Rust Bluing Steel

[Sharps40]

Rust in a Cardboard Box

The buttplate gets an 80 grit finish before rustblueing....its going to take a beating every time its loaded and such a finish helps blend out existing rust pitting at the very bottom edge of the plate.

The key plates and the tang get 120g finish...nice satin grey black when done. The barrel will also get the 120 finish....just a touch shiner than the matted TC front and rear sights and still no glare to deal with.

The trusty cheep damp box pre heating with a wet paper towel in the bottom and a large coffee cup of water nuked for 3 minutes in the Radar Range.....Good steam for the rust.

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The parts treated with their only Wet coat of pilkingtons (all subsequent coats are nearly dry wipes of rusting agent)....30 minutes and I'll check the first bloom, recoat, reheat the water and leave it sit till tomorrow morning, when I may do a first boil and carding.

 

[Sharps40]

Rust in a Cardboard Box

First rust. Always a joyous occasion round my place. And soon, TC soup.

Very nice bloom of rust on these components. I suspect they will blacken quickly with a fine grain and durable.

A second very thin, nearly dry coat is applied...after rusting agent is also a rust remover. all coats from here are nearly dry so as to build up rust, not remove it.

Looking good on an over night rust.

Into the boiling water for TC Soup.

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[Sharps40]

Rust in a Cardboard Box

After the boil, red rust is converted to black. Only the tightly bonded oxides will be left on the steel. For now they look fluffy.

After carding off the fluff with 0000 steel wool, we have a medium grey black of hard iron oxides, translucent but a very fine grained and even first blackening. Four to six further cycles of rust and boil will refine the color to deep grey black and move toward opaque.

 

[Sharps40]

Rust in a Cardboard Box

Lots more black than grey after this second rust/boil and card. Still a bit translucent at the toe of the recoil plate so I'll flip that side up in the damp box....must be more humid on top than on the bottom of the box.

At this rate of color, these steel components should be done Thurs or Fri evening allowing complete reassembly of the stock. So, all that would be left is a barrel cleanup and reblue and location of some brass screws I hope.

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[Sharps40]

Rust in a Cardboard Box

This part is done. Small parts that needed it blackened, everything back in place, lock and trigger guard with its original but cleaned finish, all the old plane steel screws replaced with solid brass screws. Bright now but they can be browned a touch with oxpho or superblue or just left to the elements to take a natural dull finish. But a touch of bling and mostly the old battered stock and parts are in newer shape....a few more coats of wax and a barrel job and its ready to go home.

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[Sharps40]

Rust in a Bath Tub

Stripped the barrel of sights and nipple and ramrod loops. Its pretty evenly rusted inside...nipple vent to muzzle. Fortunatly, its fairly smooth inside and does not cut patches to shreads or even snag them. I quit while I was ahead, when they are like this...hours and hours of scrubbing just leads to more dirty patches and ya still have a frosty evenly rusted bore. Near as I can tell, the rifling and grooves are cleaned out now, no fouling left in them and the edges and bottoms of the lands and grooves appear plenty sharp and well defined.

I think this will be a fine round ball shooter and in 50 caliber that's still a 75 yard gun for deer, any day of the week. I spect it'll be plenty accurate for coyotes, bunnies and squirrlies and turkeys too. A bit tougher to clean but H777 will ease that process, its loads easier to clean than black....don't smell as nice though. Keeping this one in shooting shape is going to require a bit more attention to cleaning now and perhaps an oiled patch down the bore from time to time in storage.

A sampling of patches, about the third series, each started with a wad of #9 soaked 0000 steel wool wound about the jag.

Finishing up, it looks about the same as when I started but now we can see all the way to the bottom of the grooves....It does in fact have grooves...they was just fulla junk.

This is mostly surface rust, and this area is ever rusty anyway. But it'll clean up a bit and I'll blue it again so it can get rusty once more!

Pretty much at this point I need to pick a start day....draw polish the flats the night before and start rusting. Maybe this weekend. Gotta check the propane supply and decide where to set up the tank, prolly in the garage. Usually takes about 4 to 6 boilings with 3 to 12 hours of rusting between to get a barrel blacked.

 

[Sharps40]

Rust in a Bath Tub

Outside of the barrel is in pretty good shape. Some lite pitting up near the muzzle and no where else. So off to striking. Gotta keep flats flat and straight lines unwavy so wrap 120g about a file and draw polish the length of each flat till the blue and rust and junk comes off and all the polishing marks are in one direction and all the lettering is crisp and clear.

Flash hides it but top flat is unpolished, right flats are completed.

Next is to build humidity in the kids old bathroom and use it for a damp box.

 

[Sharps40]

Rust in a Bath Tub


An old and reliable winter time method of rust blueing. Hot water in the tub, door closed, vent closed. 70% humidity and the first wet coat of rust bluing agent to sit 30 minutes and rust.

The first wet coat rusts well....all subsequent coats will be nearly dry wipes and then boiled and carded, repeat 4 to 10 times till ya have the color you like. We'll set up the boiling tank now and get ready in about 2 hours or so to do the first boil and carding. Initial color should be a translucent gunmetal grey deepening to satin gray black as the finish builds. As long as the ice don't kill the power, I'll have hot water for the damp box bathroom and with luck, done perhaps Thurs or Friday sometime.

 

[Sharps40]

Rust in a Bath Tub


Boiling...

Suspend the rusted barrel in the tank, close to the bottom for good heat but not touching bottom.....I typically suspend open ended barrels on a rod, this one is on wires as the breech is closed.

Just enough hot tap water (double filtered for sediment and charcoal for chemicals, when in doubt, use steam distilled water) to cover the barrel.

Light the flame, turn it up, cover the top to hold heat/boil faster and let the part in for 10 minutes after achieving a rolling boil.

 

[Sharps40]

Rust in a Bath Tub

This ain't paint. Rust blue requires a bit of work. More durable too. Member, paint is for fence posts. Got steel? Blue it!

Turning black in the boiling tank....

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Pull it out, its hot. Get all the water off it and out of every screw hole an crevice.....if not, ye'll splotch it.

Looks fluffy, and its uneven...no worries, its grey under the fluff.

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Do not touch the finish with yer hands, finger prints now will be duplicated at the end....I hold the steel with clean paper towels. Right, the fluff to remove. Left, the fluff removed with a vigorous scrubbing of clean 0000 steel wool leaving the first hint of ferroferric oxide bonded to the steel. Color is translucent battleship grey, it'll darken as we proceed. Probably take 4 rust and boils to finish this mild leaded steel.

Loose oxides off...only strong oxides left. This is what makes rust blue a bit more durable than hot tank caustic blue....you remove anything that doesn't want to be there prior to each coloring phase. Leave it in one or two coats for an old worn look. Take it to 4 to 10 coats (depending on the alloy) for a fine satin more black than grey perfect finish.

Now, dust, recoat with a thin nearly dry swipe of rust bluing solution and refill the tub with hot water, let it sit 1 to 12 hours (depending on alloy) to rust - then,....boil and card again, it'll be blacker and less translucent.

Next photos will be a completed barrel and then a completed Rifle.