[TheGreenMan]

I picked up a cheap Mauser 1910/14 pistol. There is very little left on it, and all that has turned to brown. The barrel is a replacement and still has good blue so I'd probably leave that alone. Except for the side plate and a bit of the guide rod there seem to be no dents or bad scratches. Would this be a good candidate for a re-bluing? Or in the case of the trigger either nitrate or just temper coloring.

I was thinking about trying it myself. I have done some reading and some video watching and the process seems pretty strait forward.
Remove all the remaining finish/rust from the gun.
If needed hand polish (using blocks and dowels etc) to about 400 grit. Would finer be better for the factory finish look? I have up to 800 grit paper and plenty of polishing stones.
Degrease completely, and I mean completely.
Mix up the chemicals for the bluing solution (I have bought them/had them on hand already).
Add to distilled water in a ceramic covered coated steel pot.
Heat to specified temp, about 290 iir the recipe correctly.
Of course do the above outside and away from metal.
Put the parts in the solution on wire hangers.
Let sit for the specified amount of time.
Remove to boiling water then oil.


While the prep seems to take awhile and be somewhat involved the actual process seems simple enough.
I have worked as a lab chemist so working with chemicals is not unusual for me and I have the safety equipment necessary, and then some. I can be in Level B PPE with FRC if I needed!

Anything major I am missing?
Any pearls of wisdom?
The part that is worrying me the most is the polishing. I don't want to mess that part up. I'm thinking that using some brass wool heavily may be my best bet and not touch the sand paper. Maybe some 3M Final Finishing Pads 3M Final Finishing Pads.

Pics of the pistol here: http://s277.photobucket.com/albums/kk55/GreenMan_13/Mauser 1910-14 25acp/

 

[Hawkins]

By the time you get those nicks and dents out you will have lost the Mauser trade Mark. An over
polished gun is worth less than one that has been used well and cleaned. any fool can remove
metal.

 

[TheGreenMan]

I wasn't worried about removing the dents on the side plate. I was just going to use pads/steel wool/sandpaper/etc to get the 'finish' out of the dents and blue it with the dents. Not going to look the best with the dents blued but better than polishing out the Mauser trade mark.

Or another thing I could do is polish around it. There aren't really any big dents on the trade mark. But then I have an obvious raised area.

 

[jjk308 In Memoriam RIP]

The bluing itself is the least part of refinishing. Blue looks really bad - makes every imperfection stand out - unless you do a very good polishing job, and that takes a lot of experience. All the surfaces have to be flat or round as original, no scallops or rounded edges, everything sharp, no pits or scratches.
If you want to refinish a pistol in that condition yourself then sand/bead blasting and parkerising will look better. For a finer finish a cold rust blue might work as it is usually done to a slightly matte surface that hides imperfections instead of accentuating them like a hot blue.

 

[chuckindenver]

that war horse has earned that finish... youll do more damage then good by trying to polish it...
trade it off, and buy a nicer pistol...