Hi Steve.
Now to give a tutorial on how to Rust Blue if we look at it in a wider context there are folks who do this work for a living on your side of the pond and also here for that matter, so I have no wish to take the bread out of their mouths as we say here in Britland.
But I can see no reason why I can give some information on how to get the basics right so the first thing is to purchase Angiers book on Amazon at the moment a hard back reprint is selling for 8 sterling (about $12), now even if you have no intention of doing the work your self the information it contains on how to go about things is priceless.
Now I do not know how things are with regards to encouraging American Citizens to purchase toxic chemicals with all the disposal ramifications they bring with them. So I will give the location and page of the formulas I personally use in the book.
Word of advice do not start by rust bluing your favourite gun or your most expensive vintage Brit gun in your collection either walk first run later. So what to practice on well that is the easy part 1/8inch mild steel 2 inches wide about 30 inches long strait if possible the length is to give you the experience of handling 30 inches of hot metal without burning your self and of course you have to polish the surface to the correct finish to start with I take the surface to a final grit of 600 wet and dry paper sorry I have no Idea what the US equivalent to that would be.
The name of the process is SLOW Rust Bluing some how slow has disappeared over the years and that is the first thing to take note of, the slower the rust forms the finer the surface rust particles are and the easier it is to obtain a good gloss.
Now because Britland is surrounded by vast amounts of water we have a Maritime climate damp and wet so unprotected steels rust extremely easily so need for a damp box to put the barrels in so I have no experience at all about using one so I am no help there.
The formulas I use are
Page 89 C20 Swiss Black
Page 83 Formula K Birmingham Black also good for Damascus twist barrels
for Browning though you do not boil the barrels of course.
Page 72&73 Express bluing all done in about half an hour though extremely toxic DEFINITELY NOT FOR THE BEGINER
Now you must degrease the barrels well my personal preference is a strong solution of Caustic Soda (Sodium Hydroxide)
Now what ever formula you choose to use you must apply it sparingly and as even as you can trying not to overlap too much and you MUST use gloves at all times for two reasons one to keep the chemicals of your skin and two keep your skin away from the barrels so you dont leave fingerprints.
Use distilled or de-mineralised water to boil the barrels in I always give the barrels a good 20 minuets boiling. My source of water is from a de-humidifier we use in our wet winters I keep a couple of gallons in plastic bottles.
Now the all important carding of the rust after boiling.
To obtain a semi mat finish I card the rust with a fine wire brush driven by a polishing head (fine carding brushes are available from gunsmiths sundries suppliers) this method speeds up the process but the finish is not as good as using fine steel wool.
I use semi mat barrels for pigeon shooting because hi gloss barrels reflect the light and it is as good as waving a flag saying I am here!!!
The more glossy finish is obtained by using Steel Wool 000 grade or 0000 if you can get it but you must remove its protective oil finish first I soak in Petrol or what we call white spirit.
Now by using fine steel wool you impart a finer finish as you rub to remove the rust after boiling. Though this method is far slower and requires more effort on your part if a gloss finish is what you want that is the way to go.
It all sounds so easy when written down but you must keep in mind that there are so many formulas because not all metals are the same and what formula works on one set of barrels may not work as well on another so you will develop the experience to make a good job of things in time.
Good luck
Last edited by damascus; 09/01/13 09:17 AM.
