Thanks Kutter and Keith
I really appreciate what you both wrote. After having tried it and then read your comments a lot of things made more sense. It took about 3 hours of work to get the color on the metal and it was initially quite discouraging. But once the charcoal began to consume itself, I noticed a lot more heat coming from the setup and the color appearing more quickly. Thanks Kutter, what you wrote really helped me to understand things. Next time, I will put the stuff in the grill and wait a lot longer before putting the parts in the charcoal and will have specialized handles.
And Keith, thank you, I had read such varying descriptions of charcoal and Carbonia bluing that I wondered if they were talking about the same thing. And I wondered why the rotating drum was necessary. Now having tried it and read your comment, I see how the rotating drum and having the charcoal tumbling over the parts provides the burnishing. That makes sense. Thanks again.
Yes, it is a hot, dirty and labor intensive process, but I could use to sweat off a few pounds. I think also that for the home gunsmith,it is a great technique to try in that it does not require a lot of additional equipment, provided that you have a grill to start with.
