ok to clean grips?
 

Hello,

I have just aquired my first Luger, a 1918 Erfurt. The wooden grips seem like they would be candidates for a cleaning with an old toothbrush and some Murphys oil soap. It looks like the dirt/ grime is on the outer sides, as the inside of the grips maintained the clean reddish wood tone.

Would cleaning them up affect the pieces value in any way? The grips are serial numbered to the gun, and I would feel awful if I "messed" them up any way.

Its my understanding that after cleaning with warm soapy water, a little Boiled Linseed Oil (BLO) will help them retain their color?

CHRISTIAN

Hello Christian:

There is disagreement about cleaning grips and how this impacts value. Personally I clean mine as I see it as similar to cleaning the gun. I don't think you want to use water as you could get swelling or possibly warping. See Buchanan's discussion of grip cleaning methods. The link is http://www.lugerforum/gripclean.html Also, many folk do not recomment linseed oil, although Brownells sells a specialized stain, Plinkington Linseed Oil - Red/Brown that works well. It gives the a rich look. If you want a very good job of cleaning the grips, sent them to Hugh. He does amazing work....

Thanks for the advice,

I figured there would be some debate on the topic. On one hand, I feel it is no different than cleaning the gun, but then again, the darker colored grips do reflect the Luger is 90 years old. Not sure if it would look right having "new" looking grips on a gun that has worn bluing and is old looking...

I guess maybe I'll put the cleaning on hold for a little while until I give it more thought!

:cool:

CHRISTIAN

Missing Link?
 

Paradox998... the link you posted is incomplete or incorrect. Please edit your post by clicking on the pencil/paper icon below your post and edit the link to the correct one. Thanks.

I fooled around and found the correct link:

http://www.lugerforum.com/gripclean.html

Sorry for the typo. Web address is corrected on the link to the page on grip cleaning. Thanks for letting me know.