Doing my first rust blue job during the lockdown time.

I completed all sanding yesterday.

Final pass, after 320 grit paper, was maroon Scottbrite.

Should the final pass be length wise or or across the barrel/receiver (shoe shine motion)?

The reason I ask is I've seen videos that recommend length wise, but the finished product looks better length wise.

Eric

Lengthwise; however, the acid will etch it away anyway and leave it smooth; usually.
Or do whichever you like in case it doesn't.
I always go shoeshine on receivers. And barrels. Lengthwise on flooorplates.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Lengthwise; however, the acid will etch it away anyway and leave it smooth; usually.
Or do whichever you like in case it doesn't.
I always go shoeshine on receivers. And barrels. Lengthwise on flooorplates.

Likewise.

length wise on barrels, takes more time but give a better finish in my opinion.

Go any direction you want.
Then for a final finish smear a light coating of oil on the part(s) and light wire brush them with a fine wire wheel, med speed.
No need for heavy pressure against the wheel, go in any direction, the idea is to burnish the metal finish so there's non-directional polishing lines.

Technique was used by many of the custom smiths of the late 1800/ first 1/2 20th century.

Most any oil will do. I've used motor oil to WD-40. They all work fine. The idea is to let the wire slide & burnish the surface instead of biting into it.

Makes a nice prep for color case hardening too.

Warning..It'll show up any file marks you left behind in your polishing!

Yes, burnishing is almost a lost art. Gives a beautiful texture.

quote:

Originally posted by 2152hq:
Go any direction you want.
Then for a final finish smear a light coating of oil on the part(s) and light wire brush them with a fine wire wheel, med speed.
No need for heavy pressure against the wheel, go in any direction, the idea is to burnish the metal finish so there's non-directional polishing lines.

Technique was used by many of the custom smiths of the late 1800/ first 1/2 20th century.

Most any oil will do. I've used motor oil to WD-40. They all work fine. The idea is to let the wire slide & burnish the surface instead of biting into it.

Makes a nice prep for color case hardening too.

Warning..It'll show up any file marks you left behind in your polishing!

When you say medium wire brush, do you have an example of one? I have the fine stainless steel carding brushes, but think you are referring to something a bit stiffer for the burnishing?

Thanks!

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Lengthwise; however, the acid will etch it away anyway and leave it smooth; usually.
Or do whichever you like in case it doesn't.
I always go shoeshine on receivers. And barrels. Lengthwise on flooorplates.

I did length wise on the bottom metal, looked better.

quote:

When you say medium wire brush, do you have an example of one? I have the fine stainless steel carding brushes, but think you are referring to something a bit stiffer for the burnishing?

Medium as in 'Medium' labled on the package of the Hecho en China ones sold in Home Depot or Loews. One marked 'Fine' from the Hardware Dept works well too.
Nothing special about them, not a 'gunsmithing grade tool' that you'd pay 10X the price from Brownells.

The trick if there even is any is just don't use a lot of pressure against the wheel, and also keep the part moving.
Let the wires do the burnishing and be sure to keep the oil on the surface.

You can use a carding wheel. They are very fine wire and will give an even brighter look to the metal because of that. But the results will be that it'll still be burnished.
Using the extra fine wire wheel of a carding wheel it's best to polish to a finer grit before hand to get the most out of the carding wheels fine wire burnish effect.

If you do use a carding wheel for this, set it aside for this operation alone.
DON'T try and use it for rust blue carding after having gone thru use as an oil burnishing finishing wheel.

No matter how much you clean it, there'll be some oil in there that'll spoil the rust blue finish.

Some of the Wheels are so very fine wire
(I think one I have is .003 or .004 d wire) that the burnishng effect on bare steel would be minimal. It's best work is on the color layer of the rust blue process.

The wire wheel and oil effect is really another way to put the non directional effect that an etching process does on the steel.
The additional thing the wire wheel/oil does is it leaves the surface with a low luster shine that an acid etch does not.

Leave the oil off the surface and the Medium wire wheel (dry) does about the same look as an etch does.
Dull, matted and w/no polishing lines in the surface

All depends on what you're looking for.


I'm finishing up a project now, a little 22 bolt rifle.
I'm going to rust blue the bbl and acid grey the receiver and trigger guard.
The bbl is spin polished now to 320. and then finished off w/maroon scotchbrite. I could do the oil & wire wheel thing. But I'll look OK as is.
I change my mind all over the place when I do stuff, at the last minute who knows what I may do!.
Nitric acid (weak water soln) for the grey.
Rust blue the small parts, sights, screws, swivels ect. They are all hand polished 320.
All the engraving should show up well with these finishes and polish.