Does anyone know the status of Pilkington stock finish products?
Both Brownell's and Midway show it as "Discontinued." I've been
unable to contact Pilkington directly.

Steve try this


The Pilkington Gun Co.
P.0. Box 1296. Muskogee, OK 74401
1-918-683-9418

Tinker,
Thanks but that number has been disconnected.

That's not good. Theirs is good stuff.

Hate to hear that as well. Been using Pilkington products for a long time.
JR

Holy Cow....have you seen the new price of the rust blue solution? 56$ for four ounces! I already make my browning solution. Now time to start making my rust blue solution too.

Bakers Modified for Steel Barrels

This works great and less expensive for more barrels:

Steel Shotgun Barrels:

Potassium Chlorate 5 %
Sodium Nitrate 6%
Potassium Nitrate 2 %
Mercuric Chloride 5%
Water qs

For a blacker and faster solution use 2% Ammonium Chloride

Etching Solution (for Pre Etch)

Nitric Acid 1 oz
Water 240 ml ( 8 oz)

Use the boiling water process, swabbing on CLEAN and prepared barrels, boil 2 minutes at a time, steel wool and continue about 10 times until desired finish is achieved. Wash with hot clean sodium Bicarbonate water and oil . Burnish with Steel wool and oil to
finish proper luster.

I modified Mr. Bakers solution to bring solubilities to more scientific levels and deleted an inert ingredient or two. I also usually add 1-3% Ammonium Chloride to help the process and found the Potassium Chlorate speeds the oxidation and quality of the job.

I have not done any bluing in some time now. I have tried both the cold rust & Hot rust & much prefer the cold method. I think I bought one bottle of Pilkington's once & found it very good, but pricey. I have also tried Laurel Mountain. It was sold as a browner, but the simple act of boiling it in hot water after the rust converts it to the blue (Black). It was not quite as fine-grained as the Pilkington, but perhaps if it was diluted to a weaker solution this would be remedied, as it was more aggressive. Most of my rust bluing was done with homebrews with recipe taken from Angier's book, though I'm not sure now which one I settled on. I tried to avoid those with mercury, even though this addition makes for a very effective blue. Have recently read of using a mixture of Hydrogen Peroxide, Vinegar & Salt but have no experience with this.

I did note that Brownell's now lists a solution under their own name which sells for the same quantity as the Pilkington for around $10.00. They call it a "Classic" blue I believe, may be very similar to the Pilkington. Could be worth looking into.

2-piper, I have used both Pilkington's and Laurel Mountain Forge rusting formulas, along with many others. You are correcti n hypothesizing that diluting LMF would be better diluted. Diluting it about 1:1 with water makes it work just fine. Personally, I like Winrest (no longer available) best, but the brand is really not that important if the strength is right. It's more the prep and application that make the final product.

That so...

I thought you farmed out your bluing...

Piper and SKB, I have used the Brownells Classic blue and it is very good and leaves a nice strong blue-black finish.

I have used the Brownells myself. When it first came out it was very much like Pilkington's. It seems to have become much stronger in subsequent batches I have purchased. I agree that it gives a nice deep black. I like a pretty mild solution and short rust periods to achieve a high luster blue. I have a bunch of chemicals on hand and it is a good day to do an inventory and see what I might need to order to start mixing my own. The thing I like about mixing my own browning solution is that it is repeatable. It seems like every solution acts slightly differently and you have a bit of a learning curve with each one.

I knew a gentleman some years ago who had a muzzle-loading rifle he had browned the barrel on. It had about as nice a job as I have seen & I saw quite a few at that point. I of course only had his word for it, but he said he hung it in his basement & when he would mow his yard or other yard work
& would get good & sweaty he would come in the basement & rub his hands up & down the barrel. When it got a good layer of rust he would card it off. When he got it to the color he wanted & had it evened out, he neutralized it & oiled it. Could not have asked for a better-looking brown.

I had an old set of junk twist barrels, don't recall the brand name on them, but browned them with the Laurel Mountain brown. When I got the desired depth of brown built up, I gave them one cycle through the boiling water tank.
I showeed them to a good number of reople & everyone of them said I could have passed them off as an original blue job that had "Muddied" over the years.

Steve, For Browning I prefer the Ordnance 1841, which was John Bivins favorite

OOWER! Mercuric Chloride. A good constituent for rusting solutions if you want speed or live in an exceedingly dry atmosphere. Exceedingly toxic to us humans also cumulative in the body. Looking at the formula using Mercuric Chloride there is no Alcohol sometimes this can be listed as "Spirit of Nitre" rather than high percentage Alcohol in many formulas, because it gives the formula a rather nice Ethereal smell. The reason I am pointing this out is Mercuric Chloride does not freely dissolve in water. So if included in a water only formula it will just be an inactive sediment on the bottom of the bottle.

I'm going to mix up some C17, Swiss Black in the next couple of days. I have heard good things, I have everything on hand and no Mercuric Chloride. That stuff scares me.

I thought this thread was about stock finish.

Don't be scared of Mercuric Chloride, it has been used for 150 years in browning solutions and other formulas. Just don't ingest it or come in contact with it , keep your hands off it and be careful. It is not volatile and you will not sniff it. Just treat it as a dangerous chemical that you should have no contact with. It is a very important ingredient in Browning solutions.
Solubility in Water
48 g/100 mL (100 °C)
Rx

How to you properly dispose of anything containing Mercuric Chloride? Liquid and applicators, gloves, etc.?

I'd be careful around that pony tail with it....just saying.

I card by hand with cotton gloves, usually I dry card by sometimes I wet card as well in areas of scale or build up.

Rubber gloves under the cotton? Mask for the dust? Does the Mercury end up in the water too?

Or am I over analyzing all this....just don't touch the liquid?

Or get it on your pOny tail.

There are so many good formulas that all produce the same simple result, why mess with anything that uses mercury in any form? Doesn't make any sense to when there is no need.

I figured you were crAzy about a Mercury....

HomelessJoe - I was thinking the same thing. Five replies into the thread and it's totally about bluing solutions. What?

SKB knocked it off the rails back on page #1.

Getting back to the original question. I just looked at the Brownells site and see they are now showing Pilkington finishes are back in stock & can be ordered.

The main question that comes to mind is why use such an overpriced finish? When you throw in shipping charges for just one 2.5oz bottle, the price is $46.00. I've been experimenting with waterlox and am really happy with the results so far. The best part is you can get a quart of their original finish on Amazon for around $30.00 with free shipping if you are a prime member. I've used Pilkington's in the past & so far I like the Waterlox better.

I'm glad that Steve can get back on the Pilkington's stock finish train.
Perhaps someone will get to the bottom of the expired contact information.

Some time ago I'd gone down the rabbit hole of the Slackum and Alkanet Root discussions. Since then I've been fiddling with the root dye and oil concoction recipes. I've been getting really nice results on test pieces and some time soon I'll be putting it on a rifle stock.

Can't say that i have a favorite product, but I've seen fellows with broken hearts who couldn't source their favorite stock finish components.

Happy New Year!

Watch out with the Waterlox. It gets so hard you cannot get a bite with a checkering tool. It just skims over it.

I recently blued a set of barrels with Marklee #1 solution. Seemed to work as well as Pilkingtons, but maybe a milder solution. THe barrels came out nice. I'd just say that the mfr recommended 5 minute boils was not long enough. I'd recommend at least 10 and I used 15 minutes. 5 minute boils were leaving a redish cast. If you get redish cast with any rust blue process, boil longer. I rust blue so seldom, when I do it, I've forgotten most of what I learned prior. Marklee #1 $15 at Brownells for the small bottle. $12.50/4 oz $28.50/pint direct from maker. It worked well enough I'd use it again. Contains no mercury or selenium.

My experience suggests the outcome is more about the process you use than the rust solution. Granted some solutions will require an adjustment to your process.

[img:left]http://imgur.com/gallery/jU0MSpS[/img]

Try paying attention Chuckie...

This thread is about stock finish not what happened in Chuckies world of gun bluing.