Tried Something New

[Arthur Shaffer]

I was working on a guitar finish in my shop this afternoon, wet sanding a few coats of laquer flat before buffing. While I was working, I happened to think of the barrels on an 1874 lifter I bought. It has Damascus barrels which have a solid surface with no real boo-boos, but it is completely black and opaque. Only a faint outline of the pattern could be made out. I had tried rubbing with steel wool with and without oil, the same with Frontier pads and a couple of chemical products with absolutely no success. They never looked any different. I had another gun like this and 400 grit paper quickly took it off, but it went right to bare metal. That was OK since I needed to have them refurbished anyway. This new gun is intended to be a good solid original shooter.

It suddenly occured to me that I had never tried very fine abrasive.

When I finished buffing, I got the barrels and took a test rub with Norton 2000 grit wet and dry paper, dipped in water. The rust in the test area simply came off completely and was slurried in the water. I wiped down the area, then recleaned the area with a damp clean rag, followed by a rubdown with a water displacing and rust preventive lubricant. I looked really good so I finished the barrels except for the area under the forearm and flats. (I first tried a second area with the wet/dry lubricated with oil, but it didn't seem to work as well.) The whole cleaning took 15 minutes. The first picture posted is an uncleaned area (but not the worst; most of the exterior looked like the lower barrel) and the second picture is what it looked like after cleaning.


Maybe I am just unaware, but I had never seen any mention of using abrasive paper with the intent of restoring the finish vs just blocking it for refinishing. It turned out there was an incredible amount of finish left under the oxidation on this 148 year old gun.

I might mention that when I looked at the first picture, I about had a heart attack. It looks like the upper barrel had a huge crack I had missed. I checked the barrel and there is nothing there. There is some sort of discoloration in a streak that resembles a pencil mark, but no flaw at all. Somehow the lighting made it look like the Grand Canyon in the picture.

[Mike Poindexter]

Art: That is simply awesome! As you said, you had nothing to lose so why not try a fresh approach? Thanks so much for sharing.

[Kevin Finnerty]

Nice Work!

Much better to non-destructively clean where possible

The grits and “paper” you mention have only become available in the past 15 years or so...

I typically use a 3000 5000 and 8000 followed by micro polish
As a progression on Aircraft Plexiglas

These are Mirka Foam for the 3000 and 5000 with the 8000 being 3M Trizact

None of these where commonly in use even a decade ago

Very nice nondestructive cleaning

Although one must be careful not to remove Desirable Patina

....It’s a Fine Line!

[Arthur Shaffer]

Nice Work!

Much better to non-destructively clean where possible

The grits and “paper” you mention have only become available in the past 15 years or so...

I typically use a 3000 5000 and 8000 followed by micro polish
As a progression on Aircraft Plexiglas

These are Mirka Foam for the 3000 and 5000 with the 8000 being 3M Trizact

None of these where commonly in use even a decade ago

Very nice nondestructive cleaning

Although one must be careful not to remove Desirable Patina

....It’s a Fine Line!

I use the Norton up through about 4000 for hand sanding.For the final on backs and fronts, I tend to use micromesh pads up to 6000 for a Festool dual action sander. It really gets it smooth. A lot of finishers now don't buff due to heat blush; they simply go to very fine micromesh.

lso, I now use 4000 dry paper on my rotary chisel and carving tool sharpener. It gets them so sharp you can shave a "see through" cross wafer from plywood.
These materials are getting incredible.

[john pulis]

Very nice Art. I bought some wet-dry, 5000-10,000 via Amazon manufactured in Germany and use it for finishing stocks, oak cases, and furniture. We learn something new everyday on this site.

[Brian Dudley]

That is certainly a great technique that gave great results.

What is going on here is the difference in oxidation between the iron and steel strands. And the etching and micro pitting that happens from that oxidation. The surface of the barrels as a whole is not flat and after the uneven oxidation they are even less flat. The use of the very fine abrasive paper removed the built up oxidation on the higher areas and leaves it in the lower surfaces.

I would think that boiling or steaming after this is done may also help to convert resining rust and "lock in" the "restored" finish.

I would also think that this process and its results would vary greatly from barrel set to barrel set depending on how badly they are oxidized.

[todd allen]

I knew a fellow pigeon shooter some years back who used to clearcoat case colored Perazzi MX 8 receivers. (He also played, and restored guitars)
I often wondered if the same process would work on laminate barrels.
BTW, I used to do auto body and paint restorations on street and show cars. Back in the early days, we used lacquer, which when properly done would give impossibly perfect results. Just wouldn't last as long as the enamels, and urethane finishes that came along later.

[Arthur Shaffer]

That is certainly a great technique that gave great results.

What is going on here is the difference in oxidation between the iron and steel strands. And the etching and micro pitting that happens from that oxidation. The surface of the barrels as a whole is not flat and after the uneven oxidation they are even less flat. The use of the very fine abrasive paper removed the built up oxidation on the higher areas and leaves it in the lower surfaces.

I would think that boiling or steaming after this is done may also help to convert resining rust and "lock in" the "restored" finish.

I would also think that this process and its results would vary greatly from barrel set to barrel set depending on how badly they are oxidized.

Brian
I have tried boiling barrels before followed by rubbing with steel wool. That tended to remove too much of the finish, but the guns I tried it on may not have had a lot of the original finish left. Do you think there is any reason that boiling should remove the actual existing finish? Also, I had considered ultrasonic cleaning. I have a high energy cleaner that I could do the barrels by reversing and doing two cycles. Or maybe do the fine wet sand followed by a boil and steel wool carding?

Someone asked about laminates. I see no reason the same processes shoudn't work on any composite barrel finish.