Removing gold finish from receiver

[Tim Adams]

Originally Posted by Larry Stauch

Gold washing was a process done to guns; rifles, pistols and shotguns, at the turn of the century to enhance their beauty and show financial status of the owner. A friend had an engraved Fox that had been gold washed and he took it out in the garage and used a buffing wheel to remove as much as he could. Unfortunately, he also smoothed the engraving somewhat. I would not suggest doing that -EVER. Here is a better description of what it is.

Gold Washed
gold washed | ˈgōld ˈwȯshd

adjective

A term for a piece that has an extremely thin layer of gold, applied by either dipping or burnishing the metal, but are not plated.

Gold wash is a term used to describe one of several processes often related to antique and vintage silver. It consists of applying a very thin layer of gold without plating to another metal, most commonly silver. This is done by dipping or burnishing the metal, and is not as resilient to wear and handling as plating, filling, or electroplating. Other terms used to describe gold washing include silver gilt, gilt, gilded, and vermeil. The final application of gold after a gold wash is less than 0.175 microns thick and will typically wear off over time and need to be washed again to maintain its appearance.

I believe Larry has it right.
I tried acetone and lacquer thinner, neither one had any effect on the finish.
I can't imagine how bad this looked after is was done. What were they thinking?

So now, the $50 question. What to do with it? It looks horrible, but I for sure don't want to damage the engraving.
0000 steel wool or a brass wire brush?
Thanks for the help.

[Woodcock survey]

Frontier pad, google it and order it, will not harm engraving and a lot of members here have used them to clean up guns. Will not harm bluing used with oil and gently to remove rust. It will allow you to ""wear off" the rest of it without harming the gun.

[Woodcock survey]

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[Tim Adams]

I have a Frontier pad on order. I will report back with results.

[Keavin Nelson]

There is a product called Never Dull, which is a woolen pad saturated with some oil product. It works great to remove rust, tarnish and general oxydation. Might be worth a try. Very easy on the surface, even more so than Frontier pad.

[Dean Romig]

Originally Posted by keavin nelson

There is a product called Never Dull, which is a woolen pad saturated with some oil product. It works great to remove rust, tarnish and general oxydation. Might be worth a try. Very easy on the surface, even more so than Frontier pad.

.

[Mike Franzen]

If it were mine I would leave it as is. I think it looks unique. If you don’t mind me asking, why did you buy the gun in the first place knowing it had the gold wash that you can’t stand?

[Tim Adams]

Originally Posted by Mike Franzen

If it were mine I would leave it as is. I think it looks unique. If you don’t mind me asking, why did you buy the gun in the first place knowing it had the gold wash that you can’t stand?

I did.
With most of the finish already worn off, I assumed that the rest of it would come off pretty easily.
The price was right, and the rest of the gun is in very nice condition.

[Joe from MO]

I'd leave it as is, and just condsider it part of the history of the gun.

I would hate to damage the engraving in anyway.....

[Larry the Gun Guy]

I would be inclined to leave it as found as well. Who else has a gold washed Parker? I would say that it's a part of the history of the gun and a part of the history of the times. However, if that doesn't work for you you may want to contact a jeweler. They may know how to remove it without causing any harm. Or Doug Turnbull; they may have come across something like it restoring guns in their shop.