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i am working on black and white finish on some damascus barrels with the ferric cloride i rust and boil and etch when i get the black and white on my last etch i get a slight brown look in places any one else get this i tried a neutral bath straight from the feric dip helped some but still there thanks guys

Skitch, I've never done any rust bluing much less with damascus, but from what I understand about the process, placing the barrels in boiling water will turn the brown to black.
Steve

yes i rust and boil 4 times then etch then rust and boil 4 more times then etich for color when i get the color i like that is when the light brown color shows i thin it is from the feric cloride bath

Skitch,
Are you using new distilled water for each boiling?

no I change about every 4or5 boilings I skim it off with a paper towel each time I do use rain water or distilled

I do use well water to wash with but not boil

Skitch,
The ferric chloride will leave a bit of brown, no matter how well you've rinsed, as it is starting things to rusting again. When you've gotten the finish you desire, boil again in clean,[unused], water mixed with baking soda. When you remove it from the tank, wet card with 0000 steel wool, one last time. The soda should neutralize the FE3. Remember though, that you now have very clean and completely unoiled metal. Oil or apply some sort of finish fairly quickly, or it will start to rust again.
To give an example, my nitre salts came with instructions to start the nitre process within two hours of finishing the metal, or unseen rust could alter the process.
JIm