A show of Walkers

In the white. After bleuing removel with household vinegar.


After browning with Plum Brown barrel finish.



After removing some of the brown with 'steel wool', grade 000, for a little more authentic old looks. Not perfect but good enough for me.

Stock Uberti

This is what mine looks like:

If I take some pictures and download from the camera, how do I make sure the pictures go to like this particular thread? HELP!! ANYONE!!

Does color case hardened mean the steel has been hardened enough that it will consistently shoot heavy loads or is it as I suspect, cosmetic only??...Okay...

It's sort of cosmetic only. It hardens the surface of the steel only, good for protecting against dings, scratches and wear. It doesn't strengthen the internal steel though.
A replica Walker can easily handle full loads, the originals were cast iron and they did fine!
A friend of mine insists on loading 60 grains... He used to try fitting more, 65 or so.... that's a cannon in every sense.

Great gun, that's next on my list...I'm stuck with a Dragoon until then;o)
Ever try loading bird shot or buckshot in them? It works great!

I suspect the case color hardening to be cosmetic. After dumping the frame in household vinegar the colors disappeared.
The gun's barrel is not hardened for sure. When wanting to shoot conicals I noticed the could not be loaded untill I did some filing to the barrel. The metal is soft and it is easy to remove some by hand filing, comparable to regular steel bar.

hildo, I really like your refinished pieces. A Walker is on my list, but I don't know if I'd have the guts to refinish it.

Jorg,
There is no risk involved. I got the idea from Dixie Texian, a THR member, and it works.
De-blueing is as easy as eating a ham sandwich.
Put the metal in household vinegar and the blueing just dissolves, 15 to 20 minutes is all it takes and it does not damage the metal any which way. It's hard to believe it is this simple, but it is.
Note: I have heard the blueing residue is poison. I de-blued in my frying pan and made sure I cleaned it up real good afterwards.

The browning is done by heating the gun to a temperature so a waterdrop will boil on the gun. Try to heat it up with a flame evenly so things will not warp, don't know if this could happen but I like to stay on the safe side.
Then, immidiately after heating, wipe with a sponge with some birchwood Casey Plum Brown barrel finish.
You should hear a 'Tsssssss' sound (the gun part your are about to treat is hot remember?) as you touch the part with the sponge, and the rust is instant. Wipe the sponge along the gun, do not tap, this did not give me an even finish. If the gun does not hiss when you touch it with the wet sponge it is to cold and you should stop and re-heat. If you are done with the part rinse thougroly in water so the Plum Brown acids will dissolve.
You may want to use gloves, I didn't but there are acids in Plum Brown.
Try not to get it inside the barrel or chambers.

Then gently 'sand it down' with this steel wool. I used 000 grade, 0000 grade is the finest but could not get that. This steel wool stuff leaves no scratches and the rust removal will go slow and fully under control.

Check out my site for photo's, it is in the Dutch language but photo's tell a lot and maybe give you an idea what to expect.
Again, it not so difficult. If it was I could not have done it, I am not handy and actually well below average.
There is nothing to hold you back.

http://www.twolefthands.nl/Zwart Kruit/page10/zwartkruit10.htm
You will have to scroll down a bit to get to the Walker section.

Walkers look great in the white, and yours is living proof of that.
Congrats!
Hildo

Hildo,

NICE JOB ON THE WALKER!!!

I antique'd a pair of Uberti Millenium revolvers a while ago. I could never get the grips to work out the way I wanted and my hands never agreed with the size.

So, I sold them to a guy (local) who wanted an antique pair. He LOVES the look and the action job I did on them. Sold them for what I bought them for.

I might try antiqu'n my Uberti Walker one of these days. I need to modify the loading area like what Hildo did... I will likely blend that area to match the frame and then refinish it.

What did you do to get your grips looking old??? Please detail the process.

Antique grips


Sanded of the laquer, left a bit for the 'worn' look. Maybe you want to use steel wool instead of sanding paper.
Then hammer some dings in the wood with several objects to simulate some more years of wear.


Now I wanted to darken the wood again, but in some simple way that would not cause irriversible unwanted effects. An open flame darkens (blackens) the wood, it works well but quickly so go easy with the flame. I used it to make some darker accents as are always found on antique stocks and grips.
Tried smearing sweat, chain grease from my motorcycle and other things onto the grips but this did not work too well.
Then got an idea using black shoe polish, rubbed it on and burned it in with the open flame. Repeated till I got the result I was satisfied with. See photo below

If you want to do it professionally, Google Aqua Fortis. Aqua Fortis is a liquid used to stain gun stocks for literally centuries. The basics are water dilluted acid with iron (dissolved steel wool) in it. You can buy it ready to go in a bottle as well I believe.
I am sure there are many THR members that have experience with it, I have none.


Finished result
Hildo

I am going to match the opening in the barrel cut for the seating of the ball to the frame. (I hate that my Uberti cuts the lead on the Lee conicals)

Then, refinish it all...

Nice Walkers.

The grip darkening is interesting. I'm wanting to remove the glossy finish on my percussion grips and reshape them a bit.


Case hardening, real case hardening, does harden the metal, it isn't just cosmetic. It's not very thick, it can be measured in thousandths of an inch, but it surface hardens the metal, with softer metal underneath. The result has shock and wear resistance, but is not brittle like a part that is hardened all the way through. Mauser bolt actions were case hardened. Smith & Wesson hammers and triggers are still case hardened on blued guns. It's a pretty good treatment for many applications.


The "case color finish" such as used on Ruger Vaqueros and some other guns is a chemical dye that simulates color case hardening, and has no value to harden the metal. It is strictly cosmetic. It also has little corrsion resistance, much less than blueing.


Most gun barrels are not all that hard. I've cut a couple off (Winchester 94, Browning 1886, Ruger Balckhawk, and filed bevels on Ruger and Smith & Wesson cylinders). They cut with a file or hacksaw like butter. The alloy needs to be tough for wear resistance, but they aren't that "hard" usually.

Well, I don't know whether to be aggravated or relieved. I own a good Walker. Really love it. A week or so ago I was thinking about getting one of the Dragoon Models because it has a barrel shortened down to 7 & 1/2 inches and the loading lever will latch into place. (although I haven't had a problem with my Walker lever dropping. I don't fire that heavy of a charge through it) THEN, I decided I wasn't going to get a Dragoon. THEN, last night I decided I WOULD get one. I talked to Cabela's just a little while ago. They don't have any Dragoons. So..I went to my Dixie Gun Works catalog and found them, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Models all made by Uberti just like my Walker. ALL THREE MODELS HAVE A DAMN BRASS BACK STRAP!! I just couldn't believe that. Firing the .457 ball in front of 50 grains of powder...well, I just can't believe that is good for a brass back strap. I called Cabela's back and talked with a man a little higher up the food chain and he told me he knew exactly what I was going to ask before I had asked. He said that's why Cabela's dosen't like to mess with the Dragoons. Fired consistantly, that is just too heavy a charge for a brass backstrap. Well, anyway, I'm not going to buy one of them. I'll stick with my Walker. (which I was going to stick with anyway. I just thought the Third Model was a good looking piece especially after I found out it would push the .457's) Well, anyway, I'll just buy a few little possibles I may use someday and let it go at that...Okay...