"Antiquing" or aging a Stoeger/Uberti "Hombre" SAA... tips?

[CraigC]

The difference is going to be that vinegar will strip ALL the bluing off. The Scotchbrite will only take off where you rub it. If I was going to go further as I described above, I would do the latter.

 

[Speedo66]

I also wasn’t impressed with the almost crinkle finish on my Hombre.
Fine steel wool removed the original finish, but didn’t polish the underlying steel, I was okay with that.
I scrupulously followed the instructions on Van’s Instant Blue and I’m satisfied with the results.

 

[1KPerDay]

So you removed the original finish with steel wool, and then reblued with instant blue, correct? @Speedo66

 

[Speedo66]

So you removed the original finish with steel wool, and then reblued with instant blue, correct? @Speedo66

Yes, mine actually looked more "crinkley" than yours appears in your photos.

I basically just flattened it out, didn't want to spend more time polishing it, just hated the crinkle. The gun looked white before I blued it.

Can only say good things about the Van's Instant Blue.

Edit: the barrel looks different than the rest of the gun, but in reality it all looks the same, just the way the lighting is catching it.

Also, the gun didn't feel smooth before, now it does.

 

[CraigC]

Here's a knife blade that I aged before doing a deer leg bone handle with rawhide wrap.

 

[1KPerDay]

@CraigC that looks cool. To be clear, that's not a folded/damascus type blade, right? Just 'etched' or whatever using your chemicals process in your previous post?

 

[CraigC]

No, that's just a plain carbon steel Green River blade. The etching makes it look like damascus. Or something old and heavily pitted. Just have to protect the edge with fingernail polish or you'll lose it.

 

[1KPerDay]

Well 0000 steel wool is barely touching this after 45 minutes of rubbing. Should I try a coarser grade or some scotchbrite or just give up and go full vinegar? I kinda would rather approximate honest wear rather than strip it and start from scratch but I guess we’ll see. I have the grips slathered with citri strip gel and we’ll see how that goes as well. Not touching the brass for now.

 

[film495]

years ago I antiqued some old furnature. so, basically it was refinishing a ruined finish, but then adding some features to make it look old. Two main pieces I recall for what its worth. Darker and lighter areas, less finish, or a darkening for handling marks or wear areas. As an experiment - I wonder how just handling and cleaning one for a while with 400 grit sandpaper gloves would expedite the wear process to make it look older.

 

[1KPerDay]

I actually thought about something like that very thing. I didn’t know they actually made sandpaper gloves. I got some green scotchbrite and will try it next, then I guess vinegar if it doesn’t look reasonably good

 

[1KPerDay]

Nope… first attempt with green scotchbrite started to leave obvious scratches so… I guess I’m going the chemical/vinegar route

 

[1KPerDay]

Welp, I finally mustered up the courage and mixed a solution of 1/3 cup white vinegar to 1 cup water and tried soaking a 0000 steel wool pad in that and scrubbing the gun. After 5 minutes of that I was seeing basically no change so I increased the vinegar/water ratio to 1:1 and that started working. I soaked the cylinder in that for a couple of minutes while I scrubbed the frame and barrel with the steel wool soaked with the half vinegar solution and started seeing some progress. I took the cylinder out and started scrubbing the “wear” areas and they scrubbed right off, and when I was happy with how it looked I rinsed with water to hopefully stop the blue removal action.

I soaked the frame/barrel assembly in the half/half solution for a few minutes as well, and scrubbed until it looked okay, then rinsed the frame and barrel as well, and the only part I’m not super happy with is a weird defect in the blue at the front left side of the barrel, but otherwise it looks to me to be pretty close to a realistic approximation of a lot of years of honest use. I rinsed it well inside and out, then hosed well with moose milk and blew it dry with compressed air, then hosed with straight ballistol, and now I’m wiping it down and cleaning it and oiling it.

Meantime the stocks have been soaking 2 cycles with citristrip and then scrubbing with steel wool and water. There’s still a bit of stubborn laquer on the front right but it’s going for a third. Can’t decide if I should darken the stocks before rubbing with wax, or leave them kinda light. I have 1860’s era Colts with both darker and lighter wood, so I imagine either is “authentic” looking. I didn’t want to go crazy with “distressing” it but I did whack the grips lightly with the side of a fork for some realistic looking shallow dings on the sides and some light marks on the bottom, though they may not show once refinished/waxed if I go that route.

Pics below of its current status. I’m pretty pleased and I’m glad my less-aggressive vinegar therory worked out, at least in my estimation. I can always go another round if I feel it’s not enough, but now it at least looks like it could be a real SAA, rather than one molded out of flat black clay or something.

 

[1KPerDay]

Here you can see the scratches on the left side frame flat that I saw after the first couple of strokes with the green scotchbrite, and some more pics of the current state of the finish (pre-reassembly).

 

[1KPerDay]

Current state of the grip (spots still soaking with citristrip). I used my pocketknife perpendicular to the wood to scrape off a few stubborn spots of lacquer also. Definitely going to need some stain now that I see it as it dries/lightens.

 

[kidneyboy]

A suggestion for the grips - tinted furniture wax/polish. I used this for years on my woodcarvings to give them an aged look. It also gives brass an aged patina.

 

[ontarget]

That is coming along very well.
Personally I would go for a dark grip.
For a gun with a aged and worn from use look, it should have a dark and dirty looking looking grip from all of those years of hard use.

 

[CraigC]

Very cool. I would take all the innards out and make sure everything was squeaky clean.

 

[doubleh]

Now I see why you're defarbing it...I forgot the hombre had that finish.

It does make one understand after seeing the original finish.

 

[1KPerDay]

Current grips after 2 rounds of ebony water based stain and wiping off the smears/strokes with alcohol. I’m trying some rosewood mixed with ebony now to try to get a little more brown/red as well as darker

 

[1KPerDay]

Really like this a lot better now. It has personality.

 

[1KPerDay]

“After” pics. I am very happy with the results. Maybe I’ll work up the courage to do something similar to one of my nice polished blued Pietta Colts but likely I’ll just keep shooting them and let them age naturally.

I dinged up the grips a bit more with a butter knife when they were covered with the stain mixture so it pushed the stain into the dings and darkened them. Looks fairly real IMO particularly on the right where a right hander would get more scratches and dings carrying it in a holster. Looking forward to seeing how this gun ages with use. Thanks all for the ideas and help!

 

[ontarget]

Saweeeet.

 

[1KPerDay]

Here’s a short video for those who want to see it in motion

https://youtube.com/shorts/j-o2GTZR-7M?feature=share

 

[wcwhitey]

Very nice work.

 

[1KPerDay]

@wcwhitey thanks!