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Rust Bluing with Mark Lee Express Blue

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SR James

40 Cal.
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I recently rust blued my English halfstock using Laurel Mountain Forge and was not happy with the results. I followed the same procedures I've always used to brown with and the blue finish was much rougher than I wanted; I think I let it rust too long and was not agressive enough in carding.

So I decided to reblue using Mark Lee Express Blue. After removing the old LMF blue (not easy BTW, it's very durable) I repolished and degreased the barrel and parts. To use the Mark Lee blue, you heat the part to 200 degrees and apply the solution. The part will flash rust whereupon it is boiled for 5 minutes. The part is then carded with steel wool and the whole process repeated until the desired depth of color is obtained. However, you do not need a boiling tank to do a barrel.
I made a scalding tank from two 24" segment of 2" PVC pipe joined together with a T joint with dome caps on each end (see first pic). The T joint and one end cap are glued on, the other cap is removable. Following the instruction that come with the bluing, the solution is applied to the heated barrel. Be sure to wear rubber gloves. When dry,the barrel is slid into the pipe and the dome cap is tapped onto the open end. It fits tight enough that it will not leak. I propped the tube on sandbags so it could easily be leveled. Boiling water is poured through the T joint until the pipe is full. You can monitor the color change through the T joint opening. After 5 minutes I empty the pipe by slowly rotating it so that the water flows out the T joint into a bucket. Once all the water is out, I remove the dome cap and slide the barrel out. It will be very hot and dry quickly, leaving a very fine, velvety black coating. The coating is removed by carding with degreased fine steel wool. It came off very easily and only required light rubbing. If you work quickly enough the barrel will still be very warm. The next coat of bluing is applied and will flash rust the barrel quickly. If not, heat the barrel slightly with a heat gun or torch. Once dry, repeat the entire process. The instructions say 6-10 coats will be needed. I used 7 but found that the barrel did not get appreciably darker after the 5th coat. Once the desired depth of finish is obtained, the bluing is neutralized by soaking the barrel in a solutin of baking soda and water for 30 minutes.

It took me about 5 hours to blue all the metal parts on my rifle, including the barrel. Once you get the process going, it is easy to get into a rhythm of carding, rusting and bluing. The finish was a very nice blue-black and very smooth and even with no streaks or blotches. I was very pleased with it. I'm sure I could improve my results with the LMF bluing but I found the Mark Lee blue to be very easy to do. You just need to set aside a large enough time block to do it.

PVC scalding tube:
DSCN2242.jpg


barrel after 3rd round of bluing, before carding:
DSCN2244.jpg


finished barrel, prior to oiling:
DSCN2249.jpg
 
with the picture in the sun like it was the blue looked great, I think you gat a really good color out of the product. Could you post a picture of the finnish gun when you are done. Thanks

John
 
My father in law and I blued the barrel and trigger guard of my NW gun at his shop, using Mark Lee blue. The technique he used involved boiling the parts to heat them, applying the blue, then boiling them to get the color. Card and repeat. It took about 5 applications, as well. Now, he had a boiling tank and propane burner, but even so I was impressed with how easy it was. I had applied LMF browning solution and scalded to get blue previously, and didn't have the quite the finish I wanted, either. Mark Lee blue left a very durable blue/black finish that was what I wanted.

Rod
 
I think the roughness I got with the LMF was my fault; I used the same techniques as when I brown with it and it produced a rougher finish than I wanted in blue. However, the Mark Lee produced the color I wanted. The LMF was very black whereas the Mark Lee was a blue-black. I'll post a better pic of the results when I get a chance.
 
A couple of notes...
1. Heat the parts prior to oiling to get the pores open for a better take of the oil.
2. Parts I have done often appear to my eyes as a graphite pencil grey color. The slaking in the the baking soda water mix turns it to a more true blue IMHO
3. This blue is nice to use on parts that have been heat treated so as not to remove the treating, yet get a good blue finish.

I like the ease of this blue. It does not seem to be so prone to steaks like others I have used, nor does it take as long.
 
I use the Mark Lee product too. It gives the best finish and is the easiest to use of anything I've ever tried. The finish it makes is also extremely durable. I tend to run 8-10 applications to get the deep blue/black that I want.

I broke down and bought a black iron bluing tank from Brownell's since I used to do a lot of finish work. This makes boiling barrels easy. I heat it on the stove across 2 burners and a small propane stove. Works great even without the propane stove! I have seen the same thing made with sheet metal gutter channel. They welded sheet metal to the ends to seal it off, and for just a few bucks, had a nice long tank. They heated it outdoors over a propane grill.
 

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