I had previously started a thread: "Blueing Alternatives" which was an attempt at locating a gunsmith that did blueing to a gun that had been prepped (the hard part) by the owner. Having failed in this search and having received valuable information from several members I decided to rust blue the guns myself.
I chose Laurel Mtn. Brown & Degreaser. I constructed a 6"X6"X36" humidity cabinet from scrap materials & utilized a cheap hot plate for heat & a scrap bread pan to hold water & made a scalding pan from PVC. The 1st. victims for the process were a Rem, 521T & Mossberg 152. The 521T was a Frankenstein that had all the metal pieces & a 513T stock. The Mossberg's prior owner had painted all metal parts flat black.
I prepped them starting @ 320 & ending @ 800 & started the rust blue process on the small parts hoping to gain some expertise before rolling the dice on the bbl/receivers. The small parts went better than expected. I had some apprehension about the case hardened bolt parts on the 521T & the trigger on the 152, but they turned out beautifully (the case colors were gone, but the dark black color was even better).
These small parts demonstrated to me that different types of metals react to the rust solution differently. Most parts required 5 hrs. to rust & the rust was very fine (like red/brown powder). The magazine plates from each required more time & more applications.
The problem pertains to the bbl/receiver: the Mossberg was to be the 1st.. The instructions require 2 applications before the 1st. scalding. After only 3hrs. after the 1st. application the rust buildup was heavy & looked more like fish scales than powder. Committed to following the directions exactly, added another application & put it into the humidity cabinet for 1.5 hrs. I then scalded it & tried to card. It was then that I discovered that the rust process was so severe that it etched the metal.
I've started over with 320 to get a smooth surface & now have a bigger job to get it correct than I did from the beginning.
MY PLAN: 1. prep back to 800 2. be extremely light with my 1st. application 3. forgo 2nd.application before scalding if indicated 4. check progress of rusting process every 15 min. when in humidity cabinet.
Obviously the metal in the Mossberg bbl/receiver reacts quickly to the LMB&G solution.
Any ideas or suggestions will be appreciated. I emailed LMF, but do not expect to hear from them B4 Monday.
Henry