why iron nails in rustbluing soloution?

[250.ackley]

im trying to make some rustbluing solution by mixing nitric and Hydrochloric acid whit destilated water but it does not work so good:barf: no i heard that you should add iron wire to the mix untill it cant eat no more.. but why can someone please answer me:confused:

[PetahW]

You may want to consider reading this link all the way through:

http://www.realguns.com/Commentary/comar51.htm

.

[Unclenick]

Look in Howe (http://www.scribd.com/doc/3844106/the-modern-gunsmith-v1-howe-1941) for old rustbluing formulas. Watch out though. A lot of his stuff is old, old school and very toxic.

Nick

[grymster2007]

You probably already know this but the chemicals you refer to present serious hazards. If you have not already done so, please look at the MSDSs for these. Here's a couple links, please check hazards and controls:

Nitric (http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/n3660.htm)

Hydrochloric (http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/H3880.htm)