From the photographs posted by PA24(Doug in Utah) in the past and now, it is my opinion that he has learned that polishing is the key to the success of blacking barrel to get the results that the great barrel blackers of the UK get and have gotten through the years. I do not know what blacking solution that he uses but it is beautiful and works very good and his boiler set up is excellent as well.
It is good to have a topic of learning and advice giving on this BBS as that is the way it was in the days of it's origin. The excellent barrel blackers are not keen on giving out their formulas or techniques. But he passed the secrets and mysteries of the trade to his sons. Barrel blackers are the same.
From my observations in the UK and USA, no single blacking or browning formula works the same way throughout the regions of these countries due likely to atmospheric, ambient temperatures, shop conditions and so forth--thereforth you do not find a single formula being used by all the trade. However, one issue paramount and singular consistent of the techniques of the very BEST blackers is: POLISHING; and polishing means hours of hand work with emery cloth using grits well beyond 320--or at least "worn out" emery cloth strips.
I believe that it is the degree and amount of hand polishing that both Doug of Utah and I use to arrive at barrel gloss that is almost identical--with likely very different ambient conditions and blacking formula.
I have seen plenty of gloss barrel blacking done in the UK for the trade and it looks great until you place in in the light of day and see all the work that needs to be done by proper polishing that is showing under the blacking grinning back at you as Jack Rowe is fond of saying. Tradesmen cannot spend the polishing time it takes to make a barrel perfect, if they are being paid for a quick ordinary job.
I have seen little (almost none) high gloss work in the USA, until Doug showed us his work. Is it possible that barrel blackers here do not know what they do not know?
Kindest Regards;
Bv
Bushveld and Keith,
Thank you for your kind words and compliments, appreciated. As Bushveld mentioned the key is in the hand polish work and most folks don't realize the hours and hours of hand work required to refinish a set of barrels the proper way.
If you hold your polished set of barrels in bright sunlight and see NO FLAWS, SHADOWS, GHOSTS whatsoever and the polishing is all unidirectional and as near perfect as you can make it, then you are ready to start rust blueing/blacking. You can adjust your polished finish in the white to be like chrome for high gloss or dull for a duller finish, as required or desired. Everybody uses different methods, but the end result must be as noted above. The polishing is key, just like painting a car, if it's ugly before you apply the paint, it is going to be ugly after the paint dries.
In my opinion the water purity is not as important as the polishing factor, most impurities boil off as you fire up your tanks anyway. The boiling water will soon become contaminated with rust blueing/blacking compounds as the number of passes increase. If you have the availability to collect rain water, it is about as good as it gets for boiling and is an easy souce of good water for this application.
If done properly, a good rust blue job will last for years and maintain it's luster with just a little care. I rust blue quite a few rifles as well with good results and I've included some pictures below to show that the level of polish can differ depending on the desired end result and how the different steel alloys will accept the rust blueing/blacking differently which gives you some really nice SUBTLE color contrasts. Hand polishing and detailing is the key, no power tools or buffers/wheels of any sort at any time...all hand work only in my opinion if you want nice results.
Best Regards to All,
