Slow rust blueing is slow. About as slow as a Costa Rican gun safe near the sea shore with an unplugged Golden Rod. The results take about 3 to 10 days to materialize but the ultimate result is much finer.
Here, barely over 1 hour with the first very wet coat of Pilkingtons...A fine bloom of rust. Fine grained, fairly even and not too many fingerprints! There is no carding (rub out w/0000 steel wool to remove unbonded oxides) at this point. A second, very thin, nearly dry, coat of Pilkingtons is applied to the steel. It should dry completly in a few seconds. Wipe in one direction, cover every part fully. Handle every part with clean dry rags or paper towels....no oil or wax allowed. It looks splotchy, it is. It will even up all but the oily spots. We'll know after the first boil if a strip and restart is in order.
From here on out the process is: Boil the red rusted part. Force it dry with a hot air gun, water makes spots. Rub it out gently with degreased 0000 steel wool. Thinly, thinly coat the parts with Pilkingtons and hang it warm and humid for 3 to 12 hours. (Longer and intermediate coatings may be needed to rust some alloy steels like Win 94 receivers, marlin sights and levers, etc.) Once its boiled, you can even hang it and come back another day since boiling converts the red oxide to black and kills the solution.
As you can see, some alloys resist rusting quite a bit.
Mag tubes are difficult to handle and difficult to rust. On Marlins, the forming process seems to leave hard and soft spots in a corkscrew pattern. It can be difficult to have a final finish that dosn't show the cork screw or a few very light spots. These spots are a bit greyer but disappear under the final coat of oil. With rust blue, when it starts to turn a hint of grey, its telling you it's time to oil or grease or wax the metal, the protective oil has evaporated. But, either dry or oiled, its a beautiful satin finish.
Hardest part of the barreled action is the left side panel. Smooth even strokes with the Pilkingtons helps keep streaks from forming as you go. Much of the streaking is buffed back and blended with the 0000 wool rub out...but careful prep means better finish and less work overall. Are you getting the theme? Much of the refinishing of a gun is all about how well and diligent you are with the rubbing and rubbing and rubbing.
Here, barely over 1 hour with the first very wet coat of Pilkingtons...A fine bloom of rust. Fine grained, fairly even and not too many fingerprints! There is no carding (rub out w/0000 steel wool to remove unbonded oxides) at this point. A second, very thin, nearly dry, coat of Pilkingtons is applied to the steel. It should dry completly in a few seconds. Wipe in one direction, cover every part fully. Handle every part with clean dry rags or paper towels....no oil or wax allowed. It looks splotchy, it is. It will even up all but the oily spots. We'll know after the first boil if a strip and restart is in order.
From here on out the process is: Boil the red rusted part. Force it dry with a hot air gun, water makes spots. Rub it out gently with degreased 0000 steel wool. Thinly, thinly coat the parts with Pilkingtons and hang it warm and humid for 3 to 12 hours. (Longer and intermediate coatings may be needed to rust some alloy steels like Win 94 receivers, marlin sights and levers, etc.) Once its boiled, you can even hang it and come back another day since boiling converts the red oxide to black and kills the solution.
As you can see, some alloys resist rusting quite a bit.
Mag tubes are difficult to handle and difficult to rust. On Marlins, the forming process seems to leave hard and soft spots in a corkscrew pattern. It can be difficult to have a final finish that dosn't show the cork screw or a few very light spots. These spots are a bit greyer but disappear under the final coat of oil. With rust blue, when it starts to turn a hint of grey, its telling you it's time to oil or grease or wax the metal, the protective oil has evaporated. But, either dry or oiled, its a beautiful satin finish.
Hardest part of the barreled action is the left side panel. Smooth even strokes with the Pilkingtons helps keep streaks from forming as you go. Much of the streaking is buffed back and blended with the 0000 wool rub out...but careful prep means better finish and less work overall. Are you getting the theme? Much of the refinishing of a gun is all about how well and diligent you are with the rubbing and rubbing and rubbing.
