This is a tiresome topic to see over and over again.
Put aside Ed's methods and weither they are safe or not... torch jobs just don't even look right at all!
In my opinion, it is better to leave an old bare receiver alone then do that.
Granted, a lot of legitimate re-color case hardening does not always yield results that are identical to when the gun was new in regards to appearance, but at least it looks like a proper color case hardened finish.
The torch jobs just do not give the right look. But they sure are colorful.
