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BP
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Re: preserving older guns - best practices
Reply #15 - Jul 9th, 2010 at 1:42pm
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merhere,

Something to keep in mind, as the color change transitions from blue to brown, the finish is in the process of degrading. At first it begins microscopically and then advances. And it proceeds in all directions. If you ever have to strip the old finish off a receiver, barrel or other parts, you might be surprised at the amount of pitting that has developed underneath that damned patina. 

With wood touch-up, I prefer wet-or-dry automotive paper used in  body-shops, and 600 grit is the coarsest grit I will use. I cut the sheet into smaller handier size strips, and I never use it dry. I let the paper soak in a small bowl of water for a few minutes first to get it saturated, and then proceed using light pressure, and dip the paper back in the bowl every few strokes to clear the finish build-up from the abrasive and keep the paper moist. The thing I don't like about using steel or bronze wool is that sometimes small slivers of the wool will break off and embed into the pores of the wood. I don't have to worry about that with the wet-or-dry paper.

« Last Edit: Jul 9th, 2010 at 1:50pm by BP »  

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MAD MIKE
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Re: preserving older guns - best practices
Reply #16 - Jul 9th, 2010 at 6:06pm
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If the wood is real dirty, take it off the gun, make a "mild" solution of TSP in some hot water & scrub it with a piece of terry cloth towel, rince with clear water & let dry for 24 hours,then put some thinned Tru-Oil on. If it's really crudded up & black around the inletting, make a strong batch & scrub or soak it in that, then finish it however you like.( I like Tru-Oil ) If you soak it, use a little heat to dry it & as the oil leeches out of the inletting wipe it off with paper towels.            ...MIKE...
  
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uscra112
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Re: preserving older guns - best practices
Reply #17 - Jul 9th, 2010 at 10:28pm
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Yeah, steer clear of steel wool or any sort of steel brush.  I've got what would be a real nice Stevens 44 1/2, except somebody tried to scrub a few tiny spots of rust off one side, and took a lot of the color with it. 

Bronze will may not chew up the surrounding surfaces as badly, but no matter what, you need to chemically KILL the rust with something.  A tiny drop of dilute phosphoric acid would work, in principle, but I haven't tried it yet in that context.  I sure have done a lot of rusty motorcycle parts with it, though.  Phosphoric acid can be bought from mason's suppliers.  It's used to get concrete stains off of brick.  You might even find some at Lowes or Home Despot.   After the rust is chemically killed, just oiling or waxing the surface will keep the rust at bay.  
  

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Re: preserving older guns - best practices
Reply #18 - Jul 9th, 2010 at 10:35pm
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Oh, and when wet-sanding, put a bit of dishwashing liquid in the water.  That will prevent the paper from loading-up.   

I've often run old, oily stocks thru the dishwasher to get the crud out.  Being single, I don't have to explain this to a wife, however.  Use the hottest water setting the machine will provide.  Does an amazing job, but do plan to re-do the entire finish.  There won't be much trace of the old one if it was an oil finish to begin with.
  

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Dave
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Re: preserving older guns - best practices
Reply #19 - Jul 10th, 2010 at 7:05am
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I have never used phosphoric acid on a firearm but I have thought about it.  I have used a product called ospho that is sold by marine suppliers like West Marine.  I have never used it on a firearm but I have thought about it.  When used on rust it chnges the chemical make up of it "killing the rust".  The rusted area turns a dark grayish black. I don't know what it would do to surrounding bluing but it would be a good experment.

Dave
  
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418Steve
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Re: preserving older guns - best practices
Reply #20 - Jul 11th, 2010 at 9:03am
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I can't believe this post--everyone agrees!
Agree with most everything here too---I have a saying that if you get 100 shooters together, you'll get 101 ways to clean a gun!
My 2 cents;
Yep--best way to preserve a gun is to shoot it
Keep it clean and lightly oil it afterwards
To remove rust I'd been using 0000 steel wool (going as lightly as possible) and WD-40 (for external cleaning only--I don't use it on the internals or for regular lubrication or protection) Seems to work better than Hoppes for rust removal with the wool) I switched to bronze wool a few years ago as others say (also from West Marine) just because.
I also go over the bluing with Simi-Chrome by Happich--gets rust out of the blue you can't see--you can google it or most good motorcycle shops carry it as a chrome cleaner.  Using it for decades and no harm yet.
Final treatment is either a light coat of Rem Oil or Eezox or Flitz polish depending on how long I'll store it.  Have also used Boston furniture wax too.  Still playing around here, after all these decades. 


Slumlords comments --he's talking about Big Frontier 45 Metal Cleaner--web site is  " (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links) stainless steel wool (which is softer than regular steel wool  I use it mostly for deleading a dark bore, but have used it on the externals of a gun that couldn't be hurt much more in some areas, and it did no harm.  The Wal-Mart equivalent is a "Choreboy" scouring pad in the housewares dept.  Never used it, but some members of my pistol club do and say it's OK

Wood--my go to for cleaning has been just plain alcohol and 0000 steel wool. Works great and dries very quickly (as in minutes) so no need for extensive drying.

IF the stock is really stained or oil-soaked, then I go to another marine product--Teak wood cleaner, also from West Marine, and then use alcohol again.  Teak cleaners usually have a little oxalic acid in them and the alcohol gets the last of it ou
  
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Re: preserving older guns - best practices
Reply #21 - Sep 1st, 2010 at 2:40am
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Old guns are meant to be shot!

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Mike Otterberg and Meunier at Hamilton Montana.

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