doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Old Rust Bluing Technique

Eugene, you are correct that Angier gives priority to the anhydrous form in Chap III subsec 6under the discuss Anhydrous and hydrated salts.(p33) However on p45 under Copper salts he contradicts himself Stating Copper Salts are a very frequent component of brownes...........They are all hydrated salts, their relative compositions being: CuSO4, 5 aq . My source is reagent CuSO4,5H2O. I have found that any increase in Copper ions/mole count much above that stated in my earlier response results in a certain coppering during initial coatings.
I have used the above formulation with good results.

Fine will try it mine too is the h2o variant being blue cheers fellas

Having looked at this further and was about to mix...it turns out Nitric Acid here in the UK isn't that simple to get and I'm having second thoughts on mixing this lot together...

Anyone know of a good off the shelf product? If not can someone placate me on the mixing process.

T

Hi Toby. I've been trying the process on my Lancaster sidelock barrels and it's going pretty well...even with my current browning solution as the rust activator. Looking forward the proper stuff. I've got the dreaded bleeding ribs problem, just a tiny little bit near the breech end...I'm on top of it but it is a right royal pain in the arse! I'm at about my 5th cycle now and the barrels are a nice deep grey rather than I would say "black" so I just keep going until I'm happy? Then is there a fixing process you would recommend prior to oiling at the end?

Regards,
Tony

I assume your bleeding ribs problem is causing spotting or uneven rusting. I've found that often times, I can get the solution to "take" on problem spots by adding a few drops of 99% isopropyl alcohol to a bit of my rusting solution and lightly rubbing it in to the offending area with a small pad of very fine steel wool. The alcohol seems to help it cut through the contamination and the steel wool helps blend it into the darker surrounding areas. Rub very lightly and wipe the area with brown paper towels if it doesn't take right away. I do worry about having some of these corrosive rusting and etching solutions remaining trapped between barrels/ribs and wonder how best to deal with the problem short of relaying ribs. Even with that, are we sure we are getting over 100 combined inches of absolutely perfect solder joint?

Don't use any penetrating or rust busting oils at the end such as WD-40. They will remove some of the black rust you worked so hard to get.

OK thanks might try this. I'm keeping on top of it, just, but it is a pain.