Restoring and Blueing 1938 Revolver
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AudieMurphy
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I really like watching these videos...awhile back one was done on a 1911 a guy found was about in the same condition as this one......for me its not about increasing the value...but just for the enjoyment, the pleasure of making it functionable again...CARRY ON!
What is up with always wearing the rubber gloves? I see that a lot these days.
It'll keep chemicals off of one's hands & not transfer hand acid to bare metal.
Both are good ideas, IMO.
Both are good ideas, IMO.
Hardly what I would call a Restoration.
Plenty of 'BeadBlast & Blue' refinish jobs around.
Should have just done the strip and clean. Then kill the live rust and leave it at that unless you are going all in on a true Restoration.
That involves hours+ of polishing. Mostly by hand but it must match what the Arsenal did at the time it was mfg'd. So it doesn't necessarily need to look first class custom. It has to look 'original'. That's where many Restorations fall flat. They get the polishing grit lines going in the wrong directions and often go too fine on the polishing.
Orig blue finish was likely a Rust Blue from that era. Hot Salt blue was just coming on the scene in the western world both Govt arsenals and the commercial trade.
I'm not sure what was going on inside Russia at the time (1938) but I suspect they stuck with a Rust Blue for a while.
Of course I'm talking about a Restoration which is what the titile of the video is.
The hardened parts were orig Straw color temper if I remember right. Flat springs either polished in the white or left spring temper color.
Those parts all came out an off color red in the hot salt blue which is predictable .
This one just got brought up to the same poor finish class as the heavily refinished, buffed & hot blued Nagants that were imported a few years ago. They sold cheaply w/a holster & cleaning rod usually,,around $100 IIRC at the time.
Every War souvenier can't be a gem as far as condition.
But beadblasting and hot salt bluing it did it no favors IMO.
It needed just some cleaning and conservation(for the rusting) more than anything else.
Plenty of 'BeadBlast & Blue' refinish jobs around.
Should have just done the strip and clean. Then kill the live rust and leave it at that unless you are going all in on a true Restoration.
That involves hours+ of polishing. Mostly by hand but it must match what the Arsenal did at the time it was mfg'd. So it doesn't necessarily need to look first class custom. It has to look 'original'. That's where many Restorations fall flat. They get the polishing grit lines going in the wrong directions and often go too fine on the polishing.
Orig blue finish was likely a Rust Blue from that era. Hot Salt blue was just coming on the scene in the western world both Govt arsenals and the commercial trade.
I'm not sure what was going on inside Russia at the time (1938) but I suspect they stuck with a Rust Blue for a while.
Of course I'm talking about a Restoration which is what the titile of the video is.
The hardened parts were orig Straw color temper if I remember right. Flat springs either polished in the white or left spring temper color.
Those parts all came out an off color red in the hot salt blue which is predictable .
This one just got brought up to the same poor finish class as the heavily refinished, buffed & hot blued Nagants that were imported a few years ago. They sold cheaply w/a holster & cleaning rod usually,,around $100 IIRC at the time.
Every War souvenier can't be a gem as far as condition.
But beadblasting and hot salt bluing it did it no favors IMO.
It needed just some cleaning and conservation(for the rusting) more than anything else.
Agreed.
A cleaning and neutralizing of the rust progress would’ve been a less invasive and more honest example of conservation.
Give Bubba a little information, though, and this is what you get.
“It’ll look fine under those dim gunshow lights.”
Or, just take some blurry cellphone photos and it’s good to go for a quick online sale. Be sure to have the auction end a couple hours after dinner on a Sunday, once your bidders have had a couple whiskeys (“Nyet”, Vodkas, in this case!
)The barrel removal and re-install (with the hammer on the bottom of the frame) was a little cringy.
On the plus side, the video has clear camerawork and the timeline & pacing was engaging.
Oh well, at least it wasn’t a DWM Luger he was working on!
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I'm kind of a restoration guy myself. I've restored meat cleavers (Civil War era), tools and axes, knives, a Silvertone guitar & amp case, a 1880s banjo, a 1950s butcher block, and even partially restored a rusty Colt Pocket Police revolver (ca. 1866). To me it's just a fun hobby and I like to restore and preserve things. I enjoy watching the videos of other folks doing the same thing and although my methods and final products may differ from theirs, I can appreciate the fact that they're taking the time to rescue them from the landfill.
While calling what is shown in the posted videos a "restoration" is a bit of an overstatement, taking a rusted, near-worthless hunk of junk, and cleaning it up and "restoring" it back to being a fully functioning firearm is pretty impressive. I watched half a dozen of his videos and really enjoyed seeing him bring those old wall-hangers back to life.
He's rescuing examples of classic firearms that NOBODY could ever "restore" to the point of being collector grade examples. They're just too far gone for that. IMO, when you consider the condition of what he's starting with, and compare that to the end results, I'd say he's doing pretty darned impressive work.
As we all know, once the original finish is gone and the gun is as rust-pitted as the ones he's working on, ending up with a functional firearm is about the best result you are going to be able to get. I don't care how talented you are, they will never be "restored" to any kind of original, collectable condition. Their collector value is LONG gone.
I say, more power to him. He's doing GOOD work, and going to quite a bit of trouble to share how he did it with all of us. That could that ever be a bad thing? KUDOS to him!
JMO, and FWTW.
He's rescuing examples of classic firearms that NOBODY could ever "restore" to the point of being collector grade examples. They're just too far gone for that. IMO, when you consider the condition of what he's starting with, and compare that to the end results, I'd say he's doing pretty darned impressive work.
As we all know, once the original finish is gone and the gun is as rust-pitted as the ones he's working on, ending up with a functional firearm is about the best result you are going to be able to get. I don't care how talented you are, they will never be "restored" to any kind of original, collectable condition. Their collector value is LONG gone.
I say, more power to him. He's doing GOOD work, and going to quite a bit of trouble to share how he did it with all of us. That could that ever be a bad thing? KUDOS to him!
JMO, and FWTW.
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Exactly. Human skin is typically a little on the acidic side of the PH scale. The PH scale goes from 0 (VERY acidic) to 14 (VERY caustic). Neutral PH is 7.0 and human skin is typically 4.5-5.5 on the PH scale.
Exposing your slightly acidic skin to caustics (substances with a PH scale that measures ABOVE 7.0) can be really BAD. When you expose an acid substance to a caustic substance, the chemical reaction is going to release a LOT of chemical energy.
That release of chemical energy can result in SERIOUS chemical burns to your skin.
Also, oils from your skin (like the amount of oil that you leave behind in your fingerprints) can be enough of an oil-barrier to repel the water-based bluing solution. Water and oil DON'T mix. So, ANY oil on the steel will keep the water-based bluing solution from fully penetrating the surface of the steel.
Considering both of these factors, wearing a pair of nitrile gloves is a good idea that has a double benefit - protecting you from the caustic chemicals in the bluing solution AND keeping the oil in your skin from contaminating the steel and keeping the bluing solution from penetrating the steel that you are trying to blue.
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Yes, use nitrile gloves and eye protection whenever using chemicals...even advertised "safe, green, or non-toxic" gun cleaning products. Many chemicals, such as acetone, can be absorbed through the skin and may affect internal organs (liver, etc.), and getting some in your eyes is no fun. And perhaps even worse, trying to hug your wife even hours after a gun cleaning session and being told to "get away from me with those smelly hands!". LOL!
Roger that. The worst thing you can do to a gun with a little rust or pitting is bead blast and blue. Bead blasting actually hides very few blemishes. I have had customer bring me blasted and blued guns and want me to make them right. The blasting adds hours of labor to a proper polish and blue.
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