How to antique

S

smokepole14

New member
Ok guys, I'm wanting to make my 58 remmy look just like its a 150 years old. I'm lookin for that gray brownish tint. From what I know to do is soak the gun in vinegar or use some chemical to remove the bluing. Then take mustard and rub the gun down to add patina. Then rinse in water and baking soda to dilute the acid. But I have some questions.
1. Will it hurt to take the bluing out of the inside of the barrel and cylinder chambers?
2. Will the gun in this state rust very easily, would I have to be more care worthy with it?
3. What is the best method to use?
 
antique

How to antique
Ok guys, I'm wanting to make my 58 remmy look just like its a 150 years old. I'm lookin for that gray brownish tint. From what I know to do is soak the gun in vinegar or use some chemical to remove the bluing. Then take mustard and rub the gun down to add patina. Then rinse in water and baking soda to dilute the acid. But I have some questions.
1. Will it hurt to take the bluing out of the inside of the barrel and cylinder chambers?
2. Will the gun in this state rust very easily, would I have to be more care worthy with it?
3. What is the best method to use?
__________________
I'm sure everybody has their own way.First there is no bluing in the barrel or chambers of any gun that has been fired.
I have heard vinegar will remove some bluing, but so will steel wool
With steel wool there is some elbow grease, but you can taylor the wear spots to your liking.
Never heard of the mustard.
After you remove as much bluing as you want, wash and dry it.
Most rebluing kits (including brown) come with a cleaner degreaser.
Do not touch the area to be blued / browned with anything after degrease.
Now apply either the blue or the brown or a combination to get the look you want.
You can add multiple coats to certain areas, or less or wipe with the vinegar / steel wool.
To each his own.
After you are done as long as all the metal is coated, normal care, cleaning and oiling should be sufficient to prevent rust.
Thing is after you are done, you can try it again if you're not happy with the results.
Mine were blued about 30 years ago. They now have daily wear. Some areas have been touched up. But mine were kits with no bluing from factory.
Good luck!
 
Remove the cylinder and grips.

Take a towel and wet it well with white vinegar. Wring it out, and it should be barely wet. Just damp is what you want.

Wrap the frame (and later the cylinder) tightly with the towel, molding it close to the contours with your fingers. Let the towel "not make" it to the lowest spots of the contours.

Wait 5 minutes, remove, wash, and examine.

Repeat as required.


This takes blue off of the high spots, which is what you want, and leaves some in the low spots, which is what you want.


When done, wash in hot water, wipe with a Ballistol wetted towel, and enjoy.


Practice on the cheapest junk Navy Arms POS that you can buy for $50 on Gunbroker, with a broken spring. It'll give you the confidence you need to do it to your new $400 Uberti.


Willie

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1. Will it hurt to take the bluing out of the inside of the barrel and cylinder chambers?
Click to expand...

As was said, there is no bluing inside the chambers or barrel of any gun that has been fired.

2. Will the gun in this state rust very easily, would I have to be more care worthy with it?
Click to expand...

Yes. Bluing is a protective oxide layer that helps protect against rust. You will now have raw exposed steel. You will need to keep the firearm well oiled.

Steve
 
I borrowed this pic from Logan5579. This is how I want to do mine.
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I believe he said he'd stripped that pistol, browned it and then buffed it to remove the browning he didn't want.

Years ago I browned an old 1851 Sheriff model and it turned out pretty nice without removing any of the browning. Haven't got pics, this was pre-digital everything..
 
Well I figure that 110-150 years ago they were carrying guns around that were only a few years old and they were nicely blued and / or colored case hardened, not stripped down to bare metal.

So.... I preferred to leave the metal finish on my Cimarron 45 colt alone. What I did notice, that struck me as not period correct, was that the grips had glossy polyurathane on them. I've never liked a glossy plastic looking finish on wood grips on any of my guns, so I stripped off the poly finish with fine sandpaper, steel wool, and lacquer thinner and put an old style rubbed oil finish on the grips. Makes a Peacemaker type revolver look much more authentic and normal scuffs and scratches easy to hide.
 
I agree with that two bit.. always seems a bit off to notice in movies that the characters are carrying guns that look 150 years old when they would be near new. Maybe not shiny new like some of us keep them but they wouldn't look like they'd been dragged behind a horse for a day and a half.;)

Hawg Haggens gun looks right for the age, used regularly but not as a fencing hammer...
 
Well used guns

I don't think most guns look new in the old days. They were used often and hard in all types of weather and sometimes stored wet in holster.
 
I don't think they were used or carried all that often, certainly not as much as guns are used these days. IMHO I think most of them probably looked pretty good until years of storage took its toll.
 
Also one of these would cost a month's worth of wages. I suspect some amount of care was taken of them.

To each their own, but I personally would not go for the "weathered" look unless I was trying to make a display piece as some kind of decoration or prop. Or if you want to pretend you are shooting a 150-year-old original.

If you are wanting to experience what it was like shooting them 150 years ago, well, it would feel like shooting a nice, new gun! :)

Steve
 
I'm sure the degree of care varied, just like today. I've seen 30 year old replicas that looked to be a hundred years old and with minimal care to boot. I've also seen Pennsylvania rifles that could almost pass for new. Some of us are absolutely anal about gun care. Others, not so much.

I do know then just as now, the professionals would have taken meticulous care of that weapon.
 
Here is what a 118 year old Winchester 92 looks like. It was my Great, great grandfather's and he carried it horseback for almost two decades beginning in 1895. As you can see he took very good care of it even though he had it with him riding horseback almost daily for twenty years. He was a SW Texas rancher along the Mexican border and his daily routine required him to ride. About a mile of his ranch touched the Rio Grande River. That was true frontier land and over the years he used the rifle to fight off rustlers on more than one occasion. It has saddle wear to the finish, the walnut has a few bangs and dents, but the gun was never neglected or allowed to rust. I imagine it was one of his most expensive tools and he had to make it last. I can picture him oiling it down every night. There were times that his life depended on that gun. It is still 100% functional and I still shoot a round or two through it on special occasions. It now has a nice plum patina that has never been reworked. It is a 44-40 with 24" octagon barrel. I keep it cleaned and well oiled. It is, of course, one of my "never sell" firearms.
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Or, you could just bury it in the back yard for a couple of years . . . :D

Hope you'll keep us posted on what you do and a photo of the final results. For browning, I like to use the Plumb Brown - easy to use and control over "rusting" browns - at least in my experience on long guns.

Some fine examples of "aging" in the photos

Hawg . . . that aged Remy of yours looks like the same one my g-g-uncle lost just after Gettysburg . . . any chance your kinfolk might have picked it up when they took him prisoner? :) :eek: :rolleyes:
 
smokepole...

glad you like the way my gun turned out. I used birchwood casey plum brown and followed the instructions on the bottle, after I got the gun to a good brown color I just took some 0000 steel wool and took the finish back off in the places where the gun would normally show holster and handling wear. Its not difficult but it was a little time consuming.

Here's a picture of an original gun that I pulled off the net years ago, and this is the look I was trying to replicate...mine came out little darker but I liked it. The metal darkens a bit over time also and I think that just adds to the beauty of the gun.

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Twobit, that is a beautiful rifle! If you ever run out of room and need a place to store it, I have a spot in my safe that would fit it perfectly! :p
 
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