"Case color"

Actually I think the gun looks pretty good just the way it is. If you start looking at big numbers maybe it would be best to nickel plate it.
 
Hardcase, I'd leave it. That gun's just starting to get a bit of character!

There is a guy does the big gun shows over here and sells a case hardening compound - don't know whether it's liquid, paste or solid but I seem to think it's only a few bucks.

Frontier
 
That product is probably Kasenite. It is for case hardening but not in color. Case hardening is heating low carbon steel coated with a high carbon content material such as charcoal or kasenite so that the surface absorbes carbon a few thousandths deep. Quenching from the critical temperature hardens the skin of the part leaving the interior softer. This process does not impart colors but leaves the surface a gray color.
Case hardening in color requires the specific types of high carbon material and the quenching bath has to be aerated which imparts a differential rate of cooling trapping the colors.
 
Case Coloring comes from the heat treating processes as others have said Either from the bone and charcoal method or others but they are all semi-permant in that they don't just wash off with a chemical. I used to have one of the original Ruger Vaqueros and they only had a color treatment put on top of the steel. I was able to disolve it off uing a chemical (this was to make the gun look 'aged' long before you could buy them that way). As far as I know the Italian copies use arsenic to harden the heat treated metal. This works but is not as good as the method that Colt etc used which is packing the reciever in a combination of bone and other organics into a metal container and heating and cooling it in a precise way. The only other factory that uses that method that I know of is USFA which makes a clone that looks as good as the Colts. You can case color steel by using things like kasenite but it is made for hardning and does not give a results that is predictable as far as coloring.
 
That's the thread I was trying to think of. His ultimate results are breathtakingly gorgeous. I'd pay good money to have him do a few things for me.
 
Hello, Hardcase. About case colors...While the hard shell of steel of a case-hardned surface usually goes from about .003" to .006" in depth, the "Colors" are only a few millionths of an inch in thickness..they are really only an oxide from the high heat applied. Sunlight over time, handling & holster wear will cause them to fade, or disapear altogether..what really amazes me are the original...and I mean authentic untouched Sharps, Ballards, Colts and Winchesters that still retain these beautiful colors for well over 100 years.
 
I have a Colt .25 from about 1908 that has very bright and fiery color on the safety, my gunsmith couldn't believe it was that old and still bright.

Turnbull's CCH is beautiful, and I think it's very much a case of the results come from polishing before hand.
 
Turnbull's CCH is beautiful, and I think it's very much a case of the results come from polishing before hand.
Click to expand...

It's actually due largely to the clear coating afterwards. Uncoated looks more like original Colt color casing IMO.
 
Hello, HisSoldier. That bright blue is indeed beautiful...it's nitre-bluing, again caused by heat..parts are submerged in liquid nitre-bluing salts, colors from light straw..as on the early Lugers, to very light sky blue. again, as with C.C. it is just a very thin oxide. Incedently, these chemicals are available from Brownell's.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top