Treating Receiver Scratched During Rust Removal

[M100C]

All,
I am working on a Winchester 1894 carbine from 1912. There are a couple pencil eraser sized spots of corrosion which someone treated with steel wool to clean up. As you can guess, there are bright spots (on a receiver that is almost entirely in the white; it has the typically fully flaked off receiver bluing). Question is this: Any thoughts on how to blend this back in? On a blued receiver, this would be real tough, but with this receiver in the white, it looks like it should be able to be grayed some.

Looking for your thoughts,
Chris

 

[4v50 Gary]

You may want to let it sit and time do its thing to it.

I would not have used steel wool like the person who did. As an abrasive, that removes the finish. I would have used a piece of brass to scrape the rust off.

 

[rcmodel]

A extra fine carding wheel on a bench grinder is how I deal with rust spots.

It won't harm existing finish, but cleans rust clear out to the bottom of the pits and blends it in nicely on a Grey Rat receiver.

You can get them at Ace hardware, or Home Depot, or Brownells.

See this about that.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=633232&highlight=1890

rc

 

[M100C]

I followed your other thread with the 1890. The results are spectacular. It looks like it didn't even remove much of the patina under the rust spotting. In fact, I looked real close, and it does not look like the resulting finish has rust spotting "shadows". I was thinking about chucking in a variable speed drill to better control receiver contact (barely "kissing" the receiver surface), and start with lower speed. I will post a pic, and might ask you to take a peek and let me know whether you'd anticipate this working for my application.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[rcmodel]

I think you will get swirl patterns with a drill mounted brush, no matter how steady you think you can control it, or what speed you run it.

In my experience with a carding wheel on a buffer or grinder?

The high speed is what allows light contact with the fast moving wheel, and the light touch necessary to get the desired results.
And you can follow the existing polishing directions on the firearm, keeping the old buffing lines intact.

I would never ever try it with a hand-held drill!!

If it works, let me know though.
Never was an old dog too old to learn new gunsmith tricks!

rc