Article about: Do you need any more sons? I came into this thread late but can only echo what others have said. Very nice job. Thanks for posting, Andrew.
Hello Gent's,
some will cringe, some will cheer, but i'm tired of looking at my 98 as it was. some one had plated this nice k-98 in zink plate. for years i was told it had to be nickle or crome, they did not plate guns in zink. well i believe they were wrong, because of how it was turning a dull white color in places. so i decided ( finally after about 15 years) to see what it would take to restore this rifle to some sence of its former self. i have no illusion of perfection because i'm doing this all at home on a budget. and i have never done it before. lol i picked a hell of a project. i'll take some pictures as i go. i hope you like the idea and the progress.
after taking everything apart, including the bolt, trigger and any thing that was plated, i gave all the parts a hot soapy water bath, and a good scrubbing with a plastic scrubber and fine steel wool. man it brought out the SHINE. almost looked good enough to just keep, ya no. i put the parts in the oven at 200 degrees f for about a half hour to dry well. i did some searching on the net on how to strip zink. i went with a really mild acid that i figured would not even react with chrome or nickle, simple white vinegar. but should strip zink. ( side note: never put vinegar on anything zink you want to keep). i used a plastic container with a lid to put the parts in submerged in the vinegar. in short order you see some fizzing, (little bubbles). i only put some parts in to start with just to see the effect. in less than 24 hours there was a dramatic effect. so i added the rest of the small parts today. some of the parts were compleatly stripped, and turning black. i took the sight hood and cleaned it off a bit to see it was clean steel, no zink. so i put it back in the liquid, and checked in an hour. it was nicely black again. so i rinced it off good in water and dryed it. it damn near looks blued and worn. like an anodizing. i want to see how all the parts turn out before i decide on how the final finish will be. i have a bluing kit.
so in these starting pictures you will see the barrel and parts that are plated. in the plasitc container you will see the trigger guard housing still looks bright, it and the bolt parts just went in the bath today. the other parts went in yesterday. the loading ramp in my hand shows the little bit of zink plate left on it. yesterday it was as bright as the barrel. i have not started the barrel yet. i have a piece of plastic rain gutter that i will line with a plastic garbage bag, so i can add the vinegar and soak the barrel in it. i need to get more vinegar.
andrew
i'm open and hoping for bluing suggestions. i have a cold blue kit. but i'm planning on heating the parts before bluing. unless i get a better idea.
andrew
thank you Jean,
it has been going well so far. but it is only day 2. the trigger guard is close to being zink free. the barrel was heavly plated, so it will need to soak at least a day more. but you can see the plating being removed. i used a piece of rain gutter and a garbage bag for a liner. the other small parts have been scrubbed and washed and and blued. keep in mind i am not trying to do a "look like new" restoration. i could make everything a nice dark blue, but that is not what i am looking for when finished. i'm trying to restore it to used condition, so i dont want to much dark blue, but more grey blue. so it has a better look to it, to me any way. some of the parts need more scuff, but all in due time. you can see by the butt plate, where there should be the most wear , there is. i'm still debating using another process to rust things more to give it more age. this rifle will go to one of my son's. it will look much better than it did.
andrew
I've read from a guy who heats his (iron)parts in a tin on a stove and then the drops his hot items in oil. Sometimes once, sometimes a few times, until he is satisfied with the results.
Yeah.....drop them in old dirty REALLY carbon-filled old engine oil to blue them.........I've done this myself, works a treat, but the parts have to be super super hot!
k-98 restoration. removing bad plating
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Keep us posted!
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