Awesome work Mr Soze. That metal looks bead blasted. Can you provide some details of the steps you took?
I give you...
- Thread starter Kyzrsoze
- Start date
There were a few layers of issues to deal with on this one. First, the gun had been generally abused and looked as if it had been dragged behind a car. The metal and wood had a few deep scars, and a big chunk of one grip was broken off. In addition - and I'm putting on my amateur CSI hat here - it appeared that some thug covered the gun in a thick coat of enamel paint, possibly applied with a spatula, in an effort to make it less conspicuous in the dark. I had to get the paint off before I could even begin to tear it down, because the paint had flowed into all of the gaps/holes, making the the gun much like a window that had been painted shut. Third, as I mentioned before i think the gun was likely left in water for some time. The grips are like driftwood, and I found corrosion (luckily minor) under every piece that I removed. The few non stainless pieces had quite a bit of rust. If it had been a blued steel gun I doubt it would have survived the ordeal.
I cleaned it initially using a steel wool dipped in acetone. As the paint came off it allowed me to take it apart, and so it became an process of decided how to clean and finish each piece. After I had the cleaned pieces laid out I started by sanding down the grips. I used a pencil with a piece of 320 grit sandpaper to clean up the grip medallions. I wasn't sure what to expect, but when I rubbed them down with TruOil it was evident that they had been too heavily water damaged. They soaked up the oil like a sponge and turn nearly black. One is broken anyway, so a new set is in order.
The steel had a few scars, so I used 150 grit sandpaper to remove or minimize them. I know it isn't a great idea to remove material from the gun, so I was conservative with this step. For the final finish, I used 320 and then 400 grit dragged across the various surfaces to create a brushed texture all over. With the barrel I wrapped it with a piece of sandpaper and spun it to create a texture around the barrel and the give it a machined look. I did the same with cylinder. With the hammer and trigger I continued with 600, 800, 1000, 2000, and 4000 grit to polish the slab sides of each piece - just to create a little contrast/interest.
As often happens I got so involved with the process that I didn't stop to take pics of each step. I took these pics with my phone. I'll try to get some better details pics with a good camera in a few days.
I cleaned it initially using a steel wool dipped in acetone. As the paint came off it allowed me to take it apart, and so it became an process of decided how to clean and finish each piece. After I had the cleaned pieces laid out I started by sanding down the grips. I used a pencil with a piece of 320 grit sandpaper to clean up the grip medallions. I wasn't sure what to expect, but when I rubbed them down with TruOil it was evident that they had been too heavily water damaged. They soaked up the oil like a sponge and turn nearly black. One is broken anyway, so a new set is in order.
The steel had a few scars, so I used 150 grit sandpaper to remove or minimize them. I know it isn't a great idea to remove material from the gun, so I was conservative with this step. For the final finish, I used 320 and then 400 grit dragged across the various surfaces to create a brushed texture all over. With the barrel I wrapped it with a piece of sandpaper and spun it to create a texture around the barrel and the give it a machined look. I did the same with cylinder. With the hammer and trigger I continued with 600, 800, 1000, 2000, and 4000 grit to polish the slab sides of each piece - just to create a little contrast/interest.
As often happens I got so involved with the process that I didn't stop to take pics of each step. I took these pics with my phone. I'll try to get some better details pics with a good camera in a few days.
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Wow that thing was beat up! Looks like it had been sitting out in a run down shed for a decade, you did a good job cleaning it up though.
Awesome job!! Doesn't even look like the same gun!
Very cool!
LOL
Truely a GREAT save and recovery from the grave!!!!
