Blueing VS. Browning

[rancher]

Besides the obvius differences in looks and application what are pros and cons of each type of finish? Which is more durable? Thanks

 

[boar]

Hot blue is the best, cold. not to durable. I had better luck for lasting with the browning. Dilly

 

[boar]

Hot blue is the best, cold. not to durable. I had better luck for lasting with the browning. Dilly

 

[Goldhunter]

Wow, you really like Hot blue. :grin: :rotf:

 

[captaincaveman]

so how do you really feel about hot blue? :rotf:

Josh

 

[bob1961]

it's that what ya call a cyber echo :rotf: ....

rancher....i've cold blued with perma-blue to get an aged look on my T/C hawken barrel that's turning more silver grey as time goes on, kinda neat looking, but it wears off with time :v ...........bob

 

[cowpoke1955]

Both claim to be durable. Since not everyone has a blueing tank in their back yard, I'll vote for cold brown over cold blue. Brown is not as reflective as blue, which is a big plus when hunting. Sort of like a natural camo.

 

[MercerLake]

:grin: Scratch a browned gun then spend a day hunting in the rain and the scratches just disappear. I wax my rifles with a floor wax with lot's of carnuba wax and it is nonreflective, repels rain. End of the day you can buff it and it will shine if you want shine, doesn't get much simpler for me. :v

 

[renovato]

If you like the blued look, rust bluing is more durable than hot bluing. I think it looks better too. Rust browning is very durable also. Either is a good choice, especially when compared to cold blue.

 

[boar]

I did my first TC Hawken kit with cold blue. I think I redid it three times as I used it alot. It has a hot blue on it now. After that I used brownig on the ones I did. The best finish on a ML that I have is on a Ozark Mt Hawken. It is the best, just wipe down and stays the same. The finish is not real smooth like my ones I did. I have one now that I am just letting it rust by itself, about half rusted now. Have twenty some ML't and a hot blue will out last a cold blue any day of the week. I like the brown for ML the best. Dilly

 

[ricklandes]

I like the Plinkerton rust blue. The finish looks very HC and is easy to do, just a bit time consumptive. I think I shared with the group that I used artesian well water to boil the parts prior to carding and the lime/minerals in the water seemed to give a better (read tougher) blued finish. Just be prepared the lime/minerals will appear as dust on the parts when they come up out of the water and hit the air. It is not a problem, just kinda scarey if you are not expecting it...

 

[Tim Clark]

I've had both, and I like both. each has it's own plusses and minuses.

But what I really, really like? Leave it in-the-white. Keep it clean and oiled, and over time (too much time for many) it takes on a great looking antique grey color. There are threads on this and other forums dealing with how to get the grey patina faster, just search.

Well, that's my two cents...

 

[john armstrong]

Tim Clark is right on the money. Authentic rifles of the golden age were left in the white or charcoal blued. For hunting I like the browned barrel for the simple reason that condensation seems to have little effect. It is already rusted. Bluing always rusted on me after an hour in the woods (might be my body chemistry). Also, I found that on sunny days the blued barrel, would reflect light causeing a shimmering on the barrel when sighting, making it difficult to shoot accurately (straight octagon barrel, not a problem with my swamped barrels). Hope this helps.

 

Authentic rifles of the golden age were left in the white or charcoal blued.

well not always......

"Pennsylvania Gazette:
Perkin and Coutty at the corner of second and Spruce Streets, Philadelphia, beg leave to acquaint their friends, and Public in general that they carry on the Gun and Pistol making in all it’s branches, where gentlemen may be supplied with Guns and pistols of the neatest and best quality, on the shortest notice and most reasonable terms. They also blue and brown gun barrels In the neatest manner”¦.. May 2, 1781"

the blue by this time may also very well have been rust blue.......
"From AN ESSAY ON SHOOTING, published in London in 1789:
"The last operation [in making the barrel] is that of colouring the barrel,...Formerly, the barrels were coloured by exposing them to a degree of heat which produced an elegant blue tinge, but as this effect arises from a degree of calcination. [oxidation] taking place upon the surface of the metal, the inside of the barrel always suffered by undergoing the same change. This, therefore, added to the painful sensation excited in the eye by looking along a barrel so coloured, has caused the practice of bluing to be disused for some time past. Instead of it barrels are now browned, as it is termed..."

There is good eveidence that at the time what we now call browning was known as russeting and browning during the period was what we now call rust bluing - rust blue being nothing more nor less than a browned/russeted barrel boiled in water which changes the ferrite coating from the brown stage to the blue/black stage.........

 

[renovato]

I've had the best luck with Mark Lee express blue. It's a little easier than Pilkington's also. I use deionized water for mine as I had minerals cause some discolored spots in the finish.

You can get a really nice, cheap, deionizer from aquarium supply shops. Perfect for do it yourselfers. I think I paid $35 or so for mine.

 

[john armstrong]

Awe, rust bluing, sorry for leaving that out. I would like to try that on my octagon to round JP Beck which I just finished milling. Will it fill in engraving? Should I blue it before inlaying my silver plack?

 

[paulvallandigham]

Yes it will fill in the engraving. Yes, you should blue the barrel before putting in the silver inlays.

 

[rancher]

I ended up cold blueing it and am already started. Maybe the next one (if there is another one) will be browned. Anyways, are there any tips to geting a good finish maybe not mentioned in instructions? Also I've noticed on some parts that I've already blued there is like oily looky spots. What causes this? Also in some areas there is an orangey colored dust. Could this be rust already?

 

[tg]

The 1780 + or- is what I have found to,be the date that "browning" would be correct on guns, possibly not all types trade, military, cilvilian may differ some in its use, Japaning was also offerd as a finish at the about
same time period in some advertisments. it would be interesting to find a perscntage ratio as to which was used the most/least during the last two decades of the 18th century.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Rancher: There can be a number of explanation for " spots " in the finish. The one I experienced was slag in the metal that was not made of steel, so that I had to heat that area up with a torch to get it to brown like the rest of the barrel.

Another reason for spots is that you didn't get the surface cleaned enough before bluing it. You need to use a very good solvent and cleaner, like acetone, to clean the barrel before bluing, or you can get bare spots, or lighter spots. Alcohol cuts through must oils and greases. But unless you are using denatured alcohol, the alcohol has additives that will remain on the barrel. That is why rubbing alcohol and isopropyl alcohol are not always your best choice for this kind of work. Now, if you remove oils and fingerprints by using a good hot water bath with detergent, and then rince the barrel of the detergent complete, and then use alcohol to clean any possible remnants of oil, grease, or detergent, you can usually get a satisfactory finish. But, you will need to heat the part to be blued up so that water boils on contact with it, to open the pores enough to get out all the oil and grease that may be on the surface.

Hot bluing involves several tanks, only one of which holds the bluing salts. The others are for cleaning the barrel completely, while hot, ( boiling them clean is a good description), and cleaning the salts off the barrel AFTER bluing. With four " tanks " in most set-ups, only the third tank contains the bluing salts. All have gas burners under them to heat them to boiling. When you do cold bluing or browning at home, you still have to take the care to clean all the parts completely to get a good result. If the part with the spots is small enough, boil some water on the stove in a large pan, and dip the part into the boiling water for a couple of minutes. When it comes out steaming, its ready to blue again. A second bluing should remove the spots.