Strawing?
 

I've been looking at some web sites offering various Lugers for sale and I notice a lot of weapons that have the safety and other relevant parts blued instead of strawed, but there is no mention of rebluing on the listings.
Were all original Lugers strawed in the customary places or did some have these parts blued?

All lugers prior to mid 1937 had strawed parts. Some Lugers built for commercial sale after this time might have strawed parts. Lugers post mid 1937 that were built for the military have all blued small parts.(May be some exceptions to this)Someone else will have to chime in for the Swiss models.

The Swiss Bern M1929 lugers went all blued small parts.

what does Strawed mean? i always thought it meant the bluing was turning from age,thanks

strawing is where you heat treat, heat the metal up to a certain degree and it turns the straw color. Unsure the difference, if any in the heat treating that Colts have on their frames.

Most of the strawing you see has faded to a silver color, the normal color of the metal over time.

True strawing that is has been out of the light and not roughly treated should have a faded goldish patina look to it.


Ed

thanks Ed,i always thought it was just another term for patina

my personal tastes in both rifles and the pistols is i prefer a "been there look",its hard to imagine a piece being in a war,handled,stored,or brought back,and 60 years later looking brand new,especially givin the atitude towards these old firearms as late as late as the 1960's

there are too many out there that are faking "mint" pieces,and im not a advanced collector to be able to 100% be sure about every piece,its easier,and less likely on a well used looking rifle (not always),and the normal tells are easier for me to determine

its been my experiance that if it looks too good,its probably too good to be true,,,,,its amazing the lengths that some will go to to squeeze a couple hundred extra out of a piece