Inletting Black Is Messy Stuff

I thought I'd upload a status report, just to let folks know I'm still on the job. I think I got as much of that inletting goop on my fingers as I did the buttplate.

Comes off in the sanding stage, thank god. LOL.

Ames said:

Comes off in the sanding stage, thank god. LOL.

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Kinda hard on the skin, ain't it? Oh.....wait you mean the wood!

When I put inletting black on a steel part, I only want to have a very, very, very thin coat of it.
To do this, I use a model paint brush and just touch the tip of it on the surface of the blacking. The brush almost doesn't get any of the blacking on it at all.
I then "paint" the surface using multiple strokes, enlarging the area to extend the stuff over as large of an area as possible. Only when there doesn't seem to be any additional spreading do I touch the tip of the bristles to the blacking again.

For a blond wood like maple, the small amount of blacking on the steel part will leave an easily seen mark. With walnut, like your stock is, it might take a little bit more of the blacking but try to keep the amount you apply as small as possible.

As Ames says, even though your stock will end up with hand and finger prints all over it, it is no big deal. The sanding you will do before your finished with the gun will remove all of it.

In the old days, I read that lamp black ( which is essentially soot or a dry version of inletting black ) was used by holding the part to be inletted over a candle or oil lamp flame. I've tried it and its slightly less messy.

Tom A Hawk said:

In the old days, I read that lamp black ( which is essentially soot or a dry version of inletting black ) was used by holding the part to be inletted over a candle or oil lamp flame. I've tried it and its slightly less messy.

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Yeah, I used candle soot (lamp black) on the maple stock of my Caywood (mumble mumble) years ago. Worked great on maple. Tried the same technique on this project, and while it did leave an imprint, I didn't like it all that well because of the natural color of the walnut.

I'll try improving my painting technique, Zonie. I have some cheap artists brushes I bought years ago at Hobby Lobby.

I thought I was bad with that stuff.

Inletting black is why I steal my wife's lipstick samples

Yep. Lipstick on walnut shows up nicely.

Ames said:

Yep. Lipstick on walnut shows up nicely.

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Or inletting gold.

Hi Cruzatte,
You are putting it on much too heavily. The buildup on the edges of your butt plate risks hiding gaps. Use a stiff toothbrush, dip it into the blacking to get just a little on it and brush the part to be inlet. All you need is a very thin film that does not need to be opaque.

dave

I too use a small artists brush when I use inletting black. It does seem to get everywhere regardless of how careful you are. Takes a while to get it out of the cracks in your skin. My bench usually looks like a crime scene that the fingerprint guy dusted over looking for evidence.

You're using too much. You only need enough to just touch the high spots.

A word about using inletting black.

After the metal part with the blacking on it has been installed and removed don't just look at the wood to see if there is black on it.
Look also at the blackened surface on the metal part.

More than a few times I've seen almost no sign of the blacking on the wood but examining the metal part revealed a number of places where the blacking had been rubbed off. That was a clue to look closer at the wood and the need to remove some of the wood in that area.

Good gollly man, you aint supposed to take a bath in it.

You going to get that gun done in time to come to Iowa with it in September?

Fleener

Got one of the one oz jars from Track, used about half of it and was probably too sloppy with it.
If one of our most learned members hadn’t already used the name I could have probably changed my name to Black Hand..... it’s hard to wash off.

Hi Cruzatte,
Let me restate this: if you use inlet black too heavily you risk not seeing gaps along the edges. That is the primary reason to use it sparingly and wipe it off the edges. The mess or anything else is not important.

dave

Yeah that stuff is messy and smears too, which can disguise the actual high spot. When sanding, it will get ground IN to the wood pores. It comes off much more cleanly with scraping. I switched from the inletting black to using heavy black soot from an unoxigenized acetylene torch, though I suspect an oil lamp would be just as good. That stuff can smear too, but it doesn't seem to be quite as greasy.

fleener said:

Good gollly man, you aint supposed to take a bath in it.

You going to get that gun done in time to come to Iowa with it in September?

Fleener

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Maybe. My goal is the First Santa Fe Trail Plainsmen's October Rendezvous. If I get it done by Sept., all the better.

Holly molly! You used probably 10x what you needed. I switched to Prussian Blue, seems a lot less messy to me. Squeezed the tube into a small glass jar, dabbed with toothbrush then rubbed toothbrush inside red solo cup until I had a very light coating, then applied to part. I think that bottle would last me +50 gun builds.