Brown patina (aka rust) conversion experiment

[Jim Kremmel]

Did an experiment this morning I thought I’d share. This is the trigger guard from my 1907 PH model. While the tang end has different problems, the front was a plum brown and the engraving was hard to see and filled with mung. There was grainy surface rust in several places, the front screw was caked with crud. Boiled it in distilled water for 60 minutes, and let it dry. All the surface rust converted to a powder coating, and 5 minutes work with some degreased 0000 steel wool gave me this. It looks like some case hardening colors now, and the engraving now has depth. Were trigger guards case hardened? All the heavier surface rust is gone. I understand there are folks who like the brown patina but this is my attempt at some conservation of this project gun.