Did something today I haven't done in many years. Tried rust bluing.
I've rust blued a Ballard receiver in the past, that was hot blued over case and had an awful color. Just scuffed it, put on solution, rusted and boiled. Came out an acceptable gray/black. Haven't done any more in years.
Today, I took a Falling Block Works model K receiver, and decided to clean it up and rust blue it. FBW actions were well designed and made, but their finish is awful. Not square, sharp corners/edges, etc. I particularly hate the hammer, it's too sharp to use. So, I squared the action up, flattened it, and worked over the hammer to a more pleasent to use configuration. Worked over the lever to get rid of the poor belt sanded shape.
I made a rusting chamber by taking a gallon can, slipping it into a 6 inch pipe, added a garment steamer, and plumbed in a line for attachment to an oxygen concentrator. I can sit the can with water in the bottom on a hotplate.
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links) (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links) Degreased everything, put on some Pilkingtons rust blue, and put it in the rust chamber for an hour or so.
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links) After steaming in a pan on my stove, suspended on a copper wire above the water, it turns black:
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links) Then, carded it off, added more pilkingtons, and repeated the rusting
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links) Repeated for a total of 3 cycles; carded it off and looks okay. Will try one or two more cycles and then polish it up a bit better than the steel wool used to card it off.
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links) A few lessons learned/changes to be made.
1) Steamer puts out too much steam, condenses on the pipe and item to be rusted.
2) Hotplate underneath works better (I have thermostatic controlled lab hotplate).
3) Need better setup to steam, it really needs to be a sealed container, that doesn't lose out steam where the suspension wires hold up the lid.
Other than that, I'm pretty happy with the process.