After polishing, I used a sophisticated (ha ha!) system of wood dowels and patio chairs to suspend the metal. I then applied the Pilkington's Rust Blue chemical using cotton and taking long, steady swipes along the metal. I wore vinyl gloves during this- I have them on hand for reloading, and the Pilkington's instruction booklet suggests them over other gloves, so there you go. The bare metal began to react almost immediately, turning a mixture of bright turquoise and burnt orange. The shiny silver spots are bare metal that I missed on my first pass...it's okay, I'd get them on the second pass and it's recommended to take that approach rather than messing up what you've already done- the chemical will mess itself up if you let it!
After an hour of letting the agent do its work, I went back, per the instructions, and applied another swipe and was sure to hit the areas I missed the first time. I then let the metal sit for THREE hours while the chemicals had their fun. What I did while waiting was perhaps the most IMPORTANT part of the whole process- I made myself a drink. Fine bourbon makes the wait go much faster!
When the three hour wait was over, I got out the cookware. I have a double burner Camp Chef propane stove that I use for tailgates, and when I decided to do this project I custom ordered a parkerizing tank online from Stainless Steel Creations. Let me tell you- they make a good tank. After I pulled the metal from boiling water, and took about 45 minutes prepping it again for the next chemical application, then letting the chemicals go for another 3 hours, the water in the tank was still pretty warm. That may not seem like a big deal, but it sure speeds things up when you're bringing it to a boil rather than starting with cold water. And at 2:45 in the morning, speed is key because if I would have had to wait too long, I'm sure I would have fallen asleep! Here's a pic of my setup during the daylight hours. I didn't have any heavy wire around, so I used rope and tied it to the ladder for support (and to keep the rope ends away from the flames below!).
After one application/boil, the metal had turned into a dark, velvety black. I used a 0.003 wire carding brush from Brownells to remove the velvety boiled rust, and was left with a medium steel grey blue color. Not a bad start!
As I stated before, I then wiped everything down and applied another round of rust blue agent, then went to bed. At 2:45 in the morning, I woke up and started the burner stove again, boiled, carded, reapplied chemicals, and went back to bed. Then I did it all over again around 9:00 this morning (I know, a little longer than 3 hours, but hey, I was tired!).
The metal is now sitting on my porch with its 4th application of chemical agent. I'm going to let it sit a while longer this time, as the metal is picking up less and less color each time, so I want to make sure it has a chance to do its work. I'll post more pics and updates after I've finished the rusting process and applied some oil to ready it for a final bake/cure.
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