Need help with finishes on C96

[Olle]

Originally Posted by alvin

For nitre blue, what's the temperature used, and how long you soaked the parts into the melted salt? How do you control the temperature at a constant?

Curious, because I saw many restored guns have darker nitre blue finish than original guns. I guess the color tone being temperature and time related... but not sure.

I used a torch for some of them, but sent off the difficult ones to Paladinpainter. The color does depend on the temperature and can be adjusted as necessary. I don't believe the time matters, as long as the temperature is correct. Of course, the time will matter if the temperature is too high, simply because of the heat sink effect. This would also give you different colors on the same part, depending on how quickly thinner and thicker sections got up to temperature.

You need to keep in mind that it's a very fragile finish, and the best way to get an idea of the original color is to take a part off the gun and inspect areas that haven't been exposed to wear. I believe the colors on this one are actually close to original, just darker because there's no age on it.