Thank you gents for the replies to this, it certainly clarifies some things. Another question. After your rusting do you card ALL of the rust off or leave some? What’s your approach to this? I’ve been leaving a small amount when boiling and it seems to work better. My LC Smith barrels were originally black and a matte grey finish. I’ve confirmed this. So getting an extremely high contrast is essentially not possible vs. black and white barrels. I’ve made great progress since beginning and I believe I’m getting close to what I want. I’ve been rusting twice prior to boiling on the last 3 iterations. It appears to be working better this way. If you guys think I should change I’d appreciate your input on that. Thanks again, Richard
