First attempt at rust bluing...with house hold "chemicals".

The QB79 was looking a little long in the tooth...never did blue the LW barrel I fit to it, and the cold blue was rubbing off the 4130 pressure tube. Have been playing around with rust bluing for a week or two, and when I tore it down to measure a part for another fellow, I started eyeballing the tube.


Finished the barrel around midnight last night, and put things back together this afternoon. Pretty impressed for a first go, looking forward to the arrival of the "store bought" solution to see how it compares.

Not perfect, but a whole lot better than it was.:icon_biggrin:

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The .32 is likely to be the next "victim".:awink:

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Al

That looks really really good Al.

What did you use for the "Household" rusting solution? I'm thinking, hydrochloric or toilet bowl cleaner (Phosphoric based)?

Actually the solution is just a medium to speed up the process. You can achieve a real rust blue by just letting the parts rust....takes weeks.

Play with the PH of your boil water (use distilled) by adding a drop at a time of muriatic acid. You can move the colour from the warm plum black that you have to a coal black and on to deep magnetite.

If the colour suddenly fades during a boil you've gone a bit to far down with the PH, add water to bring it back up

Which commercial solution are you going with?

Thank you Sean. :)


Pickling the part with muriatic, then rinse and dry.

Solution is 2oz 3% hydrogen peroxide, 1/2 tsp white vinegar and enough sea salt to achieve a saturated solution. New solution each day. Peroxide is a darn good oxidizer. ;)

The peroxide with just a hint of HCL works good as a dip...makes nice fuzzy rust in no time. Have to keep rotating the part if you want even coverage.

Ambient humidity seems sufficient thus far, still might want a "damp" box.

Have noticed that if I card and re apply the solution while the part is still hot, the rust forms almost instantly...kind of a chocolate brown.

Thanks for the tip re ph of the boil water...hadn't read anything about that...will play with it.

Have a couple bottles of Laurel Mountain barrel brown coming...should be here this coming week.

Al

Things are looking really nice. The 32 looks good the way it is, but might look good with fresh blue.

From what I've learned if it's an express blue then the parts need to be hot while the solution is applied. If it's a slow blue then the parts are at room temperature. Most of the commercial solutions are express blue. From what I gather if you swab slow blue on a hot part then the rusting action is too vigorous and the finish will be matte.

The PH of the water is something I read in a really old text and it was just a final snippet. "The worker should be aware that the softness of the boil will affect the final color. This can be adjusted with a dropper of HCL".......and that all there was. I figured out the colors by experimenting.

Another trick that can save you several rounds is rub the first application on with steel wool if your using an express solution.

Not sure where my home brew solution falls into the order of things. The reality is that I got impatient just reading about the process and waiting for the product to arrive. Started thinking "How hard can it be to make steel rust?" and started trying different things out. This is the most "user friendly" of the solutions that I've tried.

One of the solutions used a decent amount of copper chloride(copper fittings let sit in muriatic)....on a hot part, it deposited a nice layer of copper. lol

The Laurel Mountain product is a slow rust...actually made for browning steel. From what I've read, it's easy to use and makes for a nice rust blue.

That book...online or print version?



Al

Still playing with rust bluing. Current solution is 2 oz 3% hydrogen peroxide, 1/4 tsp white vinegar and sea salt to make a saturated solution at room temperature.

Started in on the .32 . Finished the top end and polished a few bits 'n bobs before assembling it. I'm VERY pleased with the results...pics do not do it true justice. Hoping to have the tube finished tomorrow or Monday. :)


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Al

Beautiful job, Al :encouragement:

Sure looks like you have the system down to a science now!


Todd

Thanks Todd. :)

Not much of a science...stubbornness is the key...and I'm good at that.:encouragement:

After carding, the first 2-3 rustings don't appear to do much of anything....they are...a fellow just has to stick with it.

Very time consuming, but results in a much more durable finish than cold blue. AND...a fellow can do something else while the steel is rusting.

Al

Looks really good Al

Your right it's a game of stubbornness. Those first few coats that seem to produce no results are tedious.

But it does blow even professional cold blue out of the water.