So my dad asked me to hold his precious carry gun for a little bit. For some background, this gun was a pristine Walther pp he got before the Import laws were in place, and I have to say I treasure this weapon. Problem is, he tried rebluing it with one of those diy at home kits and it ruined it. Is there any way I can fix this to surprise an old fudd?
Some more photos. What did he do to it? Do bluing kits really do this?
And the frame as well
Other side of the frame
>>29926345
Just send it to a place that does professional reblueing. Its not going to look original anymore.
Few tips on it. First off, you're going to have to wipe it down with naval jelly (rust remover) on a paper tower (wear gloves, this is nasty shit) and it'll take off ALL of the bluing. Then you can restart.
I can see from the stuff that's in the checkering that you didn't clean it after (or probably before). Before you blue it, you have to wipe it down thoroughly with acetone several times (and wear gloves at all times afterwards to stop your oily fingers from getting over it.
If you want, I can go through the process for blueing it at home, but it's fairly indepth and produces some hazmat. I did it and ended up with pic related. It involves buying sodium hydroxide (drain cleaner) and potassium nitrate (stump remover).
>>29926557
>paper tower
I use paintbrushes but whatever
>>29926345
>>29926524
Cold blue (the home kind) looks pretty crummy even when it is applied correctly (look up the Brownells website to see info on how to do it right).
The only way to make the gun look decent again is to send it to a gunsmith who can do hot salts bluing. A good one will probably be able to try to reproduce the original Walther finish as closely as possible. If the job is done well the gun will look terrific, but you're looking a few hundred dollars.
Naturally the collector's value of the gun is affected negatively--but that damage has already been done.
>>29926345
Bluing is quiet the art and it hard to find a company or smith that will do a really good job. Make sure you find good smith and the job should cost around 100 dollars for a gun such as your PP.
Now you really don't need to re blue and truth be told you don't really want to. It will never ever ever look new again. Fact is bluing formula varies a lot and the bluing most companies will do is very different than any German pre war era commerical bluing. Even a novice collector will be able to tell the difference.
I would avoid cold bluing the whole gun again. I have done it and to be frank even after 4-5 coats it did not look all that great. The finish was pretty thin and it just looked off.
In the future refrain from re bluing old guns. Even if the bluing is worn.
Here is a little read
http://www.nramuseum.org/gun-info-research/evaluating-firearms-condition.aspx
>>29926524
If I can't get it done any other way, this is probably my best bet. Any good places?
>>29926557
That looks sick. For clarification, this was my dad's doing, and he's content with keeping it as is, considering its his every day carry, I just want to fix it for him.
>>29926594
Yeah, it sucks, because I really like this gun, but I want to do my old man a solid. Will any local gun Smith do it for me? Do I have to go through the hassle of a background check for them to fix it? I always buy private, and I don't want it away for 3 days because of NIC's
Well, I'll post it anyway.
2.5 pounds lye
1.25 pounds ammonium nitrate
per 1/2 gallon of water
Put the water in a stainless steel dog bowl (cheap container, don't ever use it again for dogs) and put it over a propane flame (outdoor camping stove or w/e). Don't start the fire yet. Poor the lye in the water VERY slowly; it will heat it way up. Afterwards, heat the lye/water while slowly dissolving in the potassium nitrate. It will turn brown and shitty looking, but there should be no chunks. Get it so that it is boiling at 295F, and you'll need to continuously add water as its evaporating away. Then suspend your frame and slide in the solution with a wire setup or w/e, do not put aluminum anywhere remotely close to this shit as it'll eat it very fast. Oh, did I mention that this will permanently blind you if a drop gets in your eye? Wear goggles. Put it in for 15 minutes each side. Here's the important part; when you pull it out, you need to have a container of boiling water (I found a 30 cal can of water works) so you can immediately drop it in there afterwards. Swoosh it around and get ALL of the solution off. Remove it from that water, use an old toothbrush to get any remaining salts off of it while under a tap. Then wipe it down with motor oil. Let the salts cool and either reuse them (if you fucked up), or get rid of them in hazmat when it solidifies.
>>29926557
anon, seriously OP should not screw around with drain cleaner (which isn't even pure NaOH--I've heard it has adulterants to make it unusable for making drugs). Dangerous and the results will look like shit. This is a nice gun and if it's refinished it needs to be done professionally.
The cheap solution would be to retry the cold blue but do it properly (gloves, careful degreasing, etc.--see Brownells' for data).
>>29926656
Sounds dangerous, maybe a gun Smith is the way to go...
>>29926664
Yeah, I agree. I think for the work, it might be better to not diy like my dad did, and maybe take it to a professional.
>>29926664
I doubled up on gloves, wore goggles, a resparator and had a trashbag parka on me while I was doing it in my front yard. Probably looked like I was cooking meth to my neighbors.
It won't look like shit if you do the surface preparation (polishing & degreasing) properly.
>>29926557
Go ahead and tell everything you know. I'll try it myself for some restoration pieces im working on, and if it works I'll cap it for future threads
>>29926637
Gunsmiths can take and return guns to the same person without a background check. You need to be 21, though.
I'd ask around at gun shops but also look on the internet at other gun boards. Some Make sure any 'smith you use can show you samples of his work. A hot-salts bluing setup is expensive and bluing really is an art--not all gunsmiths can do the work at all or do it well.
I think I've heard good things about this shop; it'll give you an idea of the types of options and labor involved.
http://www.foglesgunsmithing.com/index.php?p=1_2_Prices
>>29926637
>>29926686
For gunsmith work that you send away for, they are legally allowed to ship it back to your house.
You will have to ask around to see if any local gunsmith will do it for you.
Its probably not going to be done in a day if your worried about 3 days.. just a heads up.
>>29926656
Oh, and increase/decrease the time to get differing darkness/blue effects. The nice aspect of it all is that you can pretty much redo this as much as you want with the same salt bath if you fuck it up a few times, just reheat it. I redid mine twice. It's fairly 'non-line of sight' as you'd expect for submersion, but not 100%. You need your fixture to also not be contacting areas that you don't want. To get those crazy bluing effects that the $5000 1911's have, you just 'fuck up' and throw some minor contaminants in like copper (or so I hear, I haven't done that myself).
>>29926744
If I want it to look really good, how much should I expect?
>>29926736
Crap, I'm 20. I guess I might just get a quote and buy a gift certificate from the store and gift it to him.
>>29926777
My smith charges 200 in hot takes with a gloss , carded finish
150 for a matt finish.
He also waits untill he has a batch of guns to blue, or he charges a $40 "tank fee" to fill the tank on a rush order.
He has enough work that he does bluing at least once a week.
For most Smith's that can do a decent bluing job, could they also renickle chrome a handgun?
>>29926736
>>29926744
>>29926923
Any of you commandos in Florida could make a recommendation for a gun Smith?
