doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Ithaca/skb 100 barrels--rust or hot blue?

Are the Ithaca/SKB guns barrels hot blued or rust blued? I don't have it in hand, a friend of a friend is inquiring about one he has that needs rebluing and he has asked what type would be most proper on that gun (as well as safe in the long term).
thanks very much,
Dave

I have one in for repair right now and will look at the barrels tomorrow. If memory serves me correctly it looks like the barrels where textured (something akin to bead blasted) and hot dip blued but I will double check.

You could never go wrong having them rust blued and it would be a longer lasting finish.

I believe the barrels on those guns were coated with something like a "black chrome" finish. I had a set of Ithaca/SKB 100 barrels rust blued, it proved to be rather difficult for the gunsmith. He could not get the barrles to rust/black evenly and the mono-block joint remained a silverish color after many rustings. I believe the steel has a high chromium content, thus making rust bluing pretty difficult. I'm not a metalsmith or metallurgist so I'm just speculating here.

I have rust blued them with no problem. The monoblock joint can be an issue but that is due to oil comming out of the joint. Next time I'm gunna try cleaning the joint area in an ultrasonic cleaner. I have heard of SKBs with black chrome but the guns I have worked on were blued and bluing was removed like any other. Could be that all SKBs are not created equal.

I hade a CZ in a while back that had some kind of propriatory black on it. The black could not be removed with bluing remover and the spots that were worn silver could not be rusted. I contacted CZ and was told that there was nothing that could be done it was a propriatory finsh that was not field repairable.

Thanks all--Is there any way to tell whether a new blue job will "stick" before stripping off what remains of the old bluing?

It is true that many if not most of the Ithaca-SKB's were black chromed. There was a good article about them in Double Gun Journal about a year or two ago. It was stated that they where all black chromed. I own two model 100's and a 200E. The 200E is chromed and one of the 100's. The other is blued. The blued one was bought new by me in 1970 so was made in 1969 or earlier. It is odvious that the one is blued when you put them side by side. I also have a friend that has a model 100 that is blued. His must be very early as it has only one locking bolt instead of the double bolt that you normally see. I believe that the blued guns where hot blued. The solder that joins the barrels of an SKB is some type of silver solder and could take it.

The original finish was hard chrome, I bet it is still there. How to color it is the question.
bill

I suspect the reason I have only come accross the blued guns is that the chrome ones don't need blueing.

I have owned several SKB's over the last 35 years and I believe the first few were blued,most of the production black chromed, and the last few were again blued.Apparently near the end of production the black chroming process was deemed to be extremely toxic and discontinued.Most of the guns were also chromed inside both the barrels and most of the action parts. I did however have one Model 100 that had the barrels black chromed outside but not chromed inside and another that was blued outside and chromed inside.Go figure.Regardless of finish they are amazing guns that stand up to serious use.I don't know what type of steel they used in the barrels and actions but they are very tough as I have put all manner of loads through these guns and they show very little sign of wear.

OK, so it sounds like the odds are in favor of this gun being black chromed. Apparently this is a gun that was inside a house that burned down. I know that the fire-retardant chemical in the water boiling off often is what causes problems with guns in a fire, but though I have not seen it myself I'm told this gun is not pitted but the barrels "need to be reblued". Perhaps the chrome is what saved it??? At any rate, the gun has some sentimental value to the owner and he would like to attempt to have it put right...assuming the gun is in decent working order and the barrels are chromed, is there anything he can do to refinish the barrels?