nitre strawing?

[Rick W.]

i

[Dok]

Our resident strawing expert is always very silent (and rightly so) on strawing questions, but I believe there are some others on the Forum who have experimented with this technique... maybe they'll give you some insight.


Dok

The straw color is a heat treat process. Straw color occurs at about 440 degrees. More heat will make it darker.Keep heating and metal turns purple then bright blue then gray. Metal has to be repolished in order to start again to get straw. The idea is to heat all of the part evenly so that same color occurs at same time on the entire part. Nitre is the pro way to do it---but you can do it in the kitchen oven, a roaster oven-- or with a propane torch. Torch takes a bit of practice and a light touch to heat part evenly. Most home ovens do not maintain an absolute temp. Some experiment with thermostat setting is necessary. One needs oven with window in door to watch parts. Remove parts the second appropriate color is reached. Correct polish of metal is also important to achieve correct color. I use 150 grit emory by hand--then just a touch on buffing wheel with stainless rouge. Clean parts well with acetone before heating. All this sounds like a home remedy--but it works--been doing it more than 15 years. One can add the nice fire blue color to grip screws, front sights, springs and pins easily with the propane torch. Check Luger Variations by Harry Jones--he described process in his book in l961. Experiment with small pieces of metal before tackleing a Luger straw part. Also remember that the straw color will be darker ofter cooled and a lubricant is applied. Hope this helps someone!

[Patrick]

Why did the Germans go in for strawing? I�´ve never understood why. They tell me that DWM originally only intended to straw parts on their commercial Lugers to make them look nicer and that it prevents rust on parts that are often touched. Does it prevent rust? Strawing doesn�´t seem to last as long as it should and I�´ve never seen it used on weapons from other countries. I suppose it just looks nicer and if the use of nitre salts could make it last longer, I�´m all for it.The DWM strawing procedure stipulated "a hot salt bath" whatever that may mean (nitre salts?). Patrick

[Patrick]

Art - this is a great help. Now I can understand what the DWM instructions mean. I used to take my Luger parts to a workshop here in Berlin and saw that they used a large furnace with a crucible encrusted with salt. The parts they strawed came out darker than the original. So now I do it maself with a butane burner. But the strawing doesn�´t seem to last that long. Thanks for the detailed instructions -Patrick

Note that CZ Mod. 27 has straw trig. and hammer. Jap Nambu T-14 has straw safety lever. Beside being pretty ---I would speculate that Luger small parts were heat treated --both straw and fire blue on pins,& grip screws because it was easier and less time consuming than handleing very small paarts in the rust blue process.

[Rick W.]

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[Rick W.]

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