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.

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Degreased everything, put on some Pilkingtons rust blue, and put it in the rust chamber for an hour or so. 

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After steaming in a pan on my stove, suspended on a copper wire above the water, it turns black:

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Then, carded it off, added more pilkingtons, and repeated the rusting

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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.

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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.

Looks good, but needs more cycles of rust/convert/card.

I rust out in the open, but we have 90%+ relative humidity in the summer, so rust isn’t a problem.  I also find that slower rusting works better than rapid rusting.  I use an open top steam tube for my boil/steam step.  I quit boiling a long time ago.  Just a 6” pvc pipe over a metal pan.  I get a rolling boil going in the pan, and that makes enough steam to convert the surface rust to black.  A closed top steam tube is a bomb, and also causes a lot of condensation on the parts.  Condensation on the parts doesn’t help.  I usually use at least 6-10 cycles before I quit.  The first 3 cycles I use a piece of denim to rub the part instead of traditional carding.  After that, I use a Brownells carding wheel.

I've done a few barrels with Pilkingtons. I would run a hot shower in the bathroom for a few minutes, then shut it off and hang the barrel in the bathroom with the door closed.  It worked pretty well.

I also use a soft/fine carding wheel at a low RPM rather than steel wool.

SB, I always enjoyed 'high lust' myself, but never needed a rusty gun to do so.  Have a safe and happy day.

Some in progress photos, with using slow rusting and less of it.

I did the first rust and carded it off, looked great.

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Re-rusted and carded again:

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Didn't take pictures of the next couple cycles, but here it is after carding off #4:

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It's rusting as we speak, I think I'll do one more and call it good.  Satisfied with the product, and learned some in doing it.

Now have a whole assortment of sling barrel bands, sling swivels, mauser 3 position safety, etc. to do to complete a bunch of projects.

Did the final cleanup after the 5th cycle, and I'm happy with it.

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I'm doing some small parts now, barrel bands and sling swivel mounts and grip cap.  They're highly polished, and overnight cool rust barely rusted where the receiver would have had more rust.  They're boiling now, and turned black, will cool rust them again today while I'm at work and boil again this evening.  Learn a bit each time.

Vall, any chance of a link to Mr. Springer's video?  And thanks for the thread ssdave!

Regards,
Joe