Rusted crusty receiver on a Marlin

[MD]

Still working on the Marlin I was given.

I started with this:

got to this point:

But the top of the receiver still looks like this:

What would you do to clean up the top of this receiver? In addition to rust, it had some black epoxy paint or something on it, and even when I get down to bare metal, black stains.

I have applied oven cleaner, furniture finish stripper, oil and steel wool, elbow grease, scraped with a spent brass cartridge and soaked it in Permatex gasket cleaner and it now looks a little better, but not much than in this photo.

 

[bluedcanoed]

file or milling machine!
Bob

 

[darkshadow]

Lee valley rust stripper, electrolysis, hell little bit of muriatic acid on a tooth brush then clean it off quick.

 

[Norton]

I'd use a die grinder with a sanding disk.

 

[rlg]

sandblast

Sand blast, if you are not to far away, bring it over and we can do it together.

Regards
Robert

 

[MD]

Gee Robert, that's a wonderful offer, but I'm in Vancouver.

 

[MD]

I was thinking of trying 600 grit emery cloth and oil.

Any reason why not?

 

[vagrantviking]

It kind of looks like gun oil or solvent melted a bunch of foam all over the place.

Don't get too carried away too fast. Slowly try more harsh solutions till something works. I'd stay away from things that remove any metal for a while and try a few different chemicals to get the gunk off and maybe the muriatic acid on the rust if need be.

A bronze wire wheel has been my friend a couple times in the past.

 

[rlg]

Just a tad far for you to drive

Gee Robert, that's a wonderful offer, but I'm in Vancouver.

Why do you guys all live so far away

Find your nearest glass-blowing business. Most of the guys who do specialty glass work have light sandblasting equipment for making designs in glass. I am sure for a minor charge they would be happy to clean it up for you.

 

[MD]

In the photo, that is just a light coat of oil on top of the layer of rust and crust that remained after one of my "treatments" with oven cleaner, then a rubbing session with oil and steel wool.

Bronze wheel eh?

so that shouldn't score the steel too much should it?

Here's the results of last evening's scrub and rub sessions:

 

[Striker]

Wow..I've done a couple of Marlins that were bad but not like that.
Whatever you manage to clean it with..you are going to have some serious pitting under it.

We usually remove the heavy rust and pitting with careful sanding. 80 grit is the coarsest we use, then work up to 600 grit. You just have to take your time and be careful not to round off any edges or sand away the "lines" of the receiver.

here is a before and after of a rusty model 94.

after.

 

[darkshadow]

I kind of like the pattern it makes if it was all clean.

acid bath it and it would look cool.

Where did you get it?

 

[MD]

A buddy had it on his workbench and I stupidly asked what it was.

"It's a Marlin," he said. "Want it?"

 

[sunray]

Use a fine, brass, wire wheel in a bench grinder and a light touch. Eye protection is mandatory.

 

[mpjustin]

any idea what modle it is? 1936? or 336? and what caliber

 

[Andy]

Interesting - thanks. I have a rusty Winchester M1892 and a Win M1894 that will require similar treatment.

 

[stevebc]

Striker, that's beautiful work! Well done.

 

[MD]

It's a Marlin 336 30-30 Branded JC Higgins Model 45.

It's from 1958.

 

[Striker]

Striker, that's beautiful work! Well done.

Thanks. I can't take credit for the sanding though. My "partner" does that. I do the painting.
I really enjoy the "after" part when you get it all back together and see how much better it looks.

 

[trevj]

You could do worse things than look around the web for references to electrolytic rust removal.

The hightech part is a battery charger tha does not have too much in the way of circuitry inside it (harder to find, these days). You need a DC power source.

Salt and vinegar works, too, but you absolutely have to get the parts totally immersed, or it will eat a line at the transition from liquid to air.
Simply dissolve as much table salt as will, in houshold vinegar. Submerge degreased parts. Remove, scrub, reinstall for a while if it is required.

Hot water and lots of oil, for after the salt and vinegar treatment. Works well.

I'd say that you are about the point with that one, where you should consider a welded build up, and grinding on a surface grinder. Should be followed by a heat treatment, to get the whole action back to the same state as it started out. Perfect opportunity to look for a guy to color case the action. Maybe not original, but it shore would look purty!
Sandblasting, or glass bead, would be the cheapest, and if done at low pressures, not too bad at grinding away detail.

Yer not exactly holding onto the rifle Custer was using at Little Big Horn, so issues of collectability are pretty much taken care of.

Wassit like inside?


Cheers
Trev