doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Case coloring - why polish?

First, I have no experience with case coloring so this question may not be very smart, but...

Why is everyone concerned with 'polishng' before a receiver is case colored? Polishing seems to be the cause of a lot of problems with loss of definition and engraving sharpness, so why do it at all?

What would a receiver look like if it were just cleaned without removing the remnants of the old color then stuck in the oven?

OK, if it would look crummy than why not blast the receiver? There are about a million abrasives (walnut shells, baking powde, etc.r) out there, there has to be one that would prep the reciever for case coloring without removing any metal.

A highly polished surface free from pits etc will not rust as easily as a rough surface and will not scratch as easily, therefore it is sound to aneal, file and polish a rough gun on that basis.
If the gun is clean, free from rust has gone to white and the engraving is a concern, it can just be wire wheeled with a little chrome polish, if it is just a matter of prepping, but if there is pitting to do a proper job one can pull a smoke of the engraving and recut it after anealing filing and polishing.
Blasting the reciever sounds nice, but does not do much to create an "original" appearance.
The main point is you should have a consistent finish, and if it is a fine gun, the finish should be very good.

Why bother with engraving if it's just going to be camuflaged by case color. The worst combo is "gold" inlays on some cheap Italian and Turkish guns. That's gun porn! :rolleyes:

Jagermeister:

I agree withe you on the above post! As a matter of fact, I think that CC is quite unattractive. Let the flames begin! I prefer engraving to CC by a large margin.

Enough for now.

Franchi

I prefer 'French Grey', but I also like vintage guns in excellent mechanical shape with 50%cc or less. I like to SEE some engraving.

I do not like re-coloured guns.

Just a personal opinion but to me they very rarely look right and often look horrible.

There are exceptions but I could limit those in my experience to two or three guns.

My aversion to 'coin polished' finishes on old guns is well known so I'll not bore you all with it again.

Personally I think good case color is beautiful adornment on unengraved, or lightly, particularly simply-engraved surfaces.

However, it does tend to hide beautiful engraving, especially really strong, deep color.

According to Turnbull, one of the keys to obtaining a full spectrum of colors during the case color process is a very fine polish.

Like Fred above, I like case coloring over bold engraving or no engraving.

If I had gobs of time on my hands, and I don't, I would experiment with media blasting. It is incredible how the right media can give just about any finish you like - including very fine finishes.

Greg,
Can you "blast" a piece of metal without dulling the lines and corners?

When I see "blasted" actions - they look like garbage

Brent