Now what?

[Terry Tiell]

UPDATED WITH NEW PICS.

I sand blasted the lower from the Luger I'm rebuilding today and it looks like fresh cast metal. Now I've read that some people just blue them with this frosted finish while others polish it first. Does anyone have any pictures of the difference?

[policeluger]

I would run a soft wire wheel over the gun to remove any sanding irregulars marks, help give it a smooth consistant texture....

[sheepherder]

Did you actually use sand, or glass beads??? Bead blasting produces a nice smooth satin finish, while sand produces a coarse rough surface...

It's hard to polish without smoothing edges, stampings, etc.

[Terry Tiell]

After discussing its future with Thor it was pretty clear I couldn't hope to restore it and still be able to fire it. This thing was real rough guys, my father found it at the bottom of a drained lake, took me 2 weeks worth of work to get to the point I'm at right now. She'll never be a collector grade gun only a decent shooter that I'm trying to build.

Ok so I'll polish it with a fine wire brush on a drill then. I'd guess a brass brush would be best then?

[nukem556]

I you're gonna try bluing it, I wouldnt use a brass wire brush....the brass, being softer, will get in the imperfections and pores, and the bluing will not take well....you'll have a blotchy mess.

[Terry Tiell]

What would recommend then, just a fine wire steel brush? Or should I use stainless steel with the same fine wire? Or polish it with a buffer wheel?

[policeluger]

A soft Brownells wire wheel will work well....

[Terry Tiell]

Awesome! Thanks Policeluger!

[Lugerdoc]

A normal "blast & blue" will come out looking gray like a dark parkerizing, vise a polished blue. TH

[policeluger]

so right, the metal treatment will determin the"color" brightness.....I can get the whole blue rainbow just with metal finish......

[Terry Tiell]

I polished it with a fine wire stainless steel brush on my Dremel tool and it polished up nicely.
However its looking dark grey not sure if I like it or not. Gonna try to polish it tomorrow some more and see how it comes out. I mean its not hateful but not what I was hoping to get.

[Terry Tiell]

Any advice on what I can do to get it to that nice shade of blue? Right now it looks like battleship gray.

[policeluger]

toss the Dremel, I've blued both hot and rust for 40 years and know exactly the color you are up aginist.......I am so knee deep in work and you are so far away, but to help out the brotherhood as such, you want to send me the parts and I will prep them gratis......I am not ready to do any bluing at the moment, but hay just a suggestion....

[Terry Tiell]

Thanks man. I'm still waiting for my other parts to arrive (barrel and upper) and I'm starting to get worried I may have been scammed. But when (and if) they show up we'll have to talk about that idea.

Toss the Dremel, DONE! What do I need to get in order to do this correctly? Or is it a trade secret you'd rather not give up? If so I understand. One again, Thank you.

[policeluger]

csn you send me a few close up pictures....

[Terry Tiell]

I want to strip it again before I take the pics. Should I polish it to a chrome/nickel style finish before I blue it? I did it before and I can if that is what I need to do.

[nukem556]

Awfully nice offer of Police to refinish your metal for you, but I sense you wanna make this a personal project, and with a gun of this grade and condition I couldn't agree more...you'll learn a lot and have a nice feeling of accomplishment for doing it. What you wanna do foremost is to get an evenly surfaced finish while doing as much as possible to keep the edges and contours sharp...use the "black" wet or dry paper, 320/400 grit....you dont want to "polish" the metal to a mirror finish.... on large surfaces like the sides of the upper receiver and the left side flat on the frame, use the paper on a sheet of glass, like out of a picture frame...for smaller flat areas, use a .040 or .050 feeler gage as a backing for the sandpaper...on curved surfaces, use 1/2 wide by 2 in long sections cupped around the first and second joint of your finger and just " roll" around the contours....look at pictures of known original guns to see which direction the "grain" (machining marks) of different parts go, and do your resurfacing in the same direction.

After a few or more hours and a six pack or so later, you'll have your metal prepped and ready for you to try rust bluing!!! Read the stickys on here for that info.

[Terry Tiell]

Thanks Nukem. Oh I can't thank Policeluger enough for the offer and I do not want to sound as tho I'm snubbing his offer but you hit the nail on the head. I'd like to get her in the best shape I can. I already fired her for the first time in over 30years thats more then my father could ever do with it.

Ok tomorrow the striping should be done and I'll start sanding it. As of now all I have that I plan to reuse is the lower as the upper and the barrel are beyond redoing even according to Thor so I have a 1913 upper and barrel on the way that the seller told me would be here tomorrow, I just hope they get here by the end of the week.

So rust bluing huh? Guess I need to go do some reading, thanks man.

[Olle]

Originally Posted by Terry Tiell

So rust bluing huh? Guess I need to go do some reading, thanks man.

Some descriptions almost make it sound like black magic, but a decent rust bluing it's not very difficult to do and if you buy a bottle from Brownells you'll also get instructions that are sufficient for a good, first time job. You may not get a 100% correct Luger blue, but pre-mixed bluing solution is the way to go for a project like what you're describing. It can be done by anyone who has enough patience, and you also need an understanding wife who will let you boil gun parts on the kitchen stove.

[Terry Tiell]

The wife won't mind so long as it doesn't stink or give off any toxic fumes as we have birds and I don't want to kill them. But I'll check it out thanks man.