Posted by Zachary Hopkins on August 26, 2021, 9:13 pm, in reply to "Re: Rusting Barrels"
I apply the rusting solution with a 1 in foam brush. Allow 1st coat to rust and then apply a 2nd coating of solution and then allow it to rust. After the second coat has dried and been allowed to rust I boil and then card. The rust I get from the Mark Lee's solution produces a very fine rust so I think this is why I get by with being able to apply two coats. When I was using other solutions the rust was a bit more course. After the initial run I do the exact same thing over and over usually 6-10 cycles depending on the barrels and how dark I want them. You will get to a point where they do not look like they are rusting but just hazing but they are still rusting. That is when you start to know that you are about there. When I card the material I'm removing nothing more than a soot like material finer than velvet. It may look splotchy at first but the more cycles you do the more it will blend in. The most important thing above all is the polish before bluing!