Carbon steel natural color ?

[Harter66]

Long ago and far away ........
Carbon steel would turn a shade of gray when exposed to blood at all . It was common with kitchen and pocket knives . My new knives don't do it .

I'm wondering if a 70s vintage Juker Spanish barrel would do the same ?
It's just the barrel the rest of the hardware is brass and is nominally aged the barrel just didn't take to it in the desert and I can't keep up with it in the rust belt . So my hope is to gain an aged white that will hold enough oil/protecterant to keep it unrusted in the over stuffed safe . Besides if it will take it'll look vintage vs the modern blue and I just don't think I want to invest the time for rust blue mostly because I just can't count on having that hour here or there without being pulled away for 6 months .

[Harter66]

This is depressing .......I figured there would be some sort of input ......

[JimB..]

I think that your observation is incorrect, the gray patina is a form of oxidation caused by acid and oxygen over time, not blood. Anyway, look into forcing patina on kitchen knives, the same process should work for your barrel in the white.

[ulav8r]

I think that your observation is incorrect, the gray patina is a form of oxidation caused by acid and oxygen over time, not blood. Anyway, look into forcing patina on kitchen knives, the same process should work for your barrel in the white.

Reminds me that years ago I heard/read that peeling apples was the best way to patina a blade.

[GregLaROCHE]

I had a gun that unfortunately got some rust on it during long term storage. I disassembled it completely and cleaned it up with a rust removal product. I planned to cold blue it later, but figured the grey finish from the product had altered the surface the way bluing does and after a coat of oil, would protect it until I got around to blueing it. That was over five years ago and I’ve been shooting the gun and kind of like the grey color. Maybe I’ll blue it one day or maybe not.

If you decide to go this route, test whatever rust removal product you plan the use on another piece of steel first and see if you like the outcome. Different brands may have different chemical compositions and my result in different shades.

[Tokarev]

If someone wants just "some gray" on carbon steel then parkerizing is just that, and the amount of it depends on the time spent in the solution.
I often use lazy rust blueing in pop that contains orthophosphoric acid. It takes quite some time but very light shade of gray only takes 2-3 days. The longer the blacker it will become.