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What's the consensus on Kibler rifles Steel finish?

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longcruise said:
I see where I'm going wrong! I'm not holding my mouth right. 😋

My next build is going to be all steel polished bright and left that way. Thinking about taking the blue off my TC locks and barrels and polishing bright
Click to expand...
lol, I remember as a kid my Dad would be working on something and looked exactly like that… too Cool 😎
 
I’ve done a few. I’ve used Jax Black. I’ve browned but I rust blued my last Woodsrunner. It is my gun that I hunt with. I will never do one for me that is not rust blued. It is now my favorite. I don’t care if someone says it wasn’t done. Many use short starters. Did they exist at that time?
 
Of a many, many flintlocks I’ve seen for sale at TOW by major builders, the vast majority are browned. These were older builds where I surmise browning was used to replicate how the metal parts would look after aging decades. Nowadays I view metal staining/etching as an easier method. But it affords no metal protection, which is what I want.
 
I’ll also add an example. The top gun is done with Jax Black. The bottom is rust blued. The second pic is the rust blued barrel.
 

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longcruise said:
I see where I'm going wrong! I'm not holding my mouth right. 😋

My next build is going to be all steel polished bright and left that way. Thinking about taking the blue off my TC locks and barrels and polishing bright
Click to expand...
Remember, Hawken rifles of the early 1800s were blued. T/C rifles are more Ohio style than Hawken style. Me impression is most Ohios were either blued or browned, not bright.
 
Brown it. I don't know if that is the period correct finish or not, but I think it looks best and is
probably the most durable.
 
All three methods were used but late 17 - 18 th century were mostly brown or blued according to records of the time. Seems no !after what you do you can't go wrong.
 
Built my colonial in July 2019 , left in the white. Today it looks a bit unkept. I may repolish and brown it. Built a smr in 2021 and browned the metal. The steel castings have a beautiful and unique appearance. They were filed , sanded , and buffed with a wheel before browning. The barrel was draw filed and sanded to 320 and browned . Barrel has a more course appearance and steel took finish faster with fewer applications of solution.
 
To my eye nothing looks better then brown.. I only own one browned right now.
I like cold browns but as that gun shows hot brown looks as good and you will find it as tough
 

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