Scratch in my 41 Blue! Help...

[Frankie2blue]

I was cleaning one of my absolutely pristine 41's and bumped into a box that had a small screwdriver on top and it landed on the slide of the 41 and put a 1/2" very thin scratch on an otherwise perfect slide. This is something that after 28 years of doing this I would never believe could happen. Not really deep but plainly visible.

A blueing pen made it black, but the scratch still shows. I am sick about it as this one is not "just a shooter". What can I do to fix this thing? Can S&W re-blue the slide so you cannot tell it was re-blued? Money is not the object here, I just want it back the way it was. Any suggestions?

 

[Frankie2blue]

I was cleaning one of my absolutely pristine 41's and bumped into a box that had a small screwdriver on top and it landed on the slide of the 41 and put a 1/2" very thin scratch on an otherwise perfect slide. This is something that after 28 years of doing this I would never believe could happen. Not really deep but plainly visible.

A blueing pen made it black, but the scratch still shows. I am sick about it as this one is not "just a shooter". What can I do to fix this thing? Can S&W re-blue the slide so you cannot tell it was re-blued? Money is not the object here, I just want it back the way it was. Any suggestions?

 

[Roddy B]

Brownells Oxypo blue creme.

Clean the slide with alcohol then heat it with a heatgun or hair dryer. Apply the blue creme as per the instructions. You should be able to blend the blueing into the existing finish & make the scratch disappear.

 

[Frankie2blue]

Thanks Roddy, I'll give it a try,although the scratch (more than the color) is the problem. The blue pen colored the scratch, but maybe the creme has a slight filling capability? I'll order some today.

 

[Keith Brown]

Frankie, This is just my opinion but it's based on several attempts myself to do what you are trying. The scratch cannot be filled with anything, it must be polished out by someone who knows what they are doing. Each attempt to touch it up will make the scratch a bit more obvious. Nothing you can buy or try will make that slide look the way you want it to look short of a quality re-blue. Re-bluing will destroy all collector value, if this seems to be of no concern to you then it's worth a try. I would start by contacting S&W to see if they will do just the slide. A reblued slide with a receipt from S&W would probably be the least painful if you would sell it later. Just keep it clean until you decide which way you want to go. Hope this helps.

Keith

 

[Frankie2blue]

Bis45
Thanks for the reply. So, if in fact the scratch is polished out, then it must be re-blued, correct? I can't imagine anyone polishing it without ruining the blue. I probably won't sell it anyway as I love it, but not sure I want to be reminded of this every time I pick up the gun. I obsess over small things. I probably should call S&W and see if they can maybe do a custom shop blue or something. This is an older one with fantastic bluing, not like the newer ones.

 

[Gunhacker]

I know how you feel... and it's a rotten feeling. I managed put an "idiot scratch" in a pristine '70 Series Colt Gold Cup not too long ago while removing the slide to have the front sight restaked to tighten it up.

A while back someone wrote an excellent post, which I wish I could find again, explaining why any type of cold bluing will not blend in with hot bluing very well... something along the lines of one is alkaline the other is acidic in nature, so I wouldn't bother trying this or that cold blue on it.

But be that as it may... I myself would not send it back to S&W for rebluing, as they stopped doing do their own bluing years ago. I suspect that whoever is doing it for them today will have a difficult time matching the slide to the frame.

S&W used a proprietary formula for their in house bluing salts solution, and prior to going to chemical bluing, they used a dry process called Carbona Bluing. Each process produced it's own characteristic to the blued steel.

Polishing was just once facet of what made S&W blue what it was... they also had their own proprietary buffing wheels. All of this combined set S&W's apart from the rest of the crowd.

I would look at sending the gun to Doug Turnbull (http://turnbullrestoration.com/), give them a call and ask if they can do the slide to match the frame. Turnbull has managed to figure out how to do the Carbona Bluing process with what's legally available today (S&W used bone meal produced in India that wasn't animal in origin).

You didn't mention how old your M41 is to determine if it was Carbona or Chemical bluing, but I think Doug Turnbull can do it justice either way.

 

[Frankie2blue]

Thanks Conrad. I will give him a call and see what he says.

 

[Monster Man]

Not that I am an expert on such things, but when I contacted Doug Turnbull with a similar question, I received a email reply that stated they do not work on Smith & Wessons.

I emailed S&W regarding my 1959 41, and their relpy was "Sorry, but we do not work on anything manufactured prior to 1960."

I suggest that you contact Paul Lippold at R.G.S. Restorations, Inc. ([email protected]). He stated in a message to me that "We can provide you with the correct factory finish for your pistol. I would have to take a look at it, but Smith was still using the Carbonia method of finishing at that time. Our level of prep and polish will far exceed that of the current S&W metal finishers for sure."

You should check him out.

 

[JacMac]

This is a really interesting topic. I tried learning about the early bluing processes and learned that all the good ones were proprietary to whatever company; therefore I gave up. However I did learn that Doug Turnbull had mastered the carbona technique and case-hardening. I have a second year 4 digit model 41 and the finish is not carbona bluing, which turns a rich purple tone over time. Since no company uses carbona bluing anymore, I wonder why some guns, for example H&K P7's, turn that purple color. p.s. to Monster Man: Turnbull recently contracted with S&W to do case-hardened frames on specials. I saw one the other day; J frame, 38 special, No lock.

 

[Frankie2blue]

What finish were they using after the Carbona and what are the years that they changed finishes? My serial is A1402xxA.I would like to know what finish is on that. Not sure what year that is but the blue was just beautiful before I went and scratched it.

 

[Stockhouse14]

I think your best solution is to leave it alone as it extremely doubtful that anyone will be able to produce the finish look your gun has on it. They will have to polish the total surface area that the scratch is on, and not just the area of the scratch.

Unless a professional can guarantee you the appropriate finish, then I would leave it alone and fight the demons that will forever haunt you about 'that' scratch !

 

[Stockhouse14]

Originally posted by Gunhacker:

A while back someone wrote an excellent post, which I wish I could find again, explaining why any type of cold bluing will not blend in with hot bluing very well.

If anyone can find this I would be interested in reading it.