment on Boiled Linseed Oil not being the same.

A method I've used in the past which works very well is to heat the barrel(s) with boiling water until they'te almost too hot to handle, then rub on melted pure beesway, the heat of the barrels lets the wax flow into all the angles, seams and corners. Set aside the part to cool,

When cold, polish off any surplus wax with a soft cloth, it leaves a beautiful and waterproof finish. It can be renewed if and when necessary

I suggested this method to an American friend of mine who has a lot of rifles and he was so pleased with it he doesn't use anything else on the exterior of his firearms. Attached is a link which shows a Highwall he rebarrelled, stocked, acid fume blued and waxed.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k206/Rifleman_01/Hiwallafteracidfumeblueingandwaxing.jpg

Harry

Hello Harry,

Beautiful finish! Here it is directly:


JC

Does it matter how you heat the barrels? When you are applying the wax to the receiver, does the hot water have any impact of the wood? Or do you have to be very careful not to get the hot water on the wood?

Canvasback

CB, you should not get water on the wood. The process should be done with the barrels and action disassembled from the stock, unless you are planning on redoing the wood. This if you are talking about a rifle. For shotgun barrels it is easy.

I was thinking that to avoid the water method, you could heat the whole rifle leaving it in the inside of a car (weather permitting) until it is hot enough to apply the wax. OTOH if you do no disassemble (in the case of a rifle) you will not be able to coat the whole barrel.

JC

LOL I live in Canada and it will be a long time now before it's hot enough on the inside of my car. But thank you for the answer. That's what I expected but wanted to make sure.

CB

Weather permitting, but you could also use a hair dryer I suppose. Or you could wait
for summer.

JC

[/quote]
Does it matter how you heat the barrels? When you are applying the wax to the receiver, does the hot water have any impact of the wood? Or do you have to be very careful not to get the hot water on the wood?

Canvasback [/quote]

Hello canvasback,

The metal parts could be heated in several ways, boiling water was what I used, but that was some decades ago, my friend also used the rinse tank from his hot blueing outfit, a hot air gun would possibly be better than a hair dryer, just as long as it doesn't start melting solder if present.

With the Hiwall the gun was being rebarrelled for long range BPCR target work or Silhouette animals.

The action was stripped and all parts were correctly polished by hand, all the parts and the barrel went into the fume tank and were all fumed together. When the fuming process was finished, the barrel and the action were put together and then waxed. The rest of the actions internal parts were individually waxed before assembly. The stock was new wood carved mainly with an angle grinder.(Dont ask, I don't know how he does it. lol)

Never work with water on a rifles metalwork without removing the all woodwork first.

Jaycee thanks for shortcutting the image.

Harry

Guys you do not need the linseed oil, you do not need to heat your barrels, take half a pint of new engine oil warm slowly and melt in a spoon full of vasaline, keep stirring until the two have blended together well then leave to cool, this mix leaves a nice protective coating on the metalwork and if you have finished your work well it will enhance the finish more.

Hello Harry,

You are welcome!

JC