I was very pleased with how well this stuff worked on that Ulrich truck frame: ...so I decided to try it with something else. I have a bunch of old metal dummy couplers: have no idea of the make; just has an "E" cast into the bottom. I gave one an hour to "pickle" in the vinegar, then dipped into the "BC" gun blue. Here it is, between a painted example and an unaltered one: As you can see, it goes on very smoothly and, being what is basically a stain, hides nothing in the form of detail. Dunno if this is of any interest, but what the heck... Mark in Oregon
Not a "gun person" per se either; but you never know what might work... Gee, I may have to get some of the "black" stuff and try that too. Mark in Oregon
It's not a paint or a dye really, more of a chemical reaction, that's why the different mixes .. You can get it in bigger sizes, up to a gallon I think, from Brownells and others , comes in handy ...
How does this compare to Neolube? I see that in the Micromark catalog all the time, but are you able to use this for the same purpose as Neolube? From what I understand, gun blue is a degreaser, but is it safe to paint over? The couplers and truck look pretty smooth, so obviously it works well and gives them an industrial look, but what was the intent of using it on a die-cast truck in the first place? As a side note, I think I have a few of those cast couplers that came with a Ye Olde Huff n' Puff kit.
ah .. gun blue is not a degreaser, and you don't paint over it ... it's a totally different formulation than neolube ..
not sure, you should be able to, old henry rifles had a brass action, and nickel silver track is mostly copper, so it -should- work ?? try it and find out ??
if you are going to use browning, get the one designed for brass, it's different than the one designed for steel [as far as I know]
Any bluing/browning or “antiquing” simply uses a chemical reaction to oxidize the base metal in a controlled and much more appealing look than natural oxidation. Keeping the free electron In the base metal busy with the bluing is what prevents it from rusting or growing fuzzy green stuff. Unfortunately it’s never a perfect process and it only takes 1 atom that isn’t bound to start the natural oxidation process and ruin your finish.