idea needed for sweat/steam box

[schick]

I am bouncing around a few ideas for a sweat box for an upcoming slow rust finish. Anyone out there have any recomendations?

I was considering hanging parts (hang by wire) in a plastic tub with a tight lid. I was also considering placing a low watt bulb under a metal water container at the bottom to aid in the condesation.evaporation.

 

[Arctic]

Mine's a wood box 4' long, side is the door, hole in the top. painted inside with enamel. Bottom has a light bulb under a foil pan with either water or a wet sponge. Your goal is 70% humidity.

 

[Mauser98]

My first damp box was a large cardboard box set on the floor. I used a crock-pot as a moisture source.

Here's a shot of my current one. It's about 63"x15"x15". The crock-pot is at the bottom and there's a fan on the bottom shelf. The top shelf is where I put the small parts and a temp/RH meter. Barreled actions are hung on pegs on the peg board. The bulb is wired to a rheostat so I can control the heat in the box. If the RH is too high(aproaching 100%), I'll turn up the heat and vise versa. I get best results at around 90-100F and 85-90%.

 

[schick]

Thanks everyone. Sounds like a heat source (bulb) and a water resorvoir do the trick.

Nice picture. I don't plan on bluing a large number of items, so I wonder if I should get an RH.

 

[Ol' Flinter]

You have probably already built your box but here is my system. Plain wooden box 6" X 6" X 48" for long rifle barrels, mine are usually octagon. Lid is simply the top side and I have several transverse, fixed cradles inside to support barrels of different lengths. I simply slosh a couple cups of water around inside the box so the bare wood absorbs the water before laying the barrel into the cradles. I place the box in my nice warm furnace room and repeat the process every 12 hours. Don't forget to grease or oil the bore to protect it from rusting too.