Rusting ferrule and pommel

t1mpani

t1mpani

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Okay, I'm not sure what's up here. On my villager 12 inch, the above pieces are rusting. This is strange to me, since I tried to include them in my lemon juice blade treatment, and they didn't respond at all. I tried, then, with hydrogen peroxide, and still they wouldn't darken or respond to it in any way. So, once the blade was "antiqued" I rubbed the whole thing down with break-free and have been using it since. In the last couple of days, rust has been showing up on them (not the blade, though). :confused:

How can the oils/sweat from my hand be more reactive than citric acid??!!
 
T1mpani-- I don't have an answer for you, but I've noticed rust on the silver bolster/buttcap on a villager I've been working on. A little sandpaper took care of it. You might be able to protect it with some wax.
--Josh
 
I have had pretty good luck so far with a good grade of car wax with a high carnauba wax content. If I have any trouble in the future I will lmelt some pure carnauba and try that. This stuff gets pretty hard. A bit hard to polish up but there is less worry with this wax. with the car wax I use at least two coats. Just what works for me.:) I have been known to paint the but cap and tang with super glue. Work pretty good also.:) :)
 
Renaissance Wax is supposed to be a pretty good protectant.

Don't know what type of wax is used,
but it's dissolved or suspended in a hydrocarbon that
evaporates as you rub it in/on.
 
Well, I have a number of things to try now, so I'll start taking action. If all else fails, I have some clearcoat rustoleum that oughta' do it. :)

Thanks for the methods!
 
Has anyone tried blueing the steel fittings on a villager? I'm thinking about taking a crack at that tonight.
 
Part of my plans for one I'm working on here, jsut trying to decide if I should blue fittings first, or finish and oil handle. DOn't want to take this one apart, but not sure what bluing compound will do to handle, either oiled or unoiled
 
I'd blue it first, and tape the handle to keep those chemicals out. I've noticed that adhesives aren't the best friends of wood finishes, so that's why I'd do the handles afterwards. Have them sanded down to the level you want, and then once you pull the tape off, use some mineral spirits to clean to wood up, and start oiling! :)
 
Is there any way there could be some residual chemicals on it? If there is, make a paste of baking soda to neutralize the acid and rub it on. Scrub it in, then rinse off, dry and protect with wax or oil. Just a thought.

Steve
 
I'd try to avoid using any thing next to unprotected wood...you don't know how far something could soak in and cause deep discoloration. A little bit can always find a way under the tape. If it were me, and I decided to sand the handle down before bluing, I'd protect the wood with a few coats of wax before bluing. It will be easy to remove with some steel wool, and any residual wax will blend with the finish as long as turpentine or mineral spirits are used, at least in the early coats.
 
Well, I already have six coats of truoil on the handle, so what I may do is tape the handle and blade with blue painter's masking tape and put the blueing on with a q-tip.

This afternoon I spent some time sanding off residual truoil from the bolster and end cap and noticed it is very tough to get that stuff off. Possibly truoil has some virtue as a metal protectant also.
 
Regarding the bluing of villager hardware, I tried Birchwood-Casey Perma-Blue Paste Bluing today.

Never having blued anything before, I tried it on the karda of the 20" villager I just got. Put 3 applications on it. Looks really cool, like a rifle barrel.

Carefully taped the handle and blade of the villager. Applied the bluing to the bolster with a paper towel. The stuff hardly even touched it. After 5 applications, it looks a LITTLE more like brass than it did before, but not NEARLY as responsive as the blade itself. Don't think I'll be continuing the process on the hardware.

BTW, the tape (blue painter's tape) completely sucked the finish/oil/whatever out of the handle. Left a lovely bleached ring. Steel wool buffing makes it look OK. Don't really care about that, anyway.

If you haven't used this product before, a couple of things:
1) Just like the mustard etch, avoid the tendency to apply it thickly. This results LESS bluing (still think that's wierd).
2) Heating the metal, according to the man at the gunshop, greatly improves the results. The metal of the bolster WAS heated.

Be interested in other people's results.
 
Decided on this one I'd rather jsut leave boslters as is, and did a scotch brite satin finish on blade(Screwed up my sharpening in process, have to dig up a mousepad now).

But will probalyb try bluing one in future.

Yes, heat does really help it.

ANd make sure you oil at end as suggested.
 
Aardvark:

Was that bolster and end cap on your 20" Villager brass or steel? The 20" Villager AK I got had brass fittings. If they are brass, you need "Brass Black" (also by Birchwood Casey). Super Blue won't do a thing to brass in many cases. The Villager I'm currently working on is a Sirupati with steel fittings - or at least white metal of some type so I'm going to give Super Blue a shot.

For some reason, Brass Black isn't on the shelves in alot of gun departments, but www.brownells.com has it.
 
Originally posted by etp777
Decided on this one I'd rather jsut leave boslters as is, and did a scotch brite satin finish on blade(Screwed up my sharpening in process, have to dig up a mousepad now).
Click to expand...

Yep, a Scotch-Brite pad will most certainly screw up a sharpening job if not done correctly. You have to be careful and rub towards the edge. Of course that's impossible to do if you want the finish running along the blade.

I've never tried the paste cold blue, but have had excellent results with the regular variety. I second or third the suggestion of the heat.
Running hot water outta the tap to heat up the blade quite nicely. For really long pieces put them in the oven on very low heat. That's what I've done with gun barrels.
 
Super Blue produced some interesting results on the white metal fittings of my Villager last night. The end cap blued, but the bolster turned dark brown/black, and when I wiped it with a paper towel most of it rubbed off. So, the bolster does not appear to be steel, or at least not typical steel. Therefore, I sanded everything back down and plan to leave things in the original white.

That's o.k. though, because if blueing compound won't put a dent in that bolster, it isn't likely to rust either.
 
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