Reblue & Recase

[STEVE MALYUK]

Restoring a DHE 20 gauge - who is considered the best as far as rebluing and new case coloration - obviously interested in bringing back to as close to original as possible

[Dean Romig]

I'm not sure if he is still doing rust blueing but about a year ago Russ Bickel reblued my Titanic barrels from a 1898 DH and it was the best rust blueing job I have ever seen. Exactly "as new" as would be seen on Titanic or Acme barrels and without that super high sheen seen on Whitworth or Peerless barrels.

[STEVE MALYUK]

Thanks Dean - where is he located? Any thoughts on DelGreco or Turnbull?

[Rick Losey]

Doug does a great job, take a look, there are usually examples of his Parker work on his website,

http://www.turnbullmfg.com/store.asp?pid=20524

he did a Fox for me many years ago, still looks great.

I haven't dealt with DelGreco, but never heard anything but great stuff about him and his work.

[Dean Romig]

I agree with Mr Osthaus, completely. I've seen a number of Turnbull's Parker restorations and believe you won't find better a representation of what an original Parker Bros. shotgun looked like when it left the factory.... with the exception of case color being a tad darker in some cases than most originals I have seen.
Parkers restored by the Del Gregos, likewise, are very well done and also are true to the original Parker Bros. guns when they do not use the cyanide case color process. The cyanide case color process is appropriate in a restoration of a Remington era Parker.

[Bruce Day]

You know, its not my gun, and maybe its none of my business, but there are many Parker collectors who do not believe in re case coloring guns. Many will reblue significantly worn fluid steel barrels, but case colors, they leave alone. The problem is that there have been so many bad case color jobs that the gun is reduced in value from what it is with worn case colors. Heavy, garish, striped case colors, buffed out engraving, sometimes even warped frames. There are a couple people who can do the job right, but many collectors believe to leave well enough alone.

Just saying, and again, maybe its none of my business. Here's my old beater, that I wouldn't ever have redone, although I have a few Parkers in near new condition with great case colors.

[Dean Romig]

I agree with Bruce and will say that I have never had any of mine re-case colored.

If you have determined that a complete restoration is the way you wish to go then the ones I have noted in my post above Bruce's would be good choices.

[Jay Gardner]

Not any of my business either but why do you want to restore your DHE?

[Bill Murphy]

Jay, it's really a fair question. Many new Parker owners don't understand that a $7500 DHE 20 can be made into a $4000 gun by what most people would think is a perfectly acceptable refinish. It is extremely unlikely that the renewal of case color on a DHE 20 gauge would result in anything but a lower value for the gun, no matter who does the job.

[Jay Gardner]

Bill, correct me if I am making an overstatement but "restoring" a Parker that was in decent condition to begin with is probably going to de-value the run regardless of who does the work or how well it is done.

[Eric Eis]

Jay for the most part I would say "yes", but if the gun is a basket case ie broken stock, highly polished frame and it is a higher grade or rare gun then no restoring it would make sense. A gun like Bruce posted "no way", leave it the way it is and I would say the same for probably 90% of the guns we come accross. Eric

[Dean Romig]

Jay, I would definitely agree with that and I'll bet Bill thinks so too.

[STEVE MALYUK]

Thanks for all the replies..........I really appreciate the advice. The gun was handed down to me from my dad who recently passed. Dad was in the gun business for 60 years - he took the gun in on trade 30 years ago. He got it right since the buttstock had been replaced (not what I would call a professional job). I put new wood on the gun (both stock and forearm) and brought to back to original specs (I've been doing this gunsmithing thing a while myself). Was considering going the rest of the way - I was certain I would get the replies I did on having the case coloration restored. Perhaps I will just pursue rebluing the barrels. Question - were the original Parker trigger guards blued or were they treated somewhat differently?

[Eric Eis]

Nitter blue

[Jay Gardner]

Steve, thanks for posting "the rest of the story." Hoped it was something like this. If you don't mind how about sharing some photos. I think I speak for most of the crowd when I say it's always a treat to see a great old gun gets a well deserved makeover.

Cheers,

JDG

[Dean Romig]

Yes, please show some pictures.

[Bill Murphy]

Jay, yes, I agree with your statement about refinishing and diminished values. I am waiting for the pictures of this little DHE.

[STEVE MALYUK]

Guys,
Just did the final fit on the wood. Will be happy to provide pictures once checkering and finish complete.

[STEVE MALYUK]

Opening Day.....How does the "Nitter blue" process differ from conventional rust blue?

[tom tutwiler]

Believe Nitre blue is more of a blue black blue and very high gloss. I believe it would be the same as a Carbonia blue, (could be wrong).

[Chuck Heald]

I can't keep straight whether Parker triggerguards were Nitre or carbonia blued. I'm thinking they were carbonia? Doug Turnbull or Oscar Gaddy explained this and the process differences on the other doublegun forum once, years ago.

[ED J, MORGAN]

It's Nitere

[Dave Suponski]

yup It's nitre

[Mark Ouellette]

I had DelGrego resolder a loosening forend lug and "re-black" the barrels of my DHE 20. Re-black was the term that ol' Babe DelGrego called it. Who was I to disagree? :)

Anyway, the barrels look great!

Mark

[Larry Stauch]

Hi Steve; I have a 20ga DHE with 30" tubes as well that is currently being restored. Someone buffed and blued the frame, so I have no choice. I like Turnbull's colors, but have someone else prepare it and don't let them do the wood. I let them do a whole gun and all the metal was great, but the wood was not that great and it was friggin expensive. The other guy is good but like the one man said the colors are Remington era, kind of wavey.
Good Luck.

[lee r moege]

For what it's worth in my experience, is the rust blue color is darker (black) when the barrels are polished to a lesser degree, say 400 grit, that when taken to 600 or buff polish. The higher polish leaves the lighter blue and glossier finish. I'm reworking a DHE 20 gage that has most if not all the case colors worn off except the water table and under the top lever. There is no way I'm going to have it recolored as the engraving stands out in all its detail in the silver sheen now present. The gun has been rewooded which I am cleaning up and checkering, and has been sleeved from a 16 gage to a 20 gage ( barrels re-blacked in the process), and has an AHE ejector forend so it will be just a darn fine shooter that shouldn't be attempted to turn into something new looking. Besides that at 1/3 the price of a 20 gage repro I can live with a few imperfections and shoot hell out of it. Think Spring!!!! Lee.:rotf:

[E Robert Fabian]

How about some pictures of that DHE Lee !!

[lee r moege]

There are some "before" pix posted by me on Dec.22 in a thread "DHE 20ga". I will post some again after I finish the checkering and showing the previous condition of the wood. Lee.

[Larry Stauch]

I like the work Turnbull does on the metal. The colors on the four guns that he has done for me are super and they look as original as could be expected. He doing a 20 gauge DHE for me now and when I get it back I expect it to be perfect.

Good Luck.

[Bill Murphy]

Turnbull did the receiver, forend iron, and trigger guard on my 30 year VH project. I spent a bunch of money on reengraving and preparation before I gave it to Doug, expecting to just pay a little for the final finishing. They knew I wanted a perfect job and pointed out a few areas that needed attention to be absolutely perfect. I shouldn't have wasted my money preparing the gun. I should have just left it all to Turnbull because I paid for it all over again. I am very pleased with the final result.

[david ross]

Doe's any member have a picture of the case colours on vhe remington as
in new condishion .I belive that parker ones are not the same?
Thanks Dave:rotf:

[Dean Romig]

Late Remington Parkers were generally cyannide colors.

[david ross]

Thanks Dean.
Iv'e just found a picture in my parker guns the old reliable.
All the best Dave.

[Larry Stauch]

Dave;

How did the pictures of the GHE Remington era Parker look to you?

Larry

[david ross]

Hi Larry.
Have not seen ghe but have seen vhe Remington it looks to be a bit darker than a
Parker Brs gun but still very nice. As are all Parkers new or old .
Thanks Dave.
PS. see book Parker Guns The Old Reliable great book.

[Larry Stauch]

Good Morning David;

I sent you two pictures of my mint condition GHE, but it sounds like they didn't come through.

After investigating the issue a little more, I see that my 2.0+ MB files are too big to go through the PGCA website. The pictures have to be less than 500KB.

So if you would like to see pictures of what the colors look like exactly, I'll need you to email me to the address below so I can send them directly to you.

Larry Stauch

ldstauch@aol.com

[david ross]

sorry larry but your email address has been rejected ?
Try to send new address as would like to see more ghe pictures.
Thanks Dave.

[Larry Stauch]

Well that's weird. It's just an AOL account, it should go right through.
I don't do hobby stuff from work, so I guess I won't be able to send you the pictures. Or, in your next thread reply you can include your email and I'll send them from this end directly to you.

The file size on this jpeg inside this PGCA website is tiny. I don't know of a modern digital camera that will take a 488KB picture, even a 2 mega pixel camera is larger than that and I don't know how to reduce the size of my file so it will fit into their parameters.

Take care.

Larry

[david ross]

Larry.
My email is monicaross16@btinternet.com so send your pictures to me ok.
Thanks Dave.