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getting an aged dark grey patina look on barrel

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Joined
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From Cody Wyoming, now lives in Oakwood Illinois
I need the easiest way to put an aged look on a barrel. I have a barrel that I would like to produce an aged dark grey patina look to it. It still has some bluing on it that I somehow am going to have to remove first. Any advice or suggestions on how to get the old bluing off and start an aged dark grey patina look on. Respectfully, cowboys1062.
 
The existing blue was "factory" stuff?

If so, or if it was cold blued then there are a number of products on the market for removing blue on modern rifles - those will work fine (I'm a fan of Birchwood Casey products, but there is a number on the market).

To get that grey look you have two options.

1) start with the barrel back "in the white" and in about 150 to 200 years it will have that nice grey look if you occasionally oil the barrel :)

2) put a single application of cold blue on it. That will expedite the process by about 10X
 
I've used cheap yellow mustard and vinegar to get some grey on the steel. Polish and de- grease the steel. Apply the mustard with a little extra vinegar mixed in, as thick as possible. Wipe/wash it off after it begins to dry, and repeat.

P8200427 by okawbow, on Flickr
 
Removing Blue... the fastest way that I have seen was a gunsmith had a plastic bucket, gloves, apron, goggles, and a jug of regular Drano. He held the barrel using pliers. In your case, plug the touch hole or the threaded hole for the nipple, and put a cork in the muzzle. Hold the barrel over the bucket muzzle down with a coat hanger through the tang bolt hole in the tang. Pour the Drano straight from the jug onto the barrel and let it flow toward the muzzle and into the bucket. Should take the bluing right off...and then hold the barrel off to the side and rinse with water, followed by lemon juice and water, followed by water. Took about ten minutes when I saw it.

Naval jelly will work too....follow the directions for removing an neutralizing it.

THEN dry and apply the mustard to the barrel as suggested as above. I don't add vinegar to mine. Let the barrel hang and the mustard dry to a brown color and hard. Use a toothbrush and water to scrape off the mustard, then repeat. The vinegar is what is going to "stain" your barrel. You may want several applications, then some folks like to polish the barrel back a bit, some like it as it.

LD
 
Naval jelly to remove, then cold blue to gray the metal. Apply heavy and rub-back with a green scrub pad until it is the shade you want.
 
Remove your bluing with chemicals or steel wool and elbow grease. Do you want a polished look to your gray? Then polish it really smooth and apply several coats of Brownell's Oxpho-Blue cold bluing, knocking it off with either really fine wet sandpaper (1500-2000 grit) or 0000 steel wool between coats (that's a bit more coarse though). Be apprised that you may wind up making the corners shiny with that method.

The advantage is that you can apply it 1 coat at a time and sort of sneak up on the final color you want. If it's too dark, then you can knock it back with more elbow grease. Too light? Hit it with another coat. With the other chemicals you are more likely to get a duller finish, due to the fact that they are mild acids and create small pits in the metal when they are working.
 
+! :applause:

Have used this method several times. It looks good. also if a green scrubby isnt doing it, you can also use fine steel wool
 
I used some BC's Blue&Rust Remover with 0000 steel wool to remove all the old bluing. I then applied BC's Super Blue to the barrel. I then took the 0000 steel wool and brought it back to an even grey in color. I then mixed some Vinegar and Mustard together and applied that to the barrel and sat it away for a couple of hours to dry on. After it dried on I took a washcloth and cleaned off the vinegar&mustard. The barrel turned to a real dark grey in color. I sprayed down the barrel with some WD40 and used 0000 steel wool to bring back the dark gray to a lighter even grey color. The barrel looks great! Just what I was hoping for. The barrel now has that nice aged grey patina that I was looking for. Last thing I did was applied a film of gun oil on her and put it away. I want to thank everyone who gave advice,suggestions, and pics. It gave me alot of options to think about and I could not have done it without your help. Respectfully, cowboys1062.
 
You're going to want to neutralize that vinegar a bit as it is an acid, and will keep working away at the metal if it isn't.

Most folks neutralize their cold browning with several scrub downs of a baking soda paste mixed in with household ammonia, and do it several times to make sure they've gotten it all. After several hundred hours doing the rest of the build, at the end of the browning process isn't the time to get lazy and let the "it's good enough's" get to your thinking.
 
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