Case Color Recommendations
 

I have several Parkers that I'm considering having re-case colored. Would appreciate recommendations on who to ship the guns to for coloring. Whose colors best replicate original Parker factory case colors? Thank you in advance.

Boy, is this a "loaded" question:) But I will put in my $.02 worth. Turnbull for me.

Havnt you had a number of guns re-case colored already Allen? What happened?

I have several more.

I had my 1930 vintage VH-grade 20-gauge done by Bachelders. Before --

Attachment 65551

After --

Attachment 65552

The gun was virtually new, but badly stored.

Dave - Did Brad actually do every step of the case color process or did his people do it?





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I know Turnbull has a good reputation for his case coloring but to my eye, his colors seem very brilliant than the colors on original Parkers which look more muted. I thought Brad B's colors came closest to the originals. It's science and art for sure.

Dean,

When I started working for Brad 10 years ago he was not doing any color case hardening in house. He sent most of the work to Don Menk at the Color Case Company of Ohio. My family's gun shop had just closed the year before and after I was working for Brad for about a year we sold our color case hardening equipment to Brad and Lori. I believe this would be have been around 2007-2008 when I started helping him get the process down.

I had experience with the process from my family's shop. We obtained great results following the rough steps per Oscar Gaddy's DGJ articles. During my time at Bachelders I was in college and did most of the double gun metal polishing and color case prep. I would mix charcoal, fixture parts for the crucible, etc. Brad liked to pack the crucibles and quench the parts. It was a tremendous joy for both of us to pull a receiver out of the quench tank and rinse it off to find beautiful colors under the shielding. We would often work late because we would run batches of receivers in one day. When all the receivers were done we would line them up and compare colors and patterns to benchmark guns in our reference books like The Parker Story or the DGJ.

After four years I graduated college and left Bachelders and I think we had run at least a few hundred receivers by then. I'm sure Brad would have brought others in the shop up to speed on the process as its easier to run with helping hands. His oldest son Carson didn't seem too interested but maybe his younger son or other employees were taught the process. Somewhere I still have the original list of all the receivers that were run when I was working there.

I have used
Dan Printz in Yanceyville, NC with good results. www.danthegunman.com

I have seen Printz's case coloring. Very intriguing. He only uses the bone charcoal process. His colors look muted to my eye which is what i prefer

Anyone else care to offer their opinion?

I thought I had heard that Dan Cullity did nice case colors... Have you spoken with him? What could be simpler - he’s right down the street from you.






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Hodges mentioned Turnbull. I will add that I work exclusively with Turnbull’s shop for my Parker case coloring for two reason. One: they in my opinion are acheiving the most accurate colors on Parker guns consistently. Two: they have a very talented crew of gunsmiths that are second to none and their service provided to me has never been second rate.

I cannot say that I have been treated the same way by others.

Dan Cullity is a master at everything he does and i have used Dan's services from time to time. I am also looking to hold costs down. I've found a few contacts that i plan to talk with.

Justin Julian of Classic Case Colors LlC also does fine work. His Parker colors are getting better an better.

Malcolm Clark in East Haddam, CT is another good source for CCH and metal finishing. I used him for a few Parkers early on and for several fox guns. He ised to work for CSMC.

I have no idea. Brad was still living when it was there. I dropped it off on my way home from Hausemann's in June 2016 and they shipped it to me about a year later.

From the conversations that I had with Brad, my impression is that he was heavily involved in the entire process. It was his process. He 'owned it'. Parker Bachelder is now running their case coloring process to my knowledge.

Thanks to all for your comments/views on this subject

I have a question. I've read on another web site that there is color case hardening and case coloring. The second one is done at a temp, but not enough to case harden the parts. It's more of a chemical process. It was also said that Turnbell [ along with at least Pietta ] uses the second process, but no talk if they also used a hardening process. Can anyone shed any light on this ?

It sounds like you have been reading posts by Ed the torch.

TURNBULL replicates case colors which is an attractive result of the hardening process . The process involves bone charcoal and heat and skill


an after thought- some later case color was done with a cyanide process- its a boiling process so not as much heat and little if any hardening

This is the best example I have of Brads work (circa 2009-10). He refinished (wood and cc parts) my 28 ga Repro. Work was bone/charcoal as best he could do at the time to recreate the original Parker process 8-9 years later the colors have held up well.

Brad also re-case hardened a 20 VH for me about 2-years before he passed. The colors look great - but there really isn't much of an "I" on the bottom of the receiver, which he pointed out to me.

The loss of Brads experience will be felt but I am confident that Parker, Lori and the team are passionate about carrying on Brads ethic and attention to detail.

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/gZ5zsDa.jpg[/IMG]

I have a 16 ga vh that I had DelGrego do a total restoration on about 8 or 10 yrs ago. Did not know at that time that they only colored with cynanide. Anyhow, the gun came back after a yr and i noticed the base plate was not seated completely and the old screws had not
been been replaced so i called lawrence and shipped it back. Colors looked good tho. Anyway, the gun comes back. Base plate is fully seated with new screws. However the screw heads had a copper luster which did not look correct. Called Lawrence and he says rub the screw heads with an eraser. I did and they did not look any different. About 6 months later after hunting with it and some skeet, i noticed the colors on the base plate were just about completely worn off. No solvents used on outside of the gun
. Just Rem oil
Go figure. Gun is at Bachelders for re coloring bone charcoal. Have not used DelGrego since.

There are a couple photos of my VH16/ O frame/ Straight grip on the General Discussion Forum..dated 3-02-18. Brad did the color and trigger guard..

No, I've been reading post over on highroad, and in the black powder forums if you punch in case colors in the search box a bunch of post will come up discussing different methods of case coloring.

in the black powder world Kasenit was (maybe still is) a popular way to harden frizzens

i never used it, so not sure if it added color as well

I have it right now and I never remember it adding color when ever I used it.

I use Jonn Gillette Classic Guns L.T.D. Crete Ill. Phone 708-367-1620 good prices and turn around time. J.J.

A VHE 28 done by Del Grego just hit Guns Int'l today at $15,500.. It has the cyanide case colors, not original Parker colors but nice if the like the cyanide colors.

A VHE for 15,500 ? I must be out of touch with reality.

I have never had case colors redone on any gun but have a couple that were done. The reason is the fear of warping the frame. Does anyone have horror stories of warped frames or are all of the craftsmen mentioned safe to use?

Thanks

Mr. Harlow:
You're wise to avoid re-casing guns. It's not so much an issue of "safety" as it is luck. There is really no way to tell how or if a double gun part will warp in the re-case process. That said, some color case shops seem to have fewer problems than others.

Still, I have adopted the wise philosophy of Holland & Holland, as personally given to me: To never re-case a gun unless ordered to do so, and even then at the owner's risk. And H&H sends their work to St. Ledger!

After all, it's a cosmetic treatment 99% of the time.

In the hands of a skilled gunsmith who knows what he is doing warping should not be an issue. But one needs to make sure the coloring is being done by a smith who has the demonstrated experience in the process. Its both art and science imho. Brad Bachelder did 2 guns for me and the colors came out terrific. I have entrusted his son, Parker, with a legacy 16 ga Parker to case color and i am hopeful that he learned well from Brad. And may Brad rest in peace. He was just great to work with.