This section is intended to provide as
much general information as possible, in a very short
space, regarding the nature of restorations, and "what's
good" vs "what's bad" in the field.
There
is a world of difference between a "restoration"
and a simple "refinishing" or "rebluing",
and another world of difference between the types of
"gunsmiths" who do one or the other.
A
"restoration" implies bringing a firearm back
to its original, factory condition (even if it's then
"aged-back"), and that means a number of things:
1.
The restoration-gunsmith must have extensive knowledge of
the types of firearms he restores. He has to know exactly
how that firearm was originally done by the factory; i.e.,
how it was polished, the type of bluing that was done on
its various parts, which parts may have been color-case
hardened (and how), exactly what lettering, markings, and
proofs it should have, and exactly where, and so on.
Here's
a good example: a 1911 Colt Government .45 auto
manufactured in 1912 for the military, requires a
completely different restoration than one manufactured in
1917. Both of these are completely different than a 1916-made
commercial model. Those 3 are completely different than
any 1911-A1, either military or commercial, and so on
thru all the model variations and all the years this
pistol was made.
Now
multiply that times all the makes and models of all the
guns ever manufactured between any 150-year or so date
range, and you can start to get an idea of the breadth of
gun-knowledge a restoration-gunsmith must have (and why
most of us specialize in certain areas). Check the menu
for "Specialty areas" for my own, including
arms that I do not work on.
2.
One of the most important of these is the polishing.
Most restorations involve a gun that is pitted, dinged,
dented, rusted, previously over-buffed to death,
previously refinished incorrectly (e.g., the wrong type
of bluing was done), has had bad repairs, bad stockwork,
or whatever. Many have all these problems, and more.
Polishing
is truly an art, and must be done correctly (by hand
versus a nuclear-powered buffer/grinder/mangler).
The term "polishing" is pretty much a misnomer. A better term might be "preparing" the gun for a finish, as this step might include draw-filing, hand-sanding with low-grit emory paper, stoning, etc. to remove pitting and dings, restore contours, flatten the flats, and so on. This is where the bulk of the labor is.
Back
in the 1950's to 1960's, there was no such thing as a
"restoration" gunsmith... only "general"
gunsmiths. These were the people who would take a Colt
Single Action, buff the bejezzez out of it, dip all the
screw holes, round the edges, remove most of the
lettering, do as much other damage as possible, then
throw it in the hot-blue tank.
Today, there are still all too many gunsmiths who just don't care how badly they polish a gun. Most of their work involves modern pieces in the few-hundred dollar range, not rare antiques with 4 and 5-figure values, so the gun is probably not worth the time to do it right.
If
the polishing is not performed properly, then it's just
one more ruined gun.
I personally know a number of restoration gunsmiths and "custom" gunsmiths (such as custom rifle makers), who are excellent "polishers". One example is Charles Danner in Tennesee, who is certainly one of the best at preparing/polishing and is someone who takes great care and pride in his work, but there are only a relatively small handful of people in this field who do that kind of quality work.
Note also that the gun needs to be "cooperative". Nobody can take a gun that's in really horrible condition and make it 100%. Some parts of some guns can tolerate only so much polishing due to thin steel at certain points, or certain tolerances which need to be maintained for functionality.
3.
Proper finishing is
critical to the restoration. Virtually all guns made
prior to WWI were heat-blued, except for long-gun barrels
(and tubes), which were rust-blued.
Note:
The terms "heat" bluing and "hot"
bluing are confusing, and they are definitely not
the same thing.
Heat-bluing
can be done in a variety of ways, but today this process
is generally called "nitre bluing". This method
produces the same finish as was on a Colt Single Action,
Winchester receiver, etc., except when these are color-case
hardened, of course. Roughly during WWI, metal alloys
began changing to produce better steels, but steel which
didn't take well to the basic heat/nitre process, so from
WWI to WWII, that process was replaced by charcoal bluing.
Charcoal bluing is a much more tedious and lengthy
process, but produces virtually the same color as earlier
heat-bluing, and works on 99% of all steels made from
1916-1940.
Nitre
bluing is also used to produce a bright "peacock-blue"
color known as "fire-blue", used on screws and
some small parts, as well as the "straw" color
used on the small Luger parts, some triggers, etc. Both
fire-blue and straw are "temper" colors.
In
about mid-1937, Mauser began hot-salt bluing (or just hot-bluing),
and this process spread rapidly from there. Within a year
or so, every manufacturer was using hot-bluing
exclusively. Hot salt bluing produces an oxidation "layer"
that actually bonds with the metal, as opposed to earlier
temper or heat blues. A salt-blued finish is more durable
than a heat-blue, but not as great-looking. Salt bluing
is also the easiest and quickest to do. Charcoal bluing is the most difficult, by far.