How the Walker turned out

[Tallship]

In thanks to all those who answered my questions about bluing removal, I thought I'd post a picture of the final product. I finally wound up using a commercial bluing remover and then applied bore butter to the unfinished metal. I purposely did not keep it real clean to effect an "aged" looked. The pic was taken after coming back from the range last Saturday. [edit] Don't know how to post the pic in the main thread; sorry for just the thumbnail.

 

[Steve499]

None of the guns around me during my childhood were new or blued. I thought the old look was how God intended a gun to be. I still prefer that look. Good job on your Walker, and don't apologize for anything! I get along fine with thumbnails. (Can't figure the other way out, either)


Steve

 

[hildo]

Fine result Tallship!
You have pulled me across the line. I will un-blue my Walker as well.
Hildo

 

[mec]

you did good

note how close your second picture is to this original Walker:

 

[O.S.O.K.]

very nice!

I think it turned out great!

mec- you don't own an original walker do you?

 

[mec]

No. I know a guy who does. You can bet I was real careful when I handled it. It's worth more than my house and car put together.

This one is considered one of if not the best remaining Walkers. It appears identical to the Ubert replicas except for proof marks and the placement of the 1847 above the wedge screw. Somebody scratched "Bullrun" on one of the grip panels. This may mean something and it may not.

 

[Plink]

Tallship, your gun came out great. It's especially nice when you compare it to the picture MEC posted. Other than having new looking grips, it'd be hard to tell it from the real deal.

 

[Tallship]

Thanks, guys. By the way mec, does your friend with the original know that the last gun at auction went for $300K?

 

[mec]

He's up on them. co wrote a book with R.L. Wilson years ago and has always been active in the gun collector field.

 

[glockman19]

congrats, nice work it came out looking great.

 

[hildo]

Unblueing. Even I can do it!

Barrel soaking in vinigar

Want to say thanks to DixieTexian for his great tip in using vinigar, and to Tallship with his photo in this thread giving me the final push to do it.
Used regular household vinigar and in 15-20 minutes the gun was clean. Nothing special, difficult or other things that go wrong, the blueing simply dissolves.
A good wash-up afterwards, just like the cleaning after shooting, and it's ready to go again.
The backstrap is not yet de-blued... knew I forgot something

For those wanting to de-blue in a frying pan... clean it up good afterwards. Believe the blueing residue is a quite nasty poison that you don't want to eat.

 

[O.S.O.K.]

Nice job

Hildo - looks great there!

I think that you can darken your brass with vinegar too...

 

[Tallship]

Good job, Hildo

Glad I could be an inspiration. Interesting note; the vinegar took off the bluing very well, but it didn't take off the case hardening. When I used the Birchwood on the case hardened parts, it took off the coloring in about two seconds. Sort of disappointing that the coloring job was so superficial.

 

[Jorg Nysgerrig]

What are you guy doing for rust prevention, just keeping it oiled?

 

[mec]

that'll work. We have a uberti kit walker polished but with no finish and a Lepage target pistol in th white. Cleaning and oiling them prevents any rust.

 

[Cincinnati Slim]

In the White

Howdy,

Yep, dry, oil and wipe. Bluing does nothing to prevent rust in my experiance.

However, old time browning DOES help prevent further rusting. Browning is really just a more stable form of oxidation than ordinary orange rusting. If you really want an antique look put on a thin layer of plum brown and polish off the high spots. I've seen this done right and it really can make an Italian modern clone look like a 150 year old original Colt !

Happy Trails,

Slim

 

[J.T. Gerrity]

Interesting to note that the Walkers were originally produced with the cylinder left "in the white", while the rest of the gun was blued/case hardened.

 

[hildo]

Just ordered Plum Brown, made by Birchwood.
Will take some time to come in, then give it a try and see if I can remove the shiny new look. Dissapearing case hardening I don't mind. In contrary to most I never did like the colors. Antique guns usually have no visible case hardening left anyways.

What would be the best way to make the grips look old?
I'm thinking of sanding them down a bit to remove the sharp edges and a paintstripper (heat or chemical) to remove the laquer, handle them a bit rough to suggest years of use, maybe some used motoroil to get the old dark tint?
Suggestions are welcome.

 

[arcticap]

I saw a technique a fellow applied on the stock of a long gun where he produced a "tiger striping" by scorching it. He passes a blow torch over the wood to darken the pattern, and then he refinished it, which left the dark striping under tone. Somehow he protected the spots that he didn't want darkened, but the method does sound a little risky if too much flame is used.

Also, Aqua Fortis is a traditional stain dating back to the 1700's:

Coloring gun stocks with Nitric acid is one of the oldest wood stains. The instructions are to mix the nitric with water to dilute it and then add iron. I used steel wool pads when I made mine. You wait a few days until the steel wool is all gone. Carefully spread the solution onto the wood and let it dry, neutralize it with baking soda. Then you darken the wood to the hue that you want with heat. Basically the heat is changing the color of the diluted iron that is now in the wood.

The nitric acid with iron solution was called Aqua Fortis back in the 1700's. It makes a stock with that dark color that everyone used and it is does not rub off or fade. Finish this with multiple coats of Linseed oil. I always used a mix of 3 parts linseed oil, one part vinegar and one part turpentine as my finish.

Many Klatch

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/(S(me...es/partList.aspx?catID=5&subID=66&styleID=225

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqua_fortis

 

[mec]

Ive seen that .they wrap rope around the part of the stock to be shielded.

 

[Old Dragoon]

I actually did that on a ML Pistol I built. It had no figure in the wood to speak of so I wrapped baling twine around the stock and went over it with a torch. Wish I still had a picture. It actually turned out really well, and looked like Tiger Maple when I was done. The oil in the twine seeped into the wood somewhat under the twine and some between the wraps of twine to give a feathered apperance between the stripes.

 

[Gribble]

Man, beautiful job on that Walker. I'm still waiting for mine to arrive. I hear the bluing has a tendency to wear off easily. I'm gonna wait until I notice some obvious color distortions, then I think I'll give it a vinegar bath.

So what's the general consensus on rust? You're saying it won't make much difference whether the gun is blued or not?

 

[hildo]

Gribble,
I'm not sure if that is true. The blueing does protect against acid, as I noticed when I used Plum Brown (nitric acid, sodium nitrate and potassium chlorate) when I browned my Walker. The gun did not rust on little places where the blueing was still present.
It will protect against rust from water as well, plain unoiled steel will literally rust before your eyes when wet.
A Trick I heard from a collegue shooter: He used a simple way of blueing by heating the metal and rubbing it with used motoroil which gives a dark kind of blueing which prevents rust as well.

Will post pictures later after using Plum Brown on my 'in the white' Walker in an effort to obtain a brown antique patina like coat.
Hildo

 

[hildo]

Browning with Plum Brown & two left hands

All unassembled Walker parts after browning. Just the visible parts are browned.

The results are fair, not perfect. Most is due to my own two left hands probably. In my own defence... it was the first time I done something like this.
The frame, barrel and cylinder do not have the identical color. The barrel is actually a bit reddish where the patina coat turned out a bit thin.
I used a sponge when applying the Plum Brown. Tapping the parts does not work great.

Think it is better to stroke the parts with the sponge, and making sure the Plum Brown does not start to drip down the parts.
You will get (I don't know the English word) 'drippers' which will show afterwards. Check out photo above and you can see where the plum brown ran down the barrel. What happened here is still a bit showing on the barrel although I treated it once more.

The grips went better. I sanded most, but not all, laquer off.
Made a few dings in it to help make it look older.
Used a flame which gave dark spots. Then tried old motor oil, grease from my motorcycle chain and sweat from my head.
Then I got a bright idea. Something to charisch since it does not happen often, and bought dark brown shoe polish.
Put on a thick layer of the shoepolish and burned over it with a propane torch. Then once more, and you see the result.
The shoepolish result does not show on the Walker photo's on top of this post. Shoepolish idea came to me later.
Very happy with the results on the wood. Less on the gun itself.
Anyhow, from a distance it looks more antique then it did before

 

[mec]

I'd call that a fine job.