How to get old Winchester patina finish

[Daybreak Dave]

Tweet

What are some ways to get the old patina,  bluish - brownish looking 100 year old look you see on old Winchesters?  I have read the thread on "Antiquing How-to", but am not sure that finish is what is needed on old Winchesters.  I have several originals in my collection, and they have a much more even patina overall - whereas the antique look in the thread seems to be more splotchy and uneven.  Any ideas on recreating the "old look" on cleaned metal Winchester levers.  Thanks

Daybreak Dave

[Yankee John]

Dave,  If you were to use the Birchwood-Casey Plum Brown exactly as instructed on the bottle, after about 4-5 applications you would have a very nice browned finish.   

Myself & others in the "antiquing" thread added a couple extra steps to get the really worn patina finish.


John

[Daybreak Dave]

John,
Thanks, I will give it a try.

One other question - is there any way to use a combination or alternating treatments of brown and blue to try to duplicate the "plum" color you see on old firearms which is kind of brown and kind of blue at the same time.  It is really aged patina, I guess.  Maybe I am splitting hairs, but it was just a thought I had to get a little away from the complete brown color.

Daybreak Dave

[Yankee John]

You sure can use cold blue on a plum brown gun Dave.

Even though the B-C product is very durable,  it does wear off the high spots whell using and handling.  I just go over these worn spots with the cold blue to blend them together. Over time with moderate usage and several cold blue applications,  it gives the effect of blueing turning to brown patina.

Here is a pic I took of my browned Remington, with some cold blue in spots.  The pic isn't very good- In person it looks very convincing!

Hope this helps!

John

[Yankee John]

Here are a couple more pics of the Remington- Still not the best quality but they show the patina a little better.

[Daybreak Dave]

John,
Thanks for the info on the blue/brown on your Remington.  The photos look real good and give me an idea of what I would end up with.
Daybreak Dave