leadbreakfast Posted May 9, 2015 Report Share Posted May 9, 2015 Right what price should I expect to pay to get my barrels rebrowned or is it a DIY job? Trying to work out if it's worth getting it done professionally but don't want to spend to much on a ruff gun Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demonwolf444 Posted May 9, 2015 Report Share Posted May 9, 2015 Honestly that gun of yours looks pretty nice to me getting it restored properly would be worthwhile and satisfying. I don't know what condition the browning on the barrels is currently but you would be surprised what some really really ( finest you can get ) steel wool soaked in veg oil will do, in some cases that is enough just to bring out the pattern a bit more and remove any excess rust. For a fine job on a re brown its really not much different to bluing your looking somewhere in the order of £200 including all the prep, and it will generally take a bit of time done properly and looked after the browning should outlive you, never oil browning with mineral oils like 3 in 1, just veg based oil. Re browning is quite a simple process of controlled rusting but to make a good job of it you need to be meticulous at every stage throughout. Most browning solutions commercially available are expensive and unsuitable for use on Damascus barrels the ones that are work so quickly and give you very little controll over the final finish of the barrels, which should be browned with respect to the over all condition of the gun By the time you have a good set up and a method that works you will probably have spent near £200, there are many American gunsmiths who are nailing down methods on how to re brown with perfect results so you might think to have a Google about there is lots on the doublegunbbs about it. Re browning bold Damascus can be done quite easily but the method is apparently not so good with fine damascus like yours. - Coat the bores with shellac - plug the bores - Remove the old browning - polish to 320 grit - degrease - Then hang the barrels outside in the green house or somewhere humid, ( nowhere inside - you will be waiting for ever ) then every day run the barrels under cold water and hang them up again. If after two weeks they don't begin to rust, create a solution of 1 teaspoon salt to 1 pint cold water and apply this to the barrels, until they start to rust, when they do start to rust run them under cold water as before, allow a good amount of rust to build up then card it off with some fine de greased steel wool ( store the steel wool in acetone ) keep allowing them to rust and then card it off, rust for two days then card then let it rust, slowly over time the pattern will become more and more visable and the rust richer and darker. On fine damascus this method does not work so well and takes even longer to get anything half decent, and the massive downfall of this method is it can take a long time anyway. When you are done, stop the rusting using one teaspoon of baking soda in 1 pint of water and wash the barrels, then neutralize with cold water. Then finish the barrels, either with beaswax which is traditional, or spray on acrylic which is easy to apply and give good protection but easily chips out. Bold Skelp Pinfire barrel set below which i re layed the ribs on and re browned, the gun ended up getting a full re join, new hammers stock extended and refinished throughout. As the gun arrived to me it had the rib lifting in several places which has been ingeniously repaired with the expedient use of wood filler and chewing gum. Lifted the rib, which was interesting, as first i had to pick out the wood filler and the chewing gum then heat and removed the ribs trying not to set the barrels on fire due to all the foreign material that had been introduced to the area between the ribs. Then had to relay the ribs after prepping the barrels which are obviously seriously corroded throughout. The next image is after carding off the first two weeks of rust. Every day it rusts a bit more, the carding action of applying the water with a cloth was used throughout, and they were carded with steel wool once weekly i think it took about ten weeks or so. After a few more weeks. Then when i stopped i began to feed the barrels with veg oil which helps stop the rusting and darken the brown. Then after they had darkened a while i decided to degrease the barrels and finish them with acrylic, the guns a wall hanger and acrylic displays the gun better and does not attract dust like bees wax. That gun was a good project gun as it needed so much doing to it. As you can see the damascus is very bold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimh Posted May 9, 2015 Report Share Posted May 9, 2015 nice work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul223 Posted May 9, 2015 Report Share Posted May 9, 2015 Barrel browner is your man for a profesional job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon R Posted May 9, 2015 Report Share Posted May 9, 2015 +1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul223 Posted May 10, 2015 Report Share Posted May 10, 2015 https://m.facebook.com/StevensAndJohnson Barrel browners face book page Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshwarrior Posted May 10, 2015 Report Share Posted May 10, 2015 Barrel browner is your man for a profesional job Pauls work is excellent and will stand up to any level of inspection Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leadbreakfast Posted May 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2015 Not on Facebook but I can a website. Cheers for that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barrel browner Posted May 10, 2015 Report Share Posted May 10, 2015 Browning takes about three weeks to do properly, the process used on these barrels dates back to the 1840s, my picture taking is not too good !, one is a finished barrel, one is a barrel that has the rusting solution on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Underdog Posted May 10, 2015 Report Share Posted May 10, 2015 Very interesting post guys. Thank you for sharing. U. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackpowder Posted May 10, 2015 Report Share Posted May 10, 2015 Nothing nicer than a well finished damascus barrel. Blackpowder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesj Posted May 10, 2015 Report Share Posted May 10, 2015 There is a video on midway usa that shows how to do it. worth a look even if you have no intention of having a go your self. A few interesting videos on there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Bb Posted May 10, 2015 Report Share Posted May 10, 2015 I've just bought a pre WW1 Damascus barrelled gun. Any hints for cleaning/preserving? I've noted that it's not easy to clean, repeated cloths come out dirty and the oiled mop comes out dirtier than the cloths after repeated cleaning (using Napier products). I currently wipe the outside of the barrels with Napier oil, is that wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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