Aging a Dragoon

[ShotgunDave]

Hey guys. Hope it's okay that I started a new thread on this gun. I figured since I'm completely making it over, it would be okay.

This is the 3rd Model Dragoon I introduced a while back. It's needed a makeover since I acquired it. The bluing was terrible and it was just in general disarray. So I decided it was time to strip it and go for broke. Here's what I started with.




See, horrible bluing.




Here's where I am after today's activities. I disassembled the gun and degreased it last night. This morning I put it in a vinegar bath and scrubbed it down with 00 steel wool. This is what it look like right now.









Next up is to apply some mustard here and there to add to the aged look. Getting started on that now.

I know this look isn't for everyone, and some folks probably think I ruined a perfectly good gun. But for me, it's enhancing the looks of it. The finish on this gun was terrible. It just didn't even appeal to me at all. Now I'm liking it better and better with each thing I do to it.

[sourdough]

Dave,

You have an ASM Dragoon that someone else has modified (wood) and you are looking for our acceptance for your project?

Just do what you want and we will all look forward to the interim and finished pictures!

Regards,

Jim

[ShotgunDave]

Dave,

You have an ASM Dragoon that someone else has modified (wood) and you are looking for our acceptance for your project?

Just do what you want and we will all look forward to the interim and finished pictures!

Regards,

Jim

Oh no Jim, I'm not looking for acceptance at all. What I meant in my opening statement was, I hoped it was okay that I had opened and entirely new thread, about a gun I'd already posted. That's all.

I'm sure there are some folks who will like it and some that won't. Either way, at least we're talking about stuff!

[ShotgunDave]

I think I'm at a stopping point now. I like it!

[G Dog]

That Dragoon is coming right along. It needed just what you're giving it.  Looks better already.  I’d give it a little more steel wool on the barrel assembly, or not. Use and exposure is a friend of aging.  Over time, bringing a cold gun back into warm rooms creates condensation, which pushes the process along too.

I like these Blackie Thomas vids on aging:


Pt. I




Pt. II




Final

[ShotgunDave]

Scooby, you are absolutely right about the grips. That will be tomorrow's activity. I need to run to the store for some Easy Off oven cleaner. It should strip the clear right off, then I'll oil them up.

G Dog, thanks for the tips and the videos. I'm going to sit and watch them right now!

[Captainkirk]

Dave, I bought a beat-to-hell 2nd Dragoon a couple years back off a member here. My first instinct was to refinish it, but it grew on me, so I left it as-is and it's become a favorite of mine. You won't find any haters here!

[ShotgunDave]

Oh yes Capt, I'm very familiar with your Dragoon! I read through all the threads pertaining to it. That's a very nice piece Sir!

[Captainkirk]

Oh yes Capt, I'm very familiar with your Dragoon! I read through all the threads pertaining to it. That's a very nice piece Sir!

Thank you!
Yours has shaped up quite nicely, too. While I love a pristine, new looking gun and can't bring myself to 'relic' an new piece, I sure love the worn/beat-up look. It's like an old pair of jeans.

[ssb73q]

Hi Kirk, I suspect that an "aged" revolver appeals to re-enactors where the original charcoal blue wore off quickly from period correct revolvers. I would never artificially age a revolver with a good original finish, but see aging a path to produce a very appealing period correct replica from a distressed finished gun. I like the look of Dave's revolver compared to the look of the distressed original.

Regards,
Richard

[ShotgunDave]

I totally agree with you guys. I could never bring myself to do this to a nice, original finish gun. This Dragoon was anything but that.

If it had been in decent shape, I probably would have just sorted the barrel out and re-blued it. But the rest of the gun needed help too. The frame was freckled with rust, as was the cylinder. Whoever had it before I did, didn't take very good care of it. So addressing the rust on the frame would have removed most, if not all of the CCH. That would have left me trying to figure out what to do with it. Bluing the frame would have been out of the question. That just never looks right. So for me, the only viable option was aging.

I am hoping to make it to the store today to get some oven cleaner to strip the grips with. Then it will look a lot better. What I'd really like to do is, use the pieces of elk antler I have to fashion grips out of for this gun. I don't think they're big enough to use though.

[mazo kid]

I think you did just what you started to do, and quite well too. I, however, DID age a new Baby Dragoon several years ago.....my first and last aging of a new gun. You are probably right about the Elk antler being too small for grips, you will just have to measure to be sure. Many years ago a friend was butchering a buffalo (he raised some on his farm) and I got some leg and shoulder bones (gave some to another friend who wanted to make grips also). I just never started to make them, mainly because I didn't want to smell up the house sawing and sanding bone! If I can find a way to do that process, I will attempt to make a set(s)

[ShotgunDave]

Thanks Mazo, appreciate it. Funny that you bring up your Baby Dragoon. I was browsing through old threads last night and came across pics of your gun. I like it a lot. Looks very authentic. But I am like you, this will probably be my one and only foray into "fauxtina". Unless I come into possession of another gun that is beyond help.

The antlers I have are probably big enough width wise, but they don't have a lot of outer thickness. I'm afraid that once I get to whittling on them, there won't be much left but the pithy material from the inside. And you are very correct, antler stinks as bad as bone when you start grinding away on it!

[Hawg]

Scooby, you are absolutely right about the grips. That will be tomorrow's activity. I need to run to the store for some Easy Off oven cleaner. It should strip the clear right off, then I'll oil them up.

G Dog, thanks for the tips and the videos. I'm going to sit and watch them right now!

If you get oven cleaner on bare wood it will likely turn it black and it will be too deep to sand out. Don't ask me how I know.

[G Dog]

Agreed.

Never tried that procedure but speaking intuitively, I don’t think Easy Off and wood is gonna rhyme.  I wouldn't get chemmy oven cleaner anywhere near wood that was valuable.