Plum Brown Question

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Foto Joe

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Like Pyro in another post, I've stripped the bluing off my "Fake Navy". Unlike his custom color scheme I'm aiming for a little more traditional finish.

I know NOTHING about "Browning" a gun. I'm thinking of ordering some Plum Brown on my next Midway order and putting a little pre-mature patina on her. Anybody got any thoughts or opinions, do's or don't's that might be of any use to me on this experiment?

If it works out I've got a '60 Sheriffs model that might benefit from some cosmetic improvements. Speaking of which, if you Brown a gun that has a case hardened frame, do you Brown the frame as well or just leave the color case hardening alone?
 
i don't know about browning the frame, i would just leave the color case hardening as is. i would feel bad about ruining color case hardening, it's too pretty. but if you want to brown it then you should probably remove the color case hardening with some BC blue remover and then brown it.
 
yeah the blue remover will remove the color case. I actually hit my locks with sand paper, 220grit to remove it better. De-grease it good and then heat it up and hit it with the plum brown agent. Use a big cotton ball and soak it good and then rub the hot steel.
 
There are two methods of rust browning metal: hot and cold.

One piece of advice that applies to either: rust browning works by oxidizing - rusting - the surface of the metal and then arresting the oxidizing process. Be sure to coat, cover or isolate areas you don't want rusted, such as the bore or action parts. The method of preventing oxidation where it's not wanted depends on the method of browning, but generally just sealing the bore with a cork and coating the internal areas with a thick oil coat will be sufficient.

Hot browning (Birchwood Casey's Plum Brown): degreasing the metal first and keeping it free of fingerprints, etc. is critical. Next, heating the metal must be done slowly and uniformly; I use a propane hand torch and lots of patience. It's ready when a drop of water sizzles. Be sure the entire part is hot. You can do several coats in one session by cooling and reheating, and see the results right away.

Cold browning (Laurel Mountain Forge and others): Again, degreasing and cleaning is important, although the solution itself is a degreaser so cleanliness isn't as big a deal as with hot browning; it's more important that the surface be uniformly prepared than completely free of grease/oil/etc. Next is humidity, the more the better. I do my cold browning in a small shower - run the hot water until you can't see across the room for the fog, coat the parts and let them sit for 3 to 4 hours in the humidity. Others build a box they can close up with water in the bottom. Cold browning takes longer but is easier and more tolerant of mistakes. At least 3 coats will be necessary, and be prepared for shock when you see the results of the first coat - it will look awful, and you'll be sure you ruined the metal. Just have faith and forge ahead with the next coat. It will get better.

Carding, or removing the scale: I use a carding brush followed by rubbing the surface with a heavy canvas or denim cloth.

Neutralizing the oxidation: I use cold water saturated with baking soda, then followed by clean water (it does NOT need to be distilled water).

Card after each coat, neutralize only the last coat.

Final surface prep: a good coat of paste wax; some folks use oil or mineral oil, like Ballistol or Birchwood Casey's Barricade. I prefer the wax by far.
 
Laurel Mountain Forge cold browning solution gives a much more realistic and durable finish than BC Plum Brown.

You can also boil the components and turn it into a rust blue.

It isn't as quick as plum brown but the results are better IMO as well as the color
 
Mykeal,
Thanks, it sounds like you've done this once or twice. Or at least read more about it than I have.

My plan is to do a complete strip and disassembly before starting so the action won't be a problem, but I didn't even think about the chambers, bore and cylinder arbor bore. I'll have to figure out where to find a bunch of itty bitty corks.

Do you have to neutralize both types of Browning? I'm going to assume that the answer is probably yes. Also, I take the end result is subjective and you just keep doing the process until it's the shade that you want. And finally, is it like factory blueing in that if you want to remove it you can? I used a highly scientific method to strip the blue off. It consisted of one of my extremely patient wifes baking pans, a quart or so of vinegar and if I recall, a couple of beers. The beer was for me while I waited for the vinegar to do its job.
 
Laurel Mountain Forge cold browning solution gives a much more realistic and durable finish than BC Plum Brown.
Click to expand...
That's not been my experience. Both products produce a very realistic, durable finish when used correctly. My first gun was done with Birchwood Casey Plum Brown in 1975. It's still an excellent finish 36 years later:
584.jpg

Mykeal,
Thanks, it sounds like you've done this once or twice. Or at least read more about it than I have.

My plan is to do a complete strip and disassembly before starting so the action won't be a problem, but I didn't even think about the chambers, bore and cylinder arbor bore. I'll have to figure out where to find a bunch of itty bitty corks.

Do you have to neutralize both types of Browning? I'm going to assume that the answer is probably yes. Also, I take the end result is subjective and you just keep doing the process until it's the shade that you want. And finally, is it like factory blueing in that if you want to remove it you can? I used a highly scientific method to strip the blue off. It consisted of one of my extremely patient wifes baking pans, a quart or so of vinegar and if I recall, a couple of beers. The beer was for me while I waited for the vinegar to do its job.
Click to expand...
Yes, I've done several guns with both products. I always use the cold method on double guns because I don't want to risk deformation due to differential heating or softening the solder, and on small parts just because they're easier to handle cold. Other than that there's nothing to set them apart.

Plugging holes: an oil-soaked rag will work if you don't hit it directly with the torch.

Yes, plan to neutralize both types. And yes, the end result is very subjective. Have patience - they both look terrible after the first coat. Plum Brown cleans up faster than Laurel Mountain but it's more work because you need a fixture to hold the parts that can handle the heat. On the other hand you can do enough coats back to back that you can finish a gun in a (long) day, whereas the 3 hour curing process with Laurel Mountain means it can take as much as a week to reach a deep, even brown.

As far as removing rust brown, to be honest I've never tried it. I don't know how to do that. That's not completely true - I know it can be sanded off, but I don't know how to do it chemically.
 
Leave it to somebody in Florida to mention Naval Jelly. Before I started wintering in Coastal Texas I'd never heard of the stuff.
 
FotoJoe,

Maybe I am misunderstanding your post but the traditional finish for the 1851 from the factory was blued.
 
StrawHat,
Last spring while we were boondocking down in southern Utah near Mexican Hat I got bored and dropped my brass Navy into a baking dish full of vinegar. About two beers later, it was stripped of its blueing. Like Pyro, I figured that if I was gonna "Butcher" a gun, at least it should be one that didn't cost an arm and a leg.

It came out real nice and once again I'm thinking of using it as shall we say, a "test bed". Maybe it's the latent graphic artist in me but I think it o just want to add some color to it without using masking tape.
 
Rust browning an originally blued revolver in order to establish an antiqued finish is not unusual.
 
I used to use an old formula for browning that dates back a bit. Mostly was for touchup on repairs during restorations in my shop when I was in the business. I'll have to find some of my old records and see if it's among them. I packed up so much stuff when I retired from both policing and gunsmithing, I can't remember where half that stuff is anymore....must be having more of those 'Senior Moments' :) If I find that formula, I'll post it here for those that wish to go 'Reall Old School' with browning a weapon. Warning: You'll need a fullsize oven to bake the chemicals onto the weapon. If your wife or G/F objects......well, I can't help ya there....

Last one I did for a complete barrel was on my T/C Hawken I built at the PD range/shop some 25 years ago. I 'cooked the steel' over in the F.D.'s side of the academy in their oven! Their Bat. Chief thought it was cool....My Lt. was flabbergasted. He later built one for himself but I blued it in my shop for him. I still have that old Hawken and the browning is still deep and fine...

Wade
 
Okay, I understand. One thing about rusting a gun, no matter what color you want it to end up, the base metal should be polished to whatever finish you want the final result to be. Time spent in prep critical.

Good luck with the project.
 
I'm thinkin' I might take some crocus cloth and my finish sander to the barrel to see if that polishes it up any. It really was finished pretty good at the factory. The hot ticket would be a defarb but I'm not that ambitious, I've got other projects to finish between getting home from the oil patch and leaving for the winter.
 
if you want a finish that looks like it has been around for a while and seen some use, take the bluing off and apply mustard all over and let do its job. sounds stupid but it works.
 
The main ingredient in mustard is vinegar, which is exactly what I used to strip the blueing. What does the mustard do?
 
mustard is more of a paste so it goes on in an irregular fashion giving the metal a mottled effect. its hard to beleive and i didnt either until i used it on a knife blade i had laying around.
 
Patience goes a long way. I used the Birchwood Casey Plum Brown on my Pedersoli Brown Bess carbine. As with any finish ~ metal prep is critical; polish, polish, and then polish some more... I used a butane torch for heat and did 15 coats. The end result was a beautiful deep burgundy brown finish. This took some time, but I have been very pleased with the results. I later did the same thing to a double barrel Ethan Allen belt pistol.
 
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