"Plum Brown" removal

[Hickok]

I posted this on another BP forum because I really need an answer.

I stripped the bluing off my Pietta 1860 Colt with vinegar and gave it a Birchwood Casey Plum Brown finish. It is horrible looking. The steel grip frame, main frame and hammer look good, but the barrel and cylinder look awful. I polished the barrel with some fine steel wool and it looks like newly plated copper! The same color of a newly minted penny! Yuk!

Apparently different steels of different temper are the cause for the red hair dye colors.

Will a vinegar soak remove this nasty plum brown finish?

 

[Oldnamvet]

Sure can't hurt to give it a try. Took off the blue so should also help with the brown -- er --whatever the copper is.

 

[scrat]

should come off. you just need to let it soak for about an hour then wash it off with hot soapy water.

 

[Hickok]

Thanks, I'll give the revolver a dunk in some vinegar tomorrow. As I said, some of the parts came out a nice, even dark brown, but the cylinder and barrel....well, they would match the brass trigger guard better than any other parts of the gun.

 

[Hickok]

The vinegar worked on the plum brown, but it was about like using paint remover, as the "brown" had to be rubbed off with paper towels every half hour of soaking.

Refinished the Colt with Brownell's Dicropan T-4 cold bluing and got a nice finish that looks like the old charcoal blue after buffing down with fine steel wool. Just a lilltle extra buffing and the revolver looks like it has some honest holster wear, instead of looking 140 years old.

 

[sundance44s]

I had a heck of a time browning a Lyman G/P barrel ..I think it`s the Itilian steel ...never had that problem with a Greenmountain barrel made in the US . I redid the Layman barrel 5 times with the Browning before I ended up with a nice dark brown instead of the copper looking finish ...and even then it wouldn`t have won a beauty contest .

 

[Hickok]

Sundance44, glad to hear someone agree with me. I have tinkered with guns all my life and I never had a flop like this "plum brown" fiasco!

I didn't want a Colt with a barrel looking like a shiney new penny!

But the Colt Army looks real good now!

 

[Macmac]

I'ld like to see the pics if you can get them on line.. the new blue I mean...

I have done browing before, but i make my own 'secret' recipe.

 

[Hickok]

MacMac, I have to get a memory card reader to hook up to my notebook computer in order to download pictures from my digital camera. Maybe Santa will bring me one in a short while!

 

[robsc]

Clean the barrel surface to remove grease sweat and handprints.The barrel should be heated first before applying the plum brown finish. Plum brown won`t rub off when applied onto a hot barrel. After applying the finish the barrel will look like it`s covered with red/orange rust. Use a rag with some motor oil on it and wipe off the barrel while the barrel is still warm. Don`t use steel wool. Leave the oil on the barrel for 24 hours and then wipe it off. Plum brown finish improves with age. It will look better yet as the years pass by.

 

[sundance44s]

The copper colored spots he`s talking about will come no matter how hot you get the barrel or how clean it is ...I always hang mine in the shop and never touch the steel with my finger and use a propane tourch to heat it up ..before applying the brown ....Some of the copper spots were so bad on mine I had to use steel wool to remove them and start all over with degreaseing first then hung it heated it 5 times before the bigest part of the copper spots would brown ...somewhat ..it`s like impuritys in the Itilian steel ...it can be just as hard to get a good blueing on an Itilian revolver too , there are always spots that just don`t want to take blueing too .

 

[mykeal]

I've never had that problem with any of the Italian guns I've done, using Plum Brown or Laurel Mountain's cold brown solution.

 

[sundance44s]

Your a lucky man Mykeal ..I have a ASM Remington on my work bench right now that I`m trying to blue and it has light spots all over it .........it looks real nice in the house ...but when I take it out in the sun ..yuck .