and for some of us, acid is a rust bluing solution.
Hope you have been well Bill.
All my best,
Steve
I have been well Stevie... thank you for your most sincere good wishes.
I'd be even better if you could share with us what acid you use for a rust bluing solution. I am aware that most rust bluing solutions contain one or more acids, in addition to several other ingredients. But none I know of is straight undiluted acid; not those in Angier's book, or anywhere else I've seen a formula. And I've researched and tried a lot of rust bluing and browning formulas until our friend Doug Woodin (PA24) shared his formula with me.
The very first rust bluing formula I ever used was a mixture of 60 cc of concentrated Nitric acid, and 40 cc of concentrated Hydrochloric acid. In this, I dissolved all the degreased wire nails it would consume in a ceramic crucible. After all of the violent bubbling and fuming subsided, I decanted the liquid, and diluted it with 1000 cc of distilled water. The resulting solution rusted my highly polished parts very quickly, and took around 8 or 10 rusting, boiling, and carding cycles. By the time they were a nice deep blue-black, I was also left with a matte finish because it was too aggressive. Even though my acids had consumed all those iron nails, and then was diluted over 10:1 with water, I should have diluted it quite a bit more, and kept my rusting cycles shorter. It looked nice, and was very durable, but it was not as glossy as I had hoped for.
Even when I use acid to remove rust or old blue, I find it needs to be a rather dilute solution, or it will etch the steel. Common white vinegar removes blue quite well, and it is only about 4 to 8% acetic acid. That's why I am curious about what acid would make a good rust bluing solution, and not remove the finish as fast as it was formed???
