doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Rust bluing with filtered water?

I forgot to mention that I will be using city water. It sounds like for me it would be well worth it. Here in Boulder distilled costs me 1.25$ per gallon. We go through a lot of water and a simple filter system is pretty inexpensive. More studying to do, but I think it will save me both time and money in the long run.
Steve

Steve:

You can probably find some water store what sells filtration systems and such as well as drinking water. They may well sell RO water at such a place. One here does. If so you could try the RO water and see if it does what you need.

Glenn

SKB Hi, I rust blue 700 plus barrels a year as well as some browning work, when my grandfather worked in London they used the tap water it was very hard and they used to add water softener, when he moved out into the country he used water from a well and said it was superb for the work, I collect rain water in water butts that are all linked together, I have some barrels that come out on the first pass with grey patches I originally thought it was the water but then relised I did not have the problem with my brown barrels, by the time the barrels are finished there are no marks at all, I have been looking into this so I checked the guttering that supplied the water butts its was full of muck so I cleared this, then I emptied the water butts there was a lot of muck in the bottom which was oily to touch I have cleaned these out and clean them out regular as possible I no longer have a problem with these marks rainwater is fine and if you can set up a filter system even better, I dont think you need to buy in water also try the tap water with some softener.

bb, that really looks wonderful. How far did you polish that barrel before bluing and do you polish it at all afterwards?

Brent

In addition to a fine polish, Mr. BB knows a thing or 2 about how deeply to rust a barrel. In my humble opinion that is equally important. That does look mighty fine.
Steve

Yeah, he's pretty good.

I always thought the problem with spotting stemmed from mineral deposits left after rapid drying, now I'm wondering if it's residual carbon. Whether soap, detergent, or oil, etc.

BB's comment about leaf litter in his barrels, has me wondering.
But I still stand behind the paranoia defense. If I'm going to do all the pre-finishing work, I don't want to risk my labor on un-distilled water.
A turkey fryer, a milk can, copper fittings, and a couple milk jugs will forever last.

I usually go to 320-400g unless someone wants the barrels polished right up, I think if you go any finer than that your wasting your time as your solution is going to attack the metal surface even if only mildly.

bb, that barrel looks to me like it has a lot more shine that 320-400 grit. A lot more.

Brent

Steve,
Culligan rents a RO type of filter that cosmetics mfgrs use, I used one for a while, but our local well water is heavy with lime stone, that is the big problem with well waters for bluing, even hot bluing around here. It even seemed like it shortened the life of the Culligan filter I had and since returned. Chemican supply houses sell a cylindrical filter filled with beads that shange color as the filterting capacity is used, I have used these in conjunction with rain water that I collect. I understand even Sears sells a small distiller that puts out a gallon or so a day, haven't checked into that. I live out of towm so my rain may be purer that that from a city. Bottom line is I only use pure water, having to redo one job because of bad water sure justifies the cost. If the rust doesn't convert, the water is contaminated, could be a dirty tank or ? but the water is contaminated.

Hi Brent Damascus barrels prepped to 320 400g finished recently.