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Here's the "before" shot of my Pietta 1851 pattern Colt revolver. (click pics for bigger versions)
I was using white vinegar to remove the bluing from the furniture of my Lyman GPR, and it was working GREAT ”“”“ slowly dissolving the bluing over a few hours, and leaving a nice gray finish that I was able to give a nice case-hardened look to using a torch and some cold blue. More pics of that later.
Anyway, I spilled some of my 50/50 mix of water and vinegar on the bench and my roll of blue shop towels instantly soaked it up from the end of the roll. So much for that roll ”“”“ but I had a light bulb moment. I'd been wanting to lightly "age" my 1851 Colt Pietta -- just take the finish off a little of the high/sharp edges, maybe some pitting, to make it look more like a gun someone carried for a few years. The gun was cheap, and has been a "gunsmith practice" gun for me anyway, so I thought I'd give it a shot.
So i took the wet towels, wrung most of the vinegar/water mixture out of them, and wrapped the revolver in them. I figured that because the solution was weak and because the paper was barely moist and was only touching the high spots of the gun, that it would just barely thin the bluing.
Well, I forgot about it and went to work for an 8-hour shift. :shocked2: :nono:
Came home and peeled the shop towels off and almost had a heart attack! Not only was ALL the bluing GONE ”“”“ I mean like a stainless steel Ruger or something ”“”“ there was some serious etching in the metal, to include a nice fish-scale pattern left by the texture of the shop towels. :barf:
Well, I got over it and began cleaning it up using warm running water and steel wool. With some elbow grease I was able to polish off the scale pattern and leave some of the pitting and etching. I took my propane torch and heated the parts up and while hot spread some Birchwood Casey super blue on them with a q-tip. This produced a splotchy black finish which looked awful. After letting them cool a bit, I ran them under cold water again, and then buffed them out with steel wool which blended the colors and left some of the high spots silver. All of the sudden, it started looking pretty good!
I took the opportunity to age the stocks too. I used a chemical stripper to remove the factory varnish. Then after they dried I tossed them around my workbench for a minute to give them a few small dings and dents. Then I dyed it using first one application of "red mahogany" and one of "brown walnut" from Behlen's Solar-Lux alcohol wood dyes, followed by a few coats of Behr's #600 Tung Oil finish. After that dried I hit the whole thing with a thick coat of flat black Rustoleum paint (I was scared, trust me). After that dried, I scrubbed it off with steel wool. (Thanks Mike Brooks! :wink: ) A couple more coats of oil finish, and it was ready to be put back together.
It'll never be mistaken for an original but I like the way it looks now. (Note: I know the nipples are not in these pictures. This is a family site after all.)
I was using white vinegar to remove the bluing from the furniture of my Lyman GPR, and it was working GREAT ”“”“ slowly dissolving the bluing over a few hours, and leaving a nice gray finish that I was able to give a nice case-hardened look to using a torch and some cold blue. More pics of that later.
Anyway, I spilled some of my 50/50 mix of water and vinegar on the bench and my roll of blue shop towels instantly soaked it up from the end of the roll. So much for that roll ”“”“ but I had a light bulb moment. I'd been wanting to lightly "age" my 1851 Colt Pietta -- just take the finish off a little of the high/sharp edges, maybe some pitting, to make it look more like a gun someone carried for a few years. The gun was cheap, and has been a "gunsmith practice" gun for me anyway, so I thought I'd give it a shot.
So i took the wet towels, wrung most of the vinegar/water mixture out of them, and wrapped the revolver in them. I figured that because the solution was weak and because the paper was barely moist and was only touching the high spots of the gun, that it would just barely thin the bluing.
Well, I forgot about it and went to work for an 8-hour shift. :shocked2: :nono:
Came home and peeled the shop towels off and almost had a heart attack! Not only was ALL the bluing GONE ”“”“ I mean like a stainless steel Ruger or something ”“”“ there was some serious etching in the metal, to include a nice fish-scale pattern left by the texture of the shop towels. :barf:
Well, I got over it and began cleaning it up using warm running water and steel wool. With some elbow grease I was able to polish off the scale pattern and leave some of the pitting and etching. I took my propane torch and heated the parts up and while hot spread some Birchwood Casey super blue on them with a q-tip. This produced a splotchy black finish which looked awful. After letting them cool a bit, I ran them under cold water again, and then buffed them out with steel wool which blended the colors and left some of the high spots silver. All of the sudden, it started looking pretty good!
I took the opportunity to age the stocks too. I used a chemical stripper to remove the factory varnish. Then after they dried I tossed them around my workbench for a minute to give them a few small dings and dents. Then I dyed it using first one application of "red mahogany" and one of "brown walnut" from Behlen's Solar-Lux alcohol wood dyes, followed by a few coats of Behr's #600 Tung Oil finish. After that dried I hit the whole thing with a thick coat of flat black Rustoleum paint (I was scared, trust me). After that dried, I scrubbed it off with steel wool. (Thanks Mike Brooks! :wink: ) A couple more coats of oil finish, and it was ready to be put back together.
It'll never be mistaken for an original but I like the way it looks now. (Note: I know the nipples are not in these pictures. This is a family site after all.)
