OWK Saber Progress

[franz bolo]

Thanks for posting the follow-up pics. :love
I love how awesomely-awesome your weathered grenade is.
-DM

Thanks but after seeing Laszlo's and Howard's, I can see I need more work!!

FB

 

[franz bolo]

Started to do more work!!

Steps 1-5

1 - I sprayed some vinegar on the grenade and it got a lot darker. I wanted a darker look (more black) and I hated the texture.

2 - I scrubbed it down with salt and a toothbrush.

3 - I degreased it and put on some bluing.

4 - Here it is next to a clean one.

5 - I ran some steel wool over it.

Next I'll work on the stem and wind vane.

FB

 

[lesternessman]

nice job, I love progress pics!

 

[darth_myeek]

Hi FB,

Beautiful job. I am really sold on bluing.

Do you think that the grenade bluing would be lighter without the vinegar pretreatment?

Thanks,
-DM

 

[Anakin Starkiller]

The Grenade is looking really good.:love

Dan

 

[motivealloy]

Oooo, that's looking good. I'll need to get some bluing after I beat the crap out of my Russ grenade.

 

[franz bolo]

Thanks. I used Super Blue® Liquid Gun Blue from Academy.

http://possibleshop.com/finishing1.htm

Next I want to try the Plum Brown. They also have something called "Sheath Rust Preventive Gun Wipes" and "Blue & Rust Remover".

[SIZE=+2]Sheath® Rust Preventive[/SIZE]

SHEATH Rust Preventive protects your firearms from rust. It rapidly drives out moisture from metal pores and deposits a transparent coating which seals the surface with a protective film. Withstands 500 hours in ASTM humidity test and 96 hours in ASTM salt spray test. SHEATH Rust Preventive is also an excellent penetrant for loosening rusty or frozen parts, as well as a good lubricant and an effective bore cleaner. Contains FPR to wipe off corrosive fingerprints on all your firearms.

FB

 

[franz bolo]

I did the stem and windvane yesterday.

In the top photo, I sprayed some easy-off oven cleaner on the windvane.
It was chalky looking and not as black as I wanted it. I only left it in a zip lock bag for 2 hours though. If I did it overnight it would have probably been darker.

In the bottom photo I used gun bluing on both parts. It has a sheen to it so I might bake it in the oven to see what happens. I hope to find some Plumb Brown and try that over the black. I think that will come out nice.

FB

 

[scarf man]

Looking great man!

 

[Howard]

Now that looks superb! :thumbsup

 

[franz bolo]

Hi FB,
Do you think that the grenade bluing would be lighter without the vinegar pretreatment?

I don't think it would be lighter, just not as rich in color.

When I weather the next one, I will use Plumb Brown first, to get a rich brown, then use the regular bluing to get the black. Once I go over it with the steel wool, I hope it will bring out the different colors like this one.

The vinegar definitely helps on this one though because I had no Plumb Brown. It looks better in person than in the pics and there is some nice dark browns and slight rust in the cracks but black on the surface. It's full of colors if you look close but looks black from a quick glance which is what I really wanted.

The steel wool gives it a nice worn look by exposing the edges slightly.

I took the windvane off and put it back in a zip lock bag with more easy off. It did a good job of darkening it a bit more and gave some dull areas. I steel wooled it lightly and it came out real nice.

I think this one is finally done!! :love

FB

 

[franz bolo]

And here is my Tunisia saber progress.

I think the Tunisia saber was painted flat black though. and my stem is way too long

FB

 

[Serafino]

I don't know about the stem being long, maybe the vane sleeve is very low on the blades on the prop in that shot. On the Chronicles shot it's surprisingly high on the blades.

Looking great. Maybe a matte clearcoat would give you the best of all worlds on the blued metals?

 

[franz bolo]

I just found some Plumb Brown. Apparently you have to heat the piece up to 275° and then apply the product and let it work until it's cooled off to be handled by hand.

I steel wooled the brass stem and windvane and applied some Brass Black instead of the bluing. It made a big difference. It has more of the brass sheen and doesn't look fake and glossy like the bluing did.

FB