Finishing Metal on Stock

[codeman1798]

Hi All,



I've got a double percussion shotgun kit and I'm in the process of finishing the stock and the furniture.

I was thinking of leaving the locks, buttplate, etc. in the white, but I've been reading about the vinegar patinas some folks are using on their knives, and was thinking of doing that. Also maybe sripping the blue of the barrel and putting tha patina on it as well, but I kind of like the dark and light contrast of the furniture being in the white.

Anybody done this, or have any advice for not doing this?

Thanks in advance for the help.

Cody

 

[dfariswheel]

You can leave the stock metal in the white, but it's going to turn to a brown color sooner or later, and will rust if you don't keep a coat of lube on it.

Old guns like the famous US Model 1861 Rifled Musket were left in the white and allowed to take on the brown color from handling and use.

 

[AlexanderA]

Old guns like the famous US Model 1861 Rifled Musket were left in the white and allowed to take on the brown color from handling and use.

Not while in the service! Keeping their muskets highly polished was a matter of discipline and pride for troops in the field. Maintaining the "National Armory Bright" was even continued in depot storage. This can be seen to this day in the famous "organ of arms" in the Springfield Armory museum.

"Row upon row, like a huge organ, rise the burnished arms..." -- Longfellow, "The Arsenal at Springfield"

Bluing became standard after the Civil War, with the Trapdoor Springfields.