Working 'ON' or Working 'WITH' Guns:

My content is being removed from multiple sites & censored by Facebook. - For eight years I have attempted to write positively about lawful gun ownership .. 1,661 online posts so far.

I am being shut down and shut-up.

We can no longer buy imported U S  GUN MAGAZINES such as Guns & Ammo in New Zealand ..

If you wish me to try to continue - please SHARE and repost my pieces - otherwise it will end.

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I like to try fix and improve rusty old antique pistols bought cheaply. - I have read about the issues and I am trying my best to not eff-up anything that I get my hands on.

I have watched Youtube videos of morons restoring various guns by sand-blasting them and "polishing" them using belt sanders .. cold-bluing the now scrap metal over the new scratchings before cutting-out replacement grips from firewood covered in polyurathane varnish - while videoing the whole disasterous 'assault & battery' for public show .. expecting comments to praise their workmanship.

I wonder - Could my local crash repair shop .. SandBlast & Buff this up &

get it CHROME PLATED ?? ( JOKE ) .

I've even watched a U S "professional Restoration business" take a big old Webley revolver .. grind-off every surface back to new metal before 're-finishing' it on a buffing wheel and 're-blueing' the whole machine a deep, chemical black before proudly rotating it before the camera to display the skills they offer to the shooting world.

Naturally there are 'variables' and different circumstances to consider. - A rusted old "Two-Two" being repaired and prettied-up for on-going rabbit control & harvesting, is different to a 100 year old historic Webley .. or different again from a 18th Century antique Flintlock arm - hand built with fine engraving.

To be frank - I'm personally not so worried much about DOLLAR VALUES - I've never had money & it's too late now .. but I am more interested in looking after and conserving and improving what there is in my hands. This stuff may be UNIQUE and worth cherishing eh. I believe one "essential" here is to stop all ongoing active rusting.

- Now looking at the next image - it is clear that there (someone) has been 'refinishing' and destroying much patina & original finish, of what might have been, if more cherished over the centuries, a fine antique. 

- I confess.

That is such a pretty old thing ..

.. But, - what you cannot see here is how bad this lovely old lady was before I started to scrape off lumps of encrusted rusty carbuncles and pustules of active corrosion from it's hard metal surfaces .. I truly thought that barrel was SCRAP junk ..

My pics don't really show how rotten & awful this wreckage was .. Yeah lousy photography.

Maybe I've somewhat improved a rusty relic by excising and killing the rot ? - perhaps I've made it worse and destroyed all of it's value .. dunno.

I've been working on it for weeks off'n'on using Swiss files, wee diamond files, 'P2000' waterproof abrasive paper mounted on flat backing-support .. using a small 'pick' to clean /scrape corrosion out of pitting. - I may attempt even more "restoration" in coming times.

I like it now - whereas it made me want to cry seeing it's putrid, dissolving condition ..

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I would NEVER  dream of touching any antique pistol that is in an honest unbuggered state of preservation. - I understand patina and history - these qualities are precisely why old stuff is appreciated and valued.

Meanwhile I can afford to buy cheap 'junk' pocket pistols and have some fun trying to improve em eh.

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I read recently that the handmade SCREWS found in antique gun actions are sometimes called "Nails" and tried to research WHY?

- It may be because the earliest screws were actually hand crafted from square iron nail stock from rolling mills, just as were the handmade nails of the period ..

Marty K.

P.S. If you like old guns & stuff - this linked site has great posts ..

http://www.cablesfarm.co.uk/repair-and-restoration-what-should-i-do/