March
S M T W T F S
1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31
Who's Online Now
0 members (), 629 guests, and 3 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Forum Statistics
Forums10
Topics38,374
Posts544,014
Members14,391
Most Online1,258
Mar 29th, 2024
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 11,313
Likes: 378
keith Offline OP
Sidelock
**
OP Offline
Sidelock
**

Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 11,313
Likes: 378
Yesterday I bought a 16 ga. G grade Syracuse Lefever with automatic ejectors. Nice 6 lb. 2 oz. gun with beautiful wood and 26" Damascus barrels in great condition. Unfortunately, it appears that a previous owner cold blued over the action and sideplates. The Damascus barrels were not touched, nor was the trigger guard. I'm saying it's cold blue because of the amount of case hardening colors that remain inside on the water table and forearm iron. Since those hidden case colors are so strong, I'm assuming that there was probably at least 30-40% or more remaining when it was cold blued on the exterior.

I'm hoping that any remaining case colors were not polished off before the cold blueing of the action, and that there is some way to remove the cold blue safely without also removing whatever case colors might be underneath. Any ideas?


A true sign of mental illness is any gun owner who would vote for an Anti-Gunner like Joe Biden.

Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 1,405
Sidelock
**
Offline
Sidelock
**

Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 1,405
You will Not be able to remove the cold blue without effecting the case colors.

Things like vinagar and bluing remover will also remove case colors.

And, if the action was prepped at all before bluing (polishing) then the colors are gone anyway.

If the cold blue job looks even half way decent, then the frame was prepped somewhat properly before bluing since cold blue will look like crap if applied over an un-prepped surface.

I would still recommend removing the bluing since a grayed or silvered frame always looks better than a blued one.


B.Dudley
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 11,313
Likes: 378
keith Offline OP
Sidelock
**
OP Offline
Sidelock
**

Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 11,313
Likes: 378
Thanks for the reply. That's what I was afraid of. I agree that a grayed or silvered frame looks better than a blued one, but this gun is nice enough that it may be worth having the bone case colors redone.

Every cloud has a silver lining. At least it wasn't torch colored by ed good.


A true sign of mental illness is any gun owner who would vote for an Anti-Gunner like Joe Biden.

Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 6,264
Likes: 196
Sidelock
***
Offline
Sidelock
***

Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 6,264
Likes: 196
Keith, you might try a selective partial blue removal with Lime Away or something similar. You might be surprised how much better the gun looks than if all the blue were removed. No harm in trying.

Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 1,405
Sidelock
**
Offline
Sidelock
**

Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 1,405
Originally Posted By: keith


Every cloud has a silver lining. At least it wasn't torch colored by ed good.


Yeah. There is no fixing that.


B.Dudley
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 11,313
Likes: 378
keith Offline OP
Sidelock
**
OP Offline
Sidelock
**

Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 11,313
Likes: 378
Daryl, that's a good idea, and as you say, I'd have nothing to lose by trying. I'm sure that you've noticed that original Lefever case colors are predominately blue with a slight halo around the edges and screw holes. Although a number of folks do beautiful case hardening, I haven't yet seen anyone who can reliably reproduce authentic Lefever colors. I wonder what they did differently?


A true sign of mental illness is any gun owner who would vote for an Anti-Gunner like Joe Biden.

Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 6,264
Likes: 196
Sidelock
***
Offline
Sidelock
***

Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 6,264
Likes: 196
Keith, one can use silver polish on the blue, too. Look at your other guns and see where the finish is naturally worn and not as worn. I did this on a couple of guns some years ago, and they looked pretty good. Use a rag and polish with your finger or a ruby red eraser over cloth. Generally, the color case hardening on the Lefever sideplates held up better than on the rest of the receiver.

I have never had a Lefever color case hardened , but if you look at current or upcoming auctions, it is being done, and sometimes pretty well, sometimes not.


Link Copied to Clipboard

doublegunshop.com home | Welcome | Sponsors & Advertisers | DoubleGun Rack | Doublegun Book Rack

Order or request info | Other Useful Information

Updated every minute of everyday!


Copyright (c) 1993 - 2024 doublegunshop.com. All rights reserved. doublegunshop.com - Bloomfield, NY 14469. USA These materials are provided by doublegunshop.com as a service to its customers and may be used for informational purposes only. doublegunshop.com assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in these materials. THESE MATERIALS ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT-ABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. doublegunshop.com further does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of the information, text, graphics, links or other items contained within these materials. doublegunshop.com shall not be liable for any special, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages, including without limitation, lost revenues or lost profits, which may result from the use of these materials. doublegunshop.com may make changes to these materials, or to the products described therein, at any time without notice. doublegunshop.com makes no commitment to update the information contained herein. This is a public un-moderated forum participate at your own risk.

Note: The posting of Copyrighted material on this forum is prohibited without prior written consent of the Copyright holder. For specifics on Copyright Law and restrictions refer to: http://www.copyright.gov/laws/ - doublegunshop.com will not monitor nor will they be held liable for copyright violations presented on the BBS which is an open and un-moderated public forum.

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5
(Release build 20201027)
Responsive Width:

PHP: 7.0.33-0+deb9u11+hw1 Page Time: 1.073s Queries: 28 (0.054s) Memory: 0.8177 MB (Peak: 1.8988 MB) Data Comp: Off Server Time: 2024-03-29 07:14:46 UTC
Valid HTML 5 and Valid CSS