Restoring Straw Question
 

Is it common practice to restore the straw color? One of my Lugers had the latch damaged that turns to release the trigger plate and receiver (don't know the proper name). Someone tried to turn it by force without pulling the receiver back which bent and scratched it. I was able to reshape it physically and restore its appearance by 're-strawing' it. Restoring straw is easy enough to do, but I don't recall seeing it mentioned before. I am experienced in gun work, making and tempering springs, etc., but I only have two Lugers. Comments will be appreciated. Thanks

Many will say, you restored it, now when you go to sell it you need to tell the new buyer what happened. Others might not say that.

In the Luger collecting field, many collectors feel that any modifications or "boosting" is wrong and shouldn't be done.

Now, for a gun already re-blued, wrong parts, etc., then why not.

Sorry for the wishy-washy answer,

Ed

How does one go about restoring straw effect?

A few guys have done it right in their oven. It is simply heating the part up to a certain temperature, the problem I have heard is that if you do it too long or the wrong temp, then the parts looks like crap.

Ed

If you send me your email address I can easly attach my strawing instruction. Have used it for over 25 years, easy and fool proof...you'll need a buffing wheel or hand polish, some light oil and an oven....it's fun.

Thanks for your replies. I did my re-straw with a torch by eyeball after properly polishing the part. As I said I am experienced. If one wants to duplicate the original straw, study the polish of the part and duplicate that before heating. The kitchen oven can be used but I would experiment with a polished scrap steel part before depending on the oven temp setting. A home oven may be far from the accuracy you will need. Note from the above the difference ten degrees can make. Re-heat to strawing temp will not damage the part. If I were to make a Luger replacement part, I would first heat it red hot and quench it, draw (carefully heat) it to 560 degrees to a spring temp. Then I would finish polish it, removing the blue color and then reheat to straw color temp. I believe the original parts must have been made that way because some need and have a spring temper. Straw without the spring temp step would leave a part that would easily bend and distort. I don't plan to restore the straw on my Lugers because they are a bit worn and consistent with the rest of the gun. My 'thing' is antique gun restoration over the past 40 years and trying to make something falsely look new is not in order. If I do a fix or replace a part I make it look like the rest of the gun looked when it was last used. Hope this helps.

Robert; I like your style. It is much more of an art to match wear and age than to renew. Thanks for the tips on step-heating.