Browning...Now This is More Like It!

[tippit]

I didn't like the looks of the primative knife I did so I had posted: looking for ways to make a knife look old (kinda Winker style).  I got some great response but I also called Daniel.  One of his methods was to use Laural Mountain Browning & Degreaser.  Nice in that it is a cold browning without toxic fumes as with heat browning.

Daniel coats the blade and keeps it in a plastic bag in ths sun (Heat & Humidity).  Got my browning solution and presto I had a nice rusted looking blade.  

Now on to my last primative forged blade.  I reground it to get a thinner edge and started browning.  As I watched the blade turned copper!  There must be some copper sulfate in the  browning solution.  I stopped it to get a couple of pictures.  I doubt that the copper color will stay...but it is cool.  Doc

   

   

[Steve Nuckels]

Great job on that one!  Very interesting color, and love the blade shape.

Steve
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Potomac Forge
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ABS Apprentice

[J.Yates]

Tippet
With the laural mountain product if you scrub back and forth when applying it you will get the copper color.Apply it in one direction only in one pass and you won't get the copper color.When I brown  gun barrels I use a product called Walkon Bay browning solution.It is also a cold brown and seems to work better than the Laural mountain.You do have to decgrease before useing the Wahkon where you don't with the laural Mountain.

Mitch

[tippit]

Mitch,  My bad...I just read the full dirctions  

Laural Mountain:  
Rubbing the surface with Barrel Brown can cause a metallic copper colored film to form, which will impede the browning process.

I'll try to do it right this time!

[J.Yates]

Tippet
Don't feel bad.More than one gunbuilder I know has done the same thing.Of course I never made a mistake like that   :D      :D      :D      :D   I like the knife by the way!!!!!

Mitch

[Scott Roush]

this is interesting... i have a knife i'm doing for a fund raising auction with an environmental theme. i'm doing a 'recycled' rr spike knife and i wanted to put a greenish patina on it.  if i had copper highlights i could let them oxidize into green.  so i wonder how resilient that copper coating is with your browning solution????

[tippit]

Scott,
I can't tell ya as this process is new to me.  Mitch would have a better answer...Jeff

[Scott Roush]

no problem... are you keeping your copper or re-doing the process. will look nice either way.

[tippit]

This is the look I was after.  I want these primative style knives to look like Vance (Iron Bull) just dug 'em up from the Green River Rendezvous Site near the Rye Grass Ranch    

Thanks Mitch & Mr Winkler!  Doc

 

 

[OconeeDan]

Looking GOOD Doc! You are eventually going to have to stop the browning process (rusting), and it will change the look.  If you don't, who knows when it'll stop.
You can stop it by scrubbing down with baking soda and water.  Hot water.  Then dry it.  To be safe, I always coated with oil, or WD40.  It'll then be a dark brown, and it sounds like that is not the color you are looking for.
What I see in the photo, is the browning process, in progress...not finished.
For what it's worth, the dark brown blades look great as a traditional looking knife...to me.
Also, I always "sealed" with boiled linseed oil, handle and all.
Maybe I am wrong about this, please let me know.
Dan

[Lamey]

try Mark Lee express brown,  same end result much easier.

[J.Yates]

Scott
I don't know if it would turn to green as I never took it that far.I was doing rifle barrels and once I got the copper color I had to start over.I neutralize with ammonia anthough the bakeing soda and water will work.

As a side note for those who want to play.After the knife is browned you can boil it in distilled water and the browning will turn blue.You can scrub that back with steel wool to get a nice gray patina.I would do this before I put the handle on  :cool:  

Mitch

[tippit]

Mitch,  
I already turned another blade to plum blue...another mistake that I learned.  

When I got the copper color, I re-ground it back to bare metal to re-start the rusting.  If nothing else, great learning process.  Dan Winkler said he keeps the blade in a plastic bag for 4-5 day and re-does browning each day!

Dan,
I don't want it this rusty color but I do want it pitted so that's why I'll seeing how far it will go.  I don't just want the brown color.  The blade has a great grind but I'd like to see if it keeps the geometry of that grind but looks like it came out of the ground.  Anyway I'm having fun          I'll probably stop it in a day or so...may not be anything left though!

If that doesn't do it then into Clorox she goes.  It would have been better to just do the blade...but I got plenty of Steel & Bones to play with.  Besides nobody would want this old thing...Doc

[robtattoo]

Hey Jeff, here's one I did ages ago & 'Earth Aged'

 

By 'Earth Ageing' I mean I buried it in the back yard, in a hole lined with salt & left it there for a month. Dug it up & polished it with fine steel wool

If I'd know then what I know now, I'd have given it a very liberal coating of regular, household Clorox (I heard of this one on a muzzleloader forum, for ageing/pitting a barrel) That give a very old, pitted finish too.

  :D

[OconeeDan]

I will tell everyone that coloring metal can be great fun.  Browning is just one example.  Karl loves to hot blue, and there are others that are fun too, such as mustard patina, my "hunter gray" by soaking in the same etchant we use for damascus steel.  Parkerizing.  There are others too.
Dan

[tippit]

Dan, You're right about the fun of exploring coloring metal!  I rubbed & rinsed the blade down this morning.  I really like the texture.  Even though small pits, it is very silky feeling.  Thanks for all the help here...Doc

Also pictured with an old Winkler knife (pre-Winkler MS)

   

   

[Scott Roush]

great thread... and great work Jeff...

another great patina is that made by the use of the solutions for staining zinc and lead frames of stained glass. The effect is instantaneous and resilient and gives a beautiful black/grey/purple patina.  My wife does stained glass and I threw some on and was surprised.

But I gotta try this clorox!!

[robtattoo]

Here's a couple of pics (not mine) of the effects of Clorox on carbon steel....

Bottom pistol n this pic. The tp pistol was etched with mustard
 

 

I've done lots of knife blades with mustard & it does look effective, but it doesn't etch very deeply at all

[robtattoo]

Also from the Muzzleloader forum....

"I can't say How Hershel is doing his metal but using Birchwood Casey’s Super Blue and then submerging in Clorox will give you very aggressive rust that when sanded off leaves a slightly pitted and Gray finish.
Super Blue alone will give you a Gray finish if applied and then rubbed back with steel wool or 3M scub pad.
Boiling in Clorox will also give you very aggressive rust that can be sanded back to a gray finish along with lung problems if you don't have good ventilation."

[tippit]

Scott,

I didn't use Clorox on this blade as the Laural Mt applied 3 days in a row without rubbing the surface was aggressive enough.  From my understanding Clorox will pit the surface more even more.

I also did not stabilize the surface yet with baking soda or TSP. I think it will still rust slightly more without applying more Laural Mt so now I can watch it more carefully...But I do like it!