Finish on a steel cannon?

[flagman1776]

What would you use for a durable finish on a full sized steel gun?

[Double D]

Are you buying a full size gun or building?

I would say that if you are buying the maker should furnish  a finished gun.

If you build, black oil based paint.

[subdjoe]

Check here:  http://ia600505.us.archive.org/4/items/ordnancemanualfo00conf/ordnancemanualfo00conf_bw.pdf

Go to page 162 for the start of the paint section. 

[Co. Batguano]

If you can swing it, why don't you hot blue it?  Bluing doesn't flake the way that paint does.

[DaveSB]

I cold blued my smaller cannon and mortar and the vent holes are discolored. Kind of looks like some bluing was removed by the fuse. For that reason, I painted my 40mm with rustoleum. Seems pretty tough although I have yet to fire it.

[gunsonwheels]

On my first gun all the irons were hot blued by an uncle while I watched... said if you immerse the iron around 280 degrees and cook until just over 300 you will get a deeper penetration of the salts and blued (oxidized) surface.  Said problem with bluing in general was you got shallow almost rust-like finish if you immersed at higher temps and the temp is constantly rising as the water cooks off.  Some of my irons which went in the bath at the higher temps were redder and when dinged showed bare steel more easily.  I remember wondering if you could inject steam or water at boiling to maintain that good range...  I imagine todays bluing salts aren't as finicky...??
 
Based on my surfaces' durability I highly recommend hot bluing (the deep penetration, blue-black kind) for both the tube and the irons.  All the irons were glass bead blasted white before bluing... after bluing they looked very nice when lightly oiled.
 
GOW

[GGaskill]

The major advantage of paint is ease of repair.  No bluing tanks required, no trip to the powder coater, etc.  Just clean it and get out the spray can.

[Victor3]

 My smaller carbon steel cannons/mortars have all been either blued or painted. I've thought about Parkerizing since I do it at home but haven't done one yet.
 
 Thing is, if you're going to use them they're generally going to get a lot more beat up than your favorite rifle ever would. Especially so if you're talking about a larger cannon since you have to man handle them during transport and use. They're gonna get wet from swabbing and will have corrosive powder residue all over the place. If you don't care for "patina" and battle scars, paint is best because it's the easiest to do over (an over and over) again. It's also cheap, easy and good for keeping a cannon stored outdoors from rusting.
 
 I'd be way too lazy to go through what would be required to properly clean and lube a full size blued gun to keep it from rusting up after firing it. Bad enough just doing my BP revolvers. 

[flagman1776]

delete

[subdjoe]

My smaller carbon steel cannons/mortars have all been either blued or painted. I've thought about Parkerizing since I do it at home but haven't done one yet.
 
 Thing is, if you're going to use them they're generally going to get a lot more beat up than your favorite rifle ever would. Especially so if you're talking about a larger cannon since you have to man handle them during transport and use. They're gonna get wet from swabbing and will have corrosive powder residue all over the place. If you don't care for "patina" and battle scars, paint is best because it's the easiest to do over (an over and over) again. It's also cheap, easy and good for keeping a cannon stored outdoors from rusting.
 
 I'd be way too lazy to go through what would be required to properly clean and lube a full size blued gun to keep it from rusting up after firing it. Bad enough just doing my BP revolvers. 

+1

There is a reason our ancestors painted the things rather than leaving them in the white or bluing them.

[Zulu]

I use Rustoleum Gloss Black on my wooden barrels.  I have been putting a fresh coat on all my wooden guns for more than a week now.  These guns all have 5 or 6 coats of paint on them now.  They really look great!
Next, I clean up the carriages.
Zulu
 

[DaveSB]

man, those things are pretty.