Antiquing Brass??

asphalt cowboy

I hope one of y'all can help.

I'm trying to antique the brass on my Thompson Center Hawken and have run into a frustrating problem.

So far all I've tried is elevating the brass above the bottom of a covered bucket and then adding ammonia to the bottom. On the first try (an overnight fuming) everything but the trigger guard and barrel wedge came out with a nice dark, aged bronze color. The trigger guard and wedge however, would only take on a pale blue/green almost turquoise tinge. I've tried two more times for even longer periods and still only get the funky pale tinge.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

Wolf.

Strange. My first guess is that it almost has to be due to a metallurgical difference between the lighter parts and the darker parts. Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc and the zinc content can vary from as little as 5% up to almost 50%. So, there are a lot of different "types" of brass, depending on the alloy. These can each take topical treatments differently.

How does it look when you reassemble it with the two differrent patinas?

Have you tried hanging those problem parts lower into the container without touching the ammonia?

Have you tried putting a heating pad under the container of ammonia?

I know it is a problem for you, but this is interesting.

joelH

Another method for aging brass is to make a paste of baking soda with a few drops of water. Totally cover your parts and let sit overnight. Rinse with water. Rub with 0000 steel wool to get the desired look.

charliemeyer007

From Fortunes in Formulas for Home, Farm and Workshop copyright 1939

Brass Bronzing: Immerse the article free of dirt and grease into a cold solution of 10 parts potassium permangante, 50 parts of iron sulphate and 5 parts hydrochloric acid, in 1000 parts water. Let remain 30 seconds; then withdraw, rinse off, dry in fine, soft sawdust.

rhmc24

I have been 'antiquing' brass for 40 years and have never found a method that is fool proof or consistent. As Wolf above points out, brass can vary greatly in its % of metals. Old brass, especially, may have more than just copper and tin due to the sources of those metals containing other metals that were not ID and not known to be there. Probably still true today since the maker's intent may be ease of manufacture, economy, appearance, etc & they add other metals in the 'brass' you see on your gun.

There are commercial products for darkening brass. All the above recipes probably will work to some extent. They will likely produce a different (better ?) color when heated before/after application. The brass on your gun can have several sources and several metals contents, in which case you may never get them looking alike. Another thing that tarnishes brass is the residue left from burning black powder. Rotasruck, just keep trying, a lot of different ways.

Been ther, Done that!

hrf

Cold Blue will darken most brass; try a little on a hidden spot with a que-tip.

asphalt cowboy

Thank's for the help guys.

Hopefully one of the above techniques will give me a reasonable match.

Again, Thank's

USN_Airdale

try using the gunk you clean out after firing, i have found that the residue left after shooting is real good at staining brass, found this out by accident [:D]