browning ???

[urrlord]

i've got an older rossi 5 shot 38 that had been cold blued 3-4 years ago,then had been poorly stored and rusted.in the process of cleaning the rust  most of the cold blue  came off.leaving no blue in some places and  some of the original  factory bluing in others.i was thinking of browning it just to have something different.how would i  do this?do i strip off every bit of the bluing,before browning? any advice is appreciated.thanks

[gunnut69]

Anything that would protect the steel in any way has to be removed. Naval jelly works well and be sure to thoroughly scrub after the operation. Any surface prep should be done now and the browning process started. I use an easily available product from BirchWoodCasey called 'PlumBrown'.  I like to apply to very warm steel. Not hot enough to sizzle the liquid but close. Keep the surface saturated and don't work from the bottle, pour some in a shallow container and don't forget the safety gear(glasses or face shield, appron and rubber gloves). The product contains some material that can be very bad for you.  Follow the directions carefully and when the parts have cured for a couple of days protect them with a coat of wax or WD40(allow the WD40 to harden on the steel). I prefer the wax as the WD40 is basically a varnish when dry and will scratch off.  The trick to a good finish is steel composition and repetition. Give it several coats until the desired color is reached.