Quote Originally Posted by Garvin View Post
I was offered this pistol some years ago Baz IIRC for more than £600 but I passed on it because I can't get on with refinished guns. I don't really regret it now, much though I would like a Certus. Has anyone successfully distressed a refinished gun so the finish looked good but original?
About 10 years ago I worked on a hot bluing recipe that would reproduce the pre-war 'blue' found on most pistols - especially Webleys- which is slightly greyer and bluer than the usual postwar deep ebony black. When I was happy with the result I reblued a straight grip Webley Mark 1, which had lost virtually all of its original finish, but amazingly had no pitting and still had crisp lettering. I then distressed it to match a similar Mark 1 which had all its original blue. Here are the two together. I did not keep a record of the serial numbers, and after ten years I genuinely do not know which is which. So although one can be critical about refinishing vintage guns, it does not always have to be aesthetically annoying.