How long before rust stops after barrel browning ?

[kyron4]

Finished up my barrel with LMF barrel browning. Took three coats and several hours hanging in the crawlspace to get a nice even dark matte brown finish. I lightly scrubbed with hot water and baking soda, rinsed in 180* distilled water, dried with a heatgun, and applied motor oil to the hot barrel for 24 hrs. I wiped it fairly clean and hung it in my room. Every day after work, I wipe it down with dry paper towel and get a slight orange residue on the towel over a week later.

Today I wiped clean with alcohol and gave it another light scrubbing with baking soda water, rinsed with hot water and dried. Then I wiped it down with ammonia soaked paper towels about three times followed by a rinse of hot water. Heated the barrel to about 160* -180* and applied more motor oil. I plan to leave it set for at least 48 hrs this time.

Should I get to the point were no rust residue comes off ? How long should I wait after getting no rust to know it's done ? -Thanks

 

[dave951]

Mine kept going for about a week. I did the cleanse thing like you did and for about a week each day did a wipe down with oil. It finally stopped and looks great.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I had one stop the day I neutralized it, the next two went on for a month or so, I got worried and asked the guys here like you did, they all said the barrels would quit rusting over time and they did.

I carded the barrels every now and then after I started shooting the guns for a while and got just a hint of rust on my denim patch. I would oil the barrel up and repeat the process a couple of weeks later.

 

[kyron4]

Good to know. I'm going to let it hang till the end of the week, heating up with a hair dryer and slathering more oil on it once a day. I'm itching to put it together and go to the range, patiences isn't my virtue. I plan to do what you did and just check it every few weeks to be safe.

 

[nhmoose]

From browning and bluing I would say 2 weeks as they will still be active to the metal even after neutralizing.

 

[hanshi]

I agree that a week or two should do it.

 

[Col. Batguano]

The heat gun opened up the grain / pores and residual acid got in there. After the heat gun you should wipe it down with household ammonia (which is thinner than the baking soda paste) and let it sit in there a few minutes. Repeat 2-3 times, but continue to keep an eye on it for a while as above.

It's sort of like stock whiskering. You just keep doing it until you don't have to do it any more.

 

[flconch53]

I used lemon juice to wipe down the barrel and then light oil

 

[tenngun]

I used lemon juice to wipe down the barrel and then light oil

That’s interesting. I’ve used baking soda and to be all hc wood ash( pia) lemon juice is an acid.
It’s funny how many cats we skin, to get the same results.

 

[Rob M.]

If your going to do very many barrels ...make a trough out of PVC or rain gutters , ends covered of course ...top open ....put enough oil in there to cover a barrel .I just use motor oil . After your barrel is to the point of brown you want put it in your oil trough and let it set there... Two days minimum but I let it set as long as I can . It kills off the solution because it will keep working .. . Before the trough I would just keep applying oil to it each day but it can many days before it actually quits working ...every time it looks dry you have to reapply oil to it . Can take a long time for it to die off . The solution is first , hard to get going but once it does get going ...its hard to get it to stop .

 

[bpd303]

I have always used Birchwood Casey Plum Brown when restoring old guns and new barrels. Works like a charm and no fiddling with it for weeks. Heat the clean barrel, wipe on plum brown, wipe it down with 3 in 1 oil when cool and done. For good measure another wipe down with 3 in 1 oil a couple of days later. I've never had one come back and the guns I own that I browned the barrel's or other parts still look good.

 

[pacanis]

If your going to do very many barrels ...make a trough out of PVC or rain gutters , ends covered of course ...top open ....put enough oil in there to cover a barrel .I just use motor oil . After your barrel is to the point of brown you want put it in your oil trough and let it set there... Two days minimum but I let it set as long as I can . It kills off the solution because it will keep working .. . Before the trough I would just keep applying oil to it each day but it can many days before it actually quits working ...every time it looks dry you have to reapply oil to it . Can take a long time for it to die off . The solution is first , hard to get going but once it does get going ...its hard to get it to stop .

^ This is all I've ever done. I've never neutralized, just let the rinsed off metal parts sit in non-detergent oil and after a few days wipe off the excess with denim.

 

[Rob M.]

Smart

^ This is all I've ever done. I've never neutralized, just let the rinsed off metal parts sit in non-detergent oil and after a few days wipe off the excess with denim.

...took me forever to figure out the easy way , I'm slow , LOL... The baking soda works too but its hard to cover the whole barrel ,makes a mess and just letting it sit in oil is do easy ... Plop ...there ya go

 

[pacanis]

Smart

...took me forever to figure out the easy way , I'm slow , LOL... The baking soda works too but its hard to cover the whole barrel ,makes a mess and just letting it sit in oil is do easy ... Plop ...there ya go

Yeah, me too. Probably because I like to follow instructions to a T.
I used to boil my metal parts in TSP, but found out of good squirting of non-chlorine break cleaner, an air compressor, and a good boil in water seems to work. But the cost is probably higher.

Boiling in TSP never seemed to reach the nooks and crannies like a good spray of brake cleaner does.