Rust and Nitre Bluing. Mauser 1914 restoration.

[AFJuvat]

I do a fair amount of firearms restoration as sort of a 'side job'. If it is a true collector grade, I limit my restoration to stopping any active deterioration, and applying the correct finish to any wood components.

That said, when working with a shooter grade gun, I really do enjoy taking one that has been badly damaged or neglected, and restoring it as close as possible to how it looked when new.

The Mauser 1914 pistol in this thread was badly water damaged. The grips were broken and growing mold. The frame under the grips was badly pitted. Additionally, there was light pitting across the rest of the visible surfaces of the gun. After letting the gun soak in Kroil for two days, I was able to knock the magazine out of the gun with a wood dowel and a hammer.

Since the finish of the gun was compromised by rust and pitting, there was not much point in trying to save the finish.

First picture is the gun components in a ultrasonic cleaner. It is being cleaned with a mixture of water, dawn dish detergent, simple green, and Lemi-shine. Lemi-shine is a mild acid (citric acid), and will remove any rust, along with bluing.

Pictures 2 - 4 are the frame, slide, barrel, and side plate after working with files and sandpaper to remove as much of the pitting from the visible areas as possible, while still preserving all of the proof marks and manufacturer roll stamps. The brown crud in the frame is sanding grit.

After the frame was sanded and polished as much as possible, the parts went back into the ultrasonic cleaner with a mix of water, dawn dish detergent, and simple green to clean and degrease the parts. When they were finished, they were stored in a container filled with denatured alcohol to keep them clean. Since I was going to rust blue them, they cannot be touched unless you are wearing gloves, or you will have a beautiful blued fingerprint in the metal. :)

Next Post Bluing.

[AFJuvat]

Rust bluing is fairly easy. I heat the parts to 200 degrees and apply a light coat of the rust bluing solution. Once the parts have a light coat of rust, they are boiled in distilled water, which converts the red rust to magnetite, which had a blue/ black color.

Pictures 1 - 3 are the parts after rust bluing the gun.

After bluing was complete, the parts were stored in a container full of oil until I was ready to put the gun back together.

On the original 1914 pistols, the trigger and all 'non-structural' parts were nitre blued. This makes sense, as hot salt bluing was not commonly used at the time, and rust bluing does take a fair amount of time. Nitre bluing gives the parts a thin oxide coating quickly. Unfortunately, nitre blue is not at all durable, and will wear off quickly if not protected.

Picture 4 shows the trigger, grip screws, and safety lever polished and mounted on wire prior to nitre bluing.

Picture 5 is my lead melter filled with molten potassium nitrate, which melts at approximately 620 degrees.

The peacock blue color we are shooting for comes on between 570 - 590 degrees depending on the alloy. The parts are dipped in the molten salt and watched closely for the color change. Once the desired color is reached, the parts are taken out of the salt and dipped into water to cool them.

Next Post.

[AFJuvat]

Since the original grips were beyond saving, I located a nice looking set of walnut grips.

Here it is all back together with new springs and the new grips.

I filled the markings with white grease pencil to make them easier to see, it comes off with alcohol.

[butlersrangers]

Nice salvage job - Thanks for sharing.

[Whig]

Very nice and thanks for the good pictures of the entire process. Nice trigger fire blue!

[Playapat]

Beautiful work. Thanks for the precise descriptions and photos. Happy shooting.