What? brownells steel white

I was out on Brownells website looking at a their gun paint, I was looking to paint an old Montgomery Wards (Mossberg 500) aluminum receiver that’s needs a facelift. Can’t find anywhere in San Diego who will reanodized it - ohhh evil gun partS - anyhow in wandering around the site I ran across this product “ brownells steel white” never used something like this, guess I never needed to. Now I’m curious about it, anyone ever use this stuff, wondering how this works with doing a Rust Blue after. Wonder if there is any value or time savings using this. Is this any better than using a similar warm. Vinegar and Water solution?

Looks interesting.

looks similar to evaporust, which I have used many times, although this brownell's stuff is a concentrate which is a net positive. The real benefit in using these products, over mild acid solutions like vinegar, is you don't need to worry about leaving your part in the solution too long. Cover your parts, leave sit overnight, scrub the next day. If there is still stubborn spots, do it again. 24, 48, 72hrs. Doesn't matter. won't harm the base metal at all. Leave a screw in diluted vinegar for 3 days and you won't have much of a screw left.

Regarding painting a firearm - I used brownell's alumahyde on a Glenfield 70 receiver (basically a marlin 22 from back when everyone was making them) as the original paint was chipping. It turned out ok. looks good. I did 2 coats to get things nice and even, and it felt to me like the paint added quite a bit to the dimension of the part. Since then, I've done a few AR lowers with Norels moly coat. You spray it on with an airbrush, cheap harbor freight kit will do, and then bake it in the oven. One coat is all it takes. goes on very smooth and covers well and very even while being super thin. Once cured it is indestructible. Norells has a $10,000 reward out for anyone who can find a solvent that will remove it - still unclaimed.

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Originally Posted by usabaker

wondering how this works with doing a Rust Blue after

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works great. You will want to scuff the surfaces you intend to blue. If you want to just leave it as is, polish with 600 or 800 grit. Areas not polished will rust blue just fine, but I find lightly polishing first takes on a deeper color faster.

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Originally Posted by ssgross

lightly polishing first takes on a deeper color faster.

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Opens the pores in the material.

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Originally Posted by browningautorifle

Opens the pores in the material.

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yes. surface area is the key when rust bluing. evaporust or the steel white will leave the surface glassy smooth, sans any pitting underneath.

However, I just noticed baker is prepping an aluminum receiver. I don't think either product will work at removing corrosion from aluminum, nor any anodizing - even if it says it won't attack aluminum, the chelating agent only reacts with iron oxide.
For bare aluminum with corrosion - like spots of my Glenfield 70 I painted, paper polish is the trick. The old paint came off with orange stripper and mineral spirits. If you need to remove any anodizing - a sand blast with correct media is the only real way to go. A quick google showed dozens of threads on ar15.com of people unsuccessfull or mediocre results at best with chemically removing anodizing.

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Originally Posted by ssgross

a sand blast with correct media is the only real way to go

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Like a nice silica glass bead to give a uniform surface.

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Originally Posted by ssgross

Norels moly coat. You spray it on with an airbrush, cheap harbor freight kit will do, and then bake it in the oven. One coat is all it takes. goes on very smooth and covers well and very even while being super thin. Once cured it is indestructible. Norells has a $10,000 reward out for anyone who can find a solvent that will remove it - still unclaimed.

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Thank you for the Norells lead, I've never heard of it; I've been using DuraCoat but found it doesn't hold up well to UV. So, I will give this a try! I looked on the web site and its a good price, doesn't say how much the 8oz will cover.

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Originally Posted by ssgross

works great. You will want to scuff the surfaces you intend to blue.

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Awesome.. I might give it a try on one of the .22 that are in my pile of needs help rifles. Will be interesting to see results.

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Originally Posted by ssgross

However, I just noticed baker is prepping an aluminum receiver. I don't think either product will work at removing corrosion from aluminum, nor any anodizing - even if it says it won't attack aluminum, the chelating agent only reacts with iron oxide.

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I wasn't going to use it on the aluminum receiver; I only mentioned the aluminum receiver because I was looking at paint products to refinish it. I just happened upon the Brownells Steel White while I was looking around and got curious. I can be like a fish and get distracted by shiny things. I fully intended to media blast the anodizing to get rid of it.

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Originally Posted by usabaker

doesn't say how much the 8oz will cover.

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I use a 1/2 oz jar with my harbor freight airbrush. After making sure the Norel's bottle is thoroughly mixed, I fill up the jar at the start. For an AR lower, it takes not more than 1/3 of my 1/2 oz jar to do the job. It works best with the most even coverage if your part is warmed. I put the kitchen oven on warm (170F) with my lower hanging from a rack while I set up my space and airbrush - light passes with the brush at a good distance. The warmth of the part flash-dries moly coat so you can really tell how many passes you need to make and how even your color is. While I'm spraying the oven pre-heats to the cure temp. If you screw up, a wipe with acetone resets it for you. But it really is hard to screw up. And much cheaper than cerakote or duracoat (I think), and it's more forgiving too on what surfaces. Cerakote needs a coarse surface - which many people parkerized first before cerakote (I'm no expert with either cerakote or duracoat. just read enough to want something different(. Norels will work fine with just a light scuff - in fact on a brand new lower it can go on right over the original anodizing. Just degrease really well first.

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Originally Posted by ssgross

And much cheaper than cerakote or duracoat (I think), and it's more forgiving too on what surfaces.

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It is cheaper than DuraCoat for sure... I'll be ordering some on payday. Thanks for the lead and tips!

Depending on what color you are going for, you can mix them. From my own experience, the grayish black is more grey than black, and comes out like the lighter gray colt anodizing, the flat black is very black and looks like any modern AR, and a 50/50 mix of these two makes the perfect reproduction of the 90s - 00's M16A2. You can even get real fancy and cure it a tad bit longer to give it that very faint milsurp greenish tinge that comes with age. Instruction are on the website for that.

So, with all this what's the consensus on doing a coat on a basic unfinished AR receiver? Duracoat? Just follow directions? I can get that local...

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Originally Posted by browningautorifle

So, with all this what's the consensus on doing a coat on a basic unfinished AR receiver? Duracoat? Just follow directions? I can get that local...

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Jim, I’ve used a lot of Duracoat, even painted the Front Door of my house with the stuff. It’s pretty tough easy to apply but has a really short shelf life. It’s also a two part paint. After painting my door found out it’s not UV stable. I’ve used it on rifle parts, trigger guards, receivers and such. Just way expensive for small projects, which is the reason I was looking for an alternative . Keeping it in the refrigerator. Helps its shelf live some

my norrells bottle sit on the shelf in the shop. over a year between last uses I noticed no problems. there is a mixing ball in the bottle as the pigments will settle - just have to make sure you shake it up thoroughly for several minutes.

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Originally Posted by ssgross

make sure you shake it up thoroughly for several minutes.

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Exactly, a very long shake. I've had issues when I didn't set my mind to doing exactly that. Results with clumping, plugged spray...thin coating...