I recently aquired a Lend/Lease S&W British Service Revolver that had gone to New Zealand in '42. By the time it gets to me it had been stripped of it's original finish and – remember, it went to the commonwealth – painted. At first I thought ok, probably that Suncorite stuff that I've heard is really difficult to remove. Then I went after a small bit of rust with Brownell's rust remover, which proceded to eat through the paint. So not Suncorite. Rustoleum? I'll never know.
So I decided to unpaint the whole thing and rust blue it. The interim steps look pretty scarry, but it turns out fine. No attempt was made to clean up evidence of use by polishing.
Steps are: degrease,
lightly coat with rust blue and allow to dry, recoat and allow to dry, steam for 45 minutes, boil for 15 minutes, card, and repeat. In this case three times.
Here follows it's progress...
After 1st steaming
After 3rd boiling
After final carding
