Guys,

The humidity cab is finally working and the experiments are about to start.

Curious if anyone does two texture rust bluing ... surface prep with something like 400 gr glass on the sides of a 1911 slide and 240 Aluminum Oxide on the top of the slide.

How does it look when you're done?

I haven't done rust bluing before, but have done the Brownell's Dichropan IM blue. It softens the surface texture some ... you can almost get a shiny surface with it. A rougher surface to mitigate reflections comes out well.

Dear Mike:

I've only used Mark Lee Rust Blue, but I've tried numerous grit finishes from sand blasted to 120 grit through 800 grit, if my memory serves.

A 220 grit finish will give you a deeper black color and a bit less glare/reflection to the surface. I did not like this finish, since it appeared to be a bit rough.

Presently, I wet sand to a 320 grit finish for Mauser 1898 receivers and get a finish similar to the old Pre-64 Model 70 receiver's finish, a bit duller than 400 grit. The barrels, bottom metal and other parts, I wet sand to a 400 grit finish which has a dull glow.

Remember though when you card, the coarser the steel wool that you use, the more you will polish the metal. I use medium/fine steel wool when carding. It doesn't seem to change the original sanded finish that much. When carding for the 400 grit finish small parts like Lyman 48 slides, etc., I usually use a finer grade steel wool like very fine, since it is easier to get into the tighter areas.

The Browning A-5's that I've done, I sand the whole lot to a 400 grit finish, since the sides of the receiver are so elegantly engraved, and you can't see the top of the receiver anyway, because it's squared off.

Have fun.

Sincerely,

Chris Bemis

The finish can also be varied by the length of time the parts are allowed to rust. A longer rusting cycle usually results in a "coarser" rust.

I have a 375 H&H barrel that was done by David Miller with an integral rib. It has the 1/4 rib blued both bright and matte . Don't know how he did it and got such perfect division between the two finishes. I think he does the same thing on his Marksman line. It's very impressive to me.

You can achieve brighter finishes by diluting the rust blue and using more passes. This cuts down on the aggressive nature and leaves the metal shinier (at the expense of a higher workload). You can also mix blue types with rust blue. For example: you can temper blue or caustic blue a part and then selectively apply rust blue to sections in order to give a matte/bright effect. Likewise, you can use a dilute solution and then switch to a more concentrated version for a similar effect.