Carbona Blue

[riverdog]

Does anyone do Carbona Blue? I found a S&W Mod 28-2 S-serial# that has way to much character. S&W no longer does Carbona Blue. Does anyone else? TIA

 

[Jim K]

IIRC, at S&W the guns were placed in racks in a rotating drum that was essentially an oven and the carbona bluing vapor filled the atmosphere inside the drum. The process was part of the heat treatment, and could not be re-done. Not exactly a DIY job. When customer service had to reblue a gun, they used the normal hot tank process.

Jim

 

[riverdog]

Thanks Jim, I was afraid it might be something like that. Do you know of anyone who uses a blueing that has significantly less black than what S&W and Colt currently offer?

 

[Alex]

Check out Doug Turbull, he specializes in period finishes and should be able to help you out. He's on the web and he's nationally known for this type of work so you needn't worry about sending your revolver to some hack.

 

[riverdog]

Doug Turnbull -- Thanks, just a Google search away.

 

[Jim K]

Getting a factory-like blue is usually more a matter of polishing (or lack of it) than the type of blue used.

The major mistake most folks make is overpolishing. Most gunsmithing books tell you to get a mirror shine on the steel with the finest polishing compound available; that is OK if you want the gun to look like a Weatherby. But that takes time and costs money, and most factories do not do it.

Less polishing can simulate factory blue; in my experience, 600 grit will give a nice blue finish, while something about 800 will give the S&W blue. It is hard to tell someone how to do this. If you have access to a bluing tank, you can experiment with different pieces of scrap steel until you can determine just what you want.

I have no direct access to a bluing tank any more, but when I have a gun to do, I polish it and then tell the gunsmith to NOT touch it, only to degrease it.

Jim

 

[Old Fuff]

There are some bluing salts that impart a lighter blue-blue rather then blue-black color. The heat processes such as Niter Blue and some rust-blue techniques also have a more bluer cast. But in any case the color can and will be compromised by the kind and amount of polishing that's done.

The later finishes and processes are very labor intensive and seldom used today. When they are the job is usually very expensive.

Doug Turbull can duplicated the S&W Carbona color/finish, but not necessarily by using the same exact method. Again, excellent work, but justifiably expensive.