Anyone recognize this case coloring?

[Bruce Day]

I am not aware that the Del Grego shop ever did case coloring by any method. They neither had the room, equipment or expertise.

I am aware that the Del Grego gunsmithing ship would strip frames, polish the metal , and take metal parts to be color case hardened to an industry shop in the Ilion area which did that type of work for a variety of industries in the area. I have no direct knowledge of the above but was told this by the Del Grego shop. Thus when the shop says or implies “we did” it’s more accurate that “ we took it to ——-“.

My knowledge dates from the 1980’s on. I do not know what contractor or industrial shop did the Del Grego requested case color work in the 1950’s to the 70’s. I don’t know the name of the shop but was told by Lawrence that it was a couple miles from their home workshop.

[Dean Romig]

So did Remington Arms in Ilion farm their case hardening work to this shop?
I ask this because several long time Parker people have told me that Babe would take these parts to Remington for this work after Babe had left Remington's employ.





.

[BRDHNTR]

Dean, that 16 ga vh of mine that youve handled was restocked and case colored by DelGrego about 6 or 7 yrs ago. Maybe longer. Their case colors on the bottom side of the frame did not wear well and the underside is practically clear now. Im wondering if this was a cynanide job and do cynanide colors not hold their colors as well as other case coloring processes. Im tempted to send the frame to Brad Bachelder and have Brad recolor it. His colors have stood up well on my other parkers that hes done for me

[Garth Gustafson]

Allen, I've been told the cyanide case colors are more durable than traditional bone/charcoal and they tend to last longer. Cyanide colos typically are more intense for sure. The floor plate of my VH looks like a tequila sunrise.

[BRDHNTR]

Garth, dont know what to say except that the colors on the underside of the frame on tbis 16 are nearly gone and i did not do anything different with this gun in handling than any of my other parkers. Colors have remained strong on all others and they all are used. I cant explain it.

[edgarspencer]

Originally Posted by Bruce Day

I am not aware that the Del Grego shop ever did case coloring by any method. They neither had the room, equipment or expertise.

I have heard this stated before, and partly because of my metallurgical background, I am inclined to believe it is correct. I spent quite a bit of time with engineers from Colt Industries, at their West Hartford, CT plant, developing cast steel (CA6NM) heat treating boxes, and their plant metallurgist said they would never consider replacing the carbon based packed boxes with cyanide salt because of the environmental and safety concerns handling the salts. There was a Heat treat shop in Hartford that did cyanide packed heat treating, and they went out of business when the state DEP mandated closed-capture exhaust systems for all their furnaces.

[Kevin McCormack]

[QUOTE=Dean Romig;233873]So did Remington Arms in Ilion farm their case hardening work to this shop?
I ask this because several long time Parker people have told me that Babe would take these parts to Remington for this work after Babe had left Remington's employ.

To my knowledge Babe never worked for Remington. His father, Larry Sr., one of the original Parker Bros. Meriden employees, retired from Remington in 1955 and opened his own shop when they made the decision to no longer repair Parker guns. When Babe mustered out of the Air Force in 1958 he joined his father in the business.

In 1960 Larry Sr. cut a deal with Remington to purchase their entire inventory of parts for the Parker gun along with several specialty machines that had been surplused as obsolete by Remington after cessation of Parker gun production in 1947 (e.g., rib matting and automatic ejector setup jigs among others). After this time, Remington referred all inquiries on repair of the Parker gun to the Del Gregos.

Their very early case coloring work was most likely done by Frank Lefever in Herkimer NY, the next town over to the west of Ilion towards Utica. When Lefever closed his business, rumor had it that the case coloring work was contracted out to a specialty metals firm in northern New Jersey, who did the work for years (probably up through the late 1990s/early 2000s). The option of having Turnbull's do the case coloring for a customer desiring so was a comparatively very late development in the relationship between the two firms.

A considerable amount of work on restored guns coming out of Del Grego's was done by artisans employed by Remington in the Custom Shop on an "after hours" basis. Leo Bala, a master engraver in there, did much of the intricate checkering work on the highest grade guns and of course Bob Runge, retired master engraver, routinely did the standard re-engraving patterns on restored guns along with their wonderful upgrades.

When I took my first Parker gun to Del Grego's for a total restoration in 1969, one of the first things I noticed was the complete lack of equipment, materials and process controls (e.g., furnaces, tanks, etc.) for metal reconditioning and restoration of any kind, all of which to my knowledge were done elsewhere.

[Dean Romig]

My apologies Kevin, and others, for erroneously naming Babe instead of Larry Sr. I know better.





.

[B. Dudley]

Kevin,
Was the NJ firm Heinzelman (spelling)?

[Kevin McCormack]

Brian, I never heard the name of the NJ outfit - they were always very secretive about where the guns went for recoloring.