Remove CASE hardened color.

[Trench]

I own a Pedersoli Frontier rifle. The lock has that ugly CASE hardened mottled color. What would be the easiest way to remove this color and get the lock back to it's original metal?

 

[ApprenticeBuilder]

There are at least 2 ways.

Take the lock apart and polish with finer grits of sand paper till the desired finish is achieved, this will give a bright finish.

Take the lock apart and dip the affected parts in a 10% solution of phosphoric acid for about 10 minutes and then wash with baking soda and oil, this will give a dulled gray finish.

Good luck, if you go the acid rout just be careful of the fumes and splash effect.

 

[Trench]

I think I like the acid idea. Where would you suggest getting a solution of phosphoric acid?

 

[ApprenticeBuilder]

Any photography supply should be able to get you what you need, they use it for black and white photo developing. You may have to dilute down to the 10% solution strength that you need, You will may not be able to get it delivered as the haz-mat could be extream.

 

[erbeckerdite]

Birchwood casey blue and rust remover will work as well.

 

[Randy MacInnes]

Trench use toilet bowel cleaner for about 10 to 20 mins. Then wash off with bakeing soda. This will give a low gray to almost gone. If you want then take 0000 steal wool to get down to bare metal. I hope this helps let me know. It's also CHEEP!!!!

 

[Black Hand]

Where would you suggest getting a solution of phosphoric acid?

The active ingredient in "Naval Jelly" is phosphoric acid. You should be able to find it at the hardware store.....

 

[LRB]

Most cola drinks contain phosphoric acid. I don't know if it's enough to get the job done, but you could try it.

 

[Trench]

I'm going cheap and trying the toilet bowl cleaner. It started to remove it immediately! However, it's been in for a half hour and it's still to remove all of it. I'll let you all know how long it takes total.

 

[Bountyhunter]

Coca-Cola

 

[Jim-Iowa]

Have you tried vinegar?
I once had a bathtub drain with a brass cylinder shutoff in a brass T. Soaked it in vinegar overnight and it turned out pretty and free.

 

[brubincam]

---tried toilet bowl cleaner on an old copper coin I found once---don't have it anymore---cleaner ATE it--- :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: ---HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW?--- :blah: :blah: :blah:

 

[Trench]

The toilet bowl cleaner took an hour to work to my satisfaction. I cleaned it off using baking soda (to neutralize the acid, I assume?) and noticed flash rust on my mainspring. After some quick scrubbing and a serious assault of rem-oil, everything seems to have turned out beautifully.
The process left me with a flat-gray steel. Much better than that CASE manure. Why the heck do they ruin they're locks putting that stuff on?
I'm going to keep an eye on things for a while to make sure I don't have continued rust issues using the toilet bowl cleaner. I'll let you all know!

 

[rafterob]

A member of our club who does some gunsmithing work blasted mine in a cabinet sand blaster. It took about twenty seconds and he didn't charge a cent, so I imagine if someone did charge-it would be very minimal. This left it with a perfect texture for browning.For bluing it would have needed polishing.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Trent: Are you talking about true case hardening, and the colors, or the fake paint that is being done on some modern species? Real case hardening hardens the surface to a glass hard finish, although its usually very thin. The color is the result of oxides that occur when the metal is held in contact with carbon under great heat. You can remove the finish colors, but the metal itself may still be hard as a rock! To my best knowledge, the only way to truly reverse a case hardened part is to heat it up to it maleable temperature, and then cool it slowly to anneal it. The problem with case hardening any iron or steel component is the chance that the metal will warp during the cooling process. You can usually only Re-case harden steel parts once. After that, you stand a better than average chance that the part will develop stress cracks, and be worthless. Apparently the repeated heating and then cooling draws out too much of the carbon leaving the metal brittle. At least that is How Oscar Gaddy explained it to me.

 

[Trench]

Pedersoli describes this lock as color case hardened. I just wanted to remove that oil-in-water look off the lock. The toilet bowl cleaner took the color right out. If the lock plate and cock is still hardened, well thats fine I guess.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

It's probably still hardened, which is good. The Italians are famous for their bogus "color" case hardening. When I age an Italian revolver, I usually scuff the color off with a green pan scrubber. Doesn't take long at all.

 

[Harley Donaldson]

Some of the liquid commerical ice machine cleaners are phosforic acid. this can be obtained from refrigeration supply houses. Handle this stuff carefully, read the labels and wear safety equipment.

 

[dallas10c]

Can you post a picture to show us how it came out?

 

[44-henry]

There are too commonly used methods for color case hardening, one uses bone and charcoal (or other carbon rich material) the other uses a cyanide. The Italians tend to use more of the cyanide process, this isn't bogus, it is just a different method than many of the original arms makers used.