2 Restorations pix later

[doc_stadig]

Just made a couple of revolver restorations on a couple of "rescued" wheel guns, the first was a 45 Colt Ruger New Model Blackhawk, apparently manufactured the first year of the New Model in 1974. It had been stored in a leather holster for quite a while, as the cylinder had been deblued by the leather, as well as the barrel.  Structurally it was in good condition, so there was no sanding required, but the bluing was really in terrible condition, I stripped it to bare metal after I took the grips off, not wanting to make it look like it was a brand new, I only put a couple of coats of Perma-Blue on it, then judiciously steel-wooled it to an "aged" finish, there were several "character" dents in the grips, so I just gently sand them and applied some Old English scratch cover, then hand rubbed til I got a finish appropriate for a 36 year old revolver.

   I also purchased a 44 cal. Remington replica on Gunbroker.com that was in much worse shape, cosmetically, the prior owner had apparently taken a file to it to strip the barrel, and made some fairly deep gouges and nicks that weren't obvious on the pictures on the listing. Undaunted, I went to work with a coarse flexible sanding block, to get the deeper cuts, and some finer sanding blocks to get the finish to where I liked it. A bit of Dremel-ing with a polishing wheel, and I got it to where I felt the "normal" tooling marks would let it look "used" then I stripped it and re-blued it a couple of coats, a bit of steel wool brought it to a "used" but not abused appearance.  

   I'll post some pix after my daughter's back surgery tomorrow, I didn't take any before's on the Ruger, but this is the starting point of the 44

   

   

   

   Doc

[grayelky]

I can highly recommend Duracoat for your projects. It will present a really nice finish, fill in most and maybe all of the "tool marks" to leave a smooth finish. And it is affordable.

[heyjoe]

all righty then

[doc_stadig]

I'm kind of trying to keep the wild west look. They are both single action wheel guns and I'm not sure the Duracoat finish would do that.  

   If I could come up with a way to blue my Earl, I would be thrilled. I really like the Earl, and as soon as real people are able to get the black powder version, I'll own one of those, as well, but they should be, at least offered, in a blued version. I love the design, but it just screams to be finished in the classic finish of it's predecessor the 1858 Remington.  

   

   

   Doc

[grayelky]

I will have to agree, the Duracoat will not do what you want done. I suspect there are people who could make it come very close though.

[doc_stadig]

As promised the pictures

   

   

   

   

   

   My intent with both revolvers was, not to make them look new, but to make them appear to have been around for a while, used, but not as a hammer. I really liked how the cylinder on the Remington looks as though it had been cycled frequently but kept "ready to go" all the time.  

   I got a little heavier with the bluing on the Ruger than I really intended, and my photo's are not all that great, but............ anyhow.......

   

   

   Doc