New or old Finnish

I will be getting a brass frame cva 1851 navy from a member here the next week or so, it's a kit gun and should be fun doing the finishing work or whatever else is needed.
my question is should I make it nice and pretty with nice shine, or give it a aged look.

I'm not a big fan of shinny brass, or chrome and stuff like that. What would you do, please share yours that may help me decide.

think the steel bits are in the white or will need bluing anyway. If I do a polished gun I may rust blue it. For the worn/aged I have some Browning I could use or cold blue.

some tips on ageing brass would be nice.

SlowFuse said:

Rust bluing/browning is a bit easier than a proper bluing job. Doesn't require special equipment, just takes a few days between coats depending on how many you want to do. I have used Laurel Mountain products for this with good results. Never refinished revolvers just rifle/musket barrels. My first attempt was pretty good but the ones thereafter looked fairly nice.

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I've done all different types of bluing, just don't know what to use on this gun. Think my buddy has his hot blue tanks still going so I can do that to but the rust blue or Browning seem more fitting. I may play with some cold blue and water, makes a fake color case hardening of Don right. I'm out of cold blue tho.

Armored farmer said:

I prefer browning on my antique guns.
I have a browned '51 that I can take i pic of.....

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Ya I'd like to see that, the only Browning I have is the Dixie gun works instant browning. I've never used it but a friend said it worked good, it's cheap to.

Armored farmer said:

View attachment 971740
My very first bp gun. It was a kit gun. Circa 1980.

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I like it, is the guard and strap brass did the brown give it the color. I wish I had some ammonia I think that give brass that cool black color, I have some sweets maybe that may work.

If you ever left brass in your pickup bed for years, that color is very cook. I'm not that patient lol.

Malachi Leviticus Blue said:

An old well known technique to age brass is to soak it in urine.

"Method 2: An old traditional method of colouring new brass or bronze was to immerse the item in warm urine, producing a fine aged appearance in ½ to 1 hour. The reaction can be controlled to some extent by the temperature of the urine. Horse urine was commonly used, as their hay and oats diet produced a much greater ammonia content. After immersion wash in clean water and finish as previously described. This is one of the best methods of producing a realistic patination of age on these metals, simple, controllable and effective."

https://www.bafra.org.uk/media/Arti...-TO-ANTIQUE-METALWORK-by-Peter-Hatchett-1.pdf

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Is early morning pee or afternoon pee better, and I don't have a horse it maybe hard to get the cat to pee in a cup. I may have to experiment with this.

entropy said:

Troy, you realize all the Finlanders on THR are going to give you heck about the title, right?

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Don't blame me, blame auto correct. I had it with one n but it decided to change that when I hit post lol.

entropy said:

View attachment 971887
My uncle did a good job of making this 1860 he built look authentic, except when I researched my Great-great grandfather, whom I'm named for and who the pistol commemorates, I found he was issued an 1858 Remington. I'm not sure how he did it, but since he taught metal shop, he had plenty of ways to do it.

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Looks good, I'd like to know how he cut out that chip bored so nice. Gives me a idea, maybe make it look like it was used in war for 4 years. Or what it would look like someone that's using one in the 1870s or 1880s.

windini said:

At the risk of sounding frivolous, why not do both?

Build & finish it like you were working in Sam Colt's factory, apprenticed to a Master Gunsmith with an Antebellum Babe daughter you was sweet on.

Shoot & store it like you were a former gunsmith's apprentice deemed unworthy of his daughter (who was subsequently betrothed to a bow-tied, checker-suited accountant), so you ran off to join train robbers, spending more of your time shooting over your shoulder than cleaning your gun.

Patina to follow in due time...

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What movie was that again lol.

Loosenock said:

I use Plum Brown on both iron and brass. Patina your brass the same way you do the iron. I use a square of a sponge to get a good even application on it. Its simple and quick.

'loosenock

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Ya I've used it before on the thimble I added I the h&a underhammer I've got. I just don't have any plum at the moment.

Using the salt and vinegar in a air tight container looks like it makes for some nice patina, can get some cool blue colors to.

I know if the metal is to hot and you use some cold blues it can make a cool copper color.

I got the gun together and gave it a old look, I think it looks good hard to tell with my bad picture. Hope to shoot it this week if I can find some round balls.

I just blued the steel parts but only did 2 boils to make the blue worn looking, on the screws I just hear blued lightly to make them look more aged. The brass I put in a container overnight with vinegar and salt, it had some nice blue green colors but came of easily so longer in the container would have been fine. The brass has some browns and pinks like it was shot and not cleaned. Wood I just used some blo.