Steel butt plate finish?

[Robert Rambler]

With the brain trust we have on this site, could someone please fill in a blank spot in my Parker knowledge? What was the original finish applied to the solid steel butt plate of a lifter gun?
I've searched the "Parker Story" and this site without finding solid evidence.The backside of the one I just removed from an 1880 gun resembles rust bluing, but I'd like to know for sure. :confused:

[Dave Suponski]

Robert,They were rust blued.

[Robert Rambler]

Thanks Dave, I knew I was looking at the original finish on the backside (it still had workers notation on it after 130 years!) and rust bluing is what it appeared to be,just wanted to know for sure. Thanks again!

[Brad Bachelder]

Robert, if you take the plate outside in direct sunlight, you will notice that the backside color will appear to be blue as opposed to black. If the color on the outside almost looks like flaking, it will confirm that the finish is different than black oxide or nitre blue. I believe that trigger guards, safeties and buttplates were finished utilizing saltpeter,gasoline-kerosene, whale oil and heat. I have no reason to believe that Parker ever used any other rusting agents to produce a black/blue on steel parts. The black oxide process was yet to be discovered. Conventional slow-rust will produce a similar apperance, but not the original. The degree of surface preperation will have a major impact on the finished product. I believe that a pumice equivilant to 400 grit paper was used in prep. For all intents and purposes, slow rust will emulate the finish sufficently.

Brad

[Mark Landskov]

Indeed, the trigger guard and buttplate of my lifter, 10250, have traces of a blue finish that appears to have 'flaked off' over the years.