Has Anyone Tried Metal 'Browning?'

[Old CW4]

I'm a gunsmith and not a knife maker. However, I have to ask if any of you makers have tried rust browing knife blades?

Rust browning is a technique several hundreds of years old used long before chemical bluing to protect bare steel and iron. The metal was intentionally 'fast' rusted by putting it in a damp and slightly heated and enclosed space. The metal, in this case, a gun barrel, sword, or other parts, quickly acquired (in a couple of days) a coat of brownish-red rust. The rusted parts were then put briefly in boiling water to 'kill the rust,' then rubbed down and oiled. The resultant inert or 'neutralized' rust coating prevented future rusting.

There are 'browned' steel/iron artifacts in museums today in good condition despite being hundreds of years old thanks to rust browning. BTW, the old Brit Brown Bess' muskets and bayonets of the Revoluntionary War era come to mind. They were mass produced and rust browned products.

 

[The Mastiff]

I have cold blued knives before. Carbon steel, lowish- medium / simple carbon not highly alloyed like high speed steels seem to work best. Like firearms the preparation mostly controls the results.

I have seen knives blued as fine as any custom rifle in my time so it can be done. My results using cheap, simple products like brownells are just what you would expect from a cheap, cold blue process with modest preperation.

It helps stop further rusting if kept lubricated just like guns.

Old style "browning" won't work as expected as the higher carbon content in knife steels will cause faster rusting.