It’s always a bad idea for me to see martins gun, looking at that thing is going to get me in trouble. Man is it beautiful!
Biz I too am completely intrigued about that blue finish and can’t work out how it could actually be a hot dip without damaging the inlay. I am sure Rudolph posed that question to someone at Arts before. I am suspecting a low temp walm chemical process of some kind or it is just the light and photo.
Art had used a low temp salt blue process on a lepage sxs with gold inlays on the barrels. He did nothing to the existing gold and it looks great. It even has that slight brownish look in direct sun light. I think that would be the perfect way to do one of these grade 4s. The good ones always seem to have a slight brown tint to the blue.
Jta5er I think your the winner with that answer. You could only imagine that one being a closely guarded secret process like the Herbs & Spices at KFC.
Hey Jta5er I don’t want to divert your post but since your a barrel man of substance I have a question. Curious Have you ever got rust blue re finished an A5 barrel from say mid 60’s that was previously FN hot dip salts finish and what was the result?
Art has reg hot blued mid 60s barrels that came out normal, but I have seen the purple ones out there yet I never bought one if that is what you were leading into. Ranger I will post some pics of my sxs’s soon, Cole is case coloring my Lindner and another very nicely engraved Suhl gun that has several different types of engraving on it. I like these scholberg Bittiner guns quite a bit, Franz Jaeger and Bittiner designed them to not shoot loose in USA 1902-3. They split up and Jaeger teamed up with Simpson, Bittiner with Scholberg and competed against each other in Germany 1910- 1924. 1 12 1 16 and 10 digits apart on serial numbers. They were retailed in Germany by 2 different old gunmakers, but made in Belgium. I like them as much as any I have. I will post pics of others
Very interesting, would you have a pic before Art’s restoration. What was the condition of the barrel before. Do you know up to which grits he sand/polish the barrel. From your pic it seems satin looks?
I have read about the purple ones and knew they existed from S & V book. Never seen one though. The question was more to do with me confirming a theory and matching some of my observations and experiments into a “why” . The why is to do with the shade of the blue and evenness in relation to the parent metal and vintage. By the way nice looking SxS. You really have some fine examples and thanks for sharing. I am too much of a caveman to appreciate the real art and feel that goes with shooting a fine SxS. Love the workmanship , prestige and balance just can’t hit crap with one.
Biz I asked a chemist here at work and he tells me gold is one of very few metals that has extreme resistance to acids and wide range of them in processes and it’s own oxidation process itself is very slow. Would sort of fit that inlayed original examples in 20”s were probably rust blued and etched gold slightly dull from process patinas a bit more as well over time.
Do we know if actual barrel steel changed composition after say 1924-end of Belgium production? I always assumed it changed over first 20 years everybody claims it did everywhere else, anyway. I can tell you the factory hot blue looks smoother than the prior slow rust blue factory barrels, I mean like they sanded it finer. I believe they sanded finer in the new process. I have only slow rust blued, which called for many applications and carding. I bet the salt blue is a card to brilliance, dip and wipe? I’m just guessing again though.
Certainly seen studied and taken note of some differences depth and shades between the various decades of slow rusted barrels up to early 60’s when book said they stopped. One of my pet check outs under loupe when opportunity presents. All were original and not refinished. My experiments so far tell me the alloy composition % and elements added to the raw steel has something to do with it apart from finish. Only my theory commenting on world market barrels though.
If you do a google search for shotgun barrel, tensile strength, drew hause, Raimey and carbon. You should see all the changes in barrel steel composition from 1880s to 1980s. Lots of information for LLH, KRUPP AND BOHLER stuff between those guys and those topics. I went through days of those to get a grip on what barrels I trust and ones I don’t.
That’s because if he wins they’ll resell it for $15,000. For that kind of money, I’ll bet Nick would use the Buy It Now option. Also, this is you, isn’t it? browning90va
No I have been using jta5er on gunbroker for couple months now was jreesor for a while before. 933376381 this is me.
