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How would you home refinish this?

Rockrivr1

Rockrivr1

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Last weekend I was walking through the Manchester gun show and ran across a Star BM that caught my eye. After haggling with the guy for a bit we agreed on a price that I was happy with. A quick trip to the range has proven that the gun functions properly and shoots accurately, which is all you can ask for in a gun.

The caveat is that you can tell it was well used. The grips are junk and the bluing is in bad shape. One of the reasons I bought this was that I thought it would be a good project gun. I already have a line on some very nice new wood grips for it, but I'm going back and forth on how I want to handle the finish on the gun. This will be a home job that I'll do myself. I fully plan on doing a full degreasing and prep before I do the final finish.

Looking over the options I'm leaning towards using Brownell's Aluma-Hyde II in Matt Black. The wood grips will really show up on this after it's done. Plus there is no baking needed as the hardening is done through a chemical reaction instead of a heat treatment.

What other home options have you tried and would recommend over the Aluma-Hyde? If it involves baking it would have to be something that didn't give out a ton of fumes as I'd be using the wife's oven and we all know what would happen if our next meal tasted like baked paint.... [thinking]

Here's a pic of the Star.
IMG_0453_zpsiiushogz.jpg
 
Serious question here, wood grips look good but they don't appear to be too functional in the grip department?
 
Leave it alone? Replace the grips with new ones, save the old ones and still leave it alone?

It took a lot of years and shooting to get it to look like that. Maybe I've been watching too many episodes of American Pickers
 
The Star pistols,are fine firearms I love my BM.Have it reblued don't mess it up with a cheap job.
 
rep308 said:
Leave it alone? Replace the grips with new ones, save the old ones and still leave it alone?

It took a lot of years and shooting to get it to look like that. Maybe I've been watching too many episodes of American Pickers
Click to expand...

I hear what you're saying, but I bought this specifically to be a project gun. I've left 99% of my guns alone in regards to finish and non permanent items. For some reason this gun is just screaming to me to be redone. And as Patron stated, I want to do it right.
 
Parkerizing is an easy home project, and certainly wouldn't look out of place on that Star. Rust bluing would be another option. It's more labor intensive rather than equipment intensive. I picked up some rust bluing solution recently, but haven't had a chance to try it out yet.

Cerakote would work well, too. If you have concerns about using your oven, a toaster oven or countertop convection oven would work. Just needs a more accurate way to read & set temperatures. I've never tried alumahyde on anything but small parts.
 
Rockrivr1 said:
I hear what you're saying, but I bought this specifically to be a project gun. I've left 99% of my guns alone in regards to finish and non permanent items. For some reason this gun is just screaming to me to be redone. And as Patron stated, I want to do it right.
Click to expand...

Honestly if it's a blued gun, I'd have it re-blued. Nothing can compete with a polished, blued finish in terms of looking good except for case hardening.

Problem is getting a good polished blued finish isn't a home project. You can cold blue it, but...
 
KMM696 said:
Parkerizing is an easy home project, and certainly wouldn't look out of place on that Star. Rust bluing would be another option. It's more labor intensive rather than equipment intensive. I picked up some rust bluing solution recently, but haven't had a chance to try it out yet.

Cerakote would work well, too. If you have concerns about using your oven, a toaster oven or countertop convection oven would work. Just needs a more accurate way to read & set temperatures. I've never tried alumahyde on anything but small parts.
Click to expand...

Buy a cheap toaster oven. Degrease it and use it out doors if odors are a problem. Don't use your home stove.
Home parkerize is fairly simple but often different metals take on different color.
Blue is pretty straight forward also but done right can cost a little in proper chemicals.
 
KMM696 said:
If you look up parkerizing recipes online, you'll find its fairly common chemicals. It's also a relatively low temperature process, 145-165 F or so. I use a couple orange HD buckets and some fish tank heaters.
Click to expand...

This , although I bought my park solution I used some large pvc pipes cut length wise and heated with a large fish tank heater. Worked well on some old 22s and shotguns. Way before I had a camera or computer and I sold all those guns to buy a house.
 
Dude! You have wood grips on the 500? Mad respect.

I like running wrist twisters in mine and the sorbothane (or whatever it's called) helps.
 
I have a CZ 82 I want to get playing with, and a JC-Higgins 30-06. I did my Remington speed master too I had to turn the barrel down on a lathe it was pitted so bad, and I did a Marlin glenfield too, same thing had to turn the barrel. I'll take pics tonight if I get a chance
 
That looks like a really nice and fun project gun. It looks like a good shooter with all parts there and in working order. So really you just want to cosmetically bring it back to a newer condition. I don't see a high collector value so a refinish isn't going to detract from it's value. I can understand your home restoration wishes and agree with you. I think Brownells AlumaHydeII is a perfect option. You can do it yourself, you don't need an oven and it cures about as hard as any factory finish.
I've only used it to recoat parts and have had excellent results with it. The only thing to watch for is it goes on a little think in my opinion. You can always practice on a scrap piece of metal. I believe it gets a little pricey with Brownells shipping policy but you can look into that.
 
Here's the Marlin I cold blued at home, came out a bit lighter like it was parkerized, much better than the ball of rust it was before. Notice the pitting where I didn't want to take the barrel down any more. Personally I am happy with the outcome and think it looks great, may not be a dark blue but certainly not an oxymoronic "good" lolz
4d7fb1e9157028cb1e6c414fd25de00c.jpg
55ecbd8ea098e551d26c3b0b591210e7.jpg
c03aad075a72e09eb93bcb5784eaa50e.jpg
0e81280f59a94c574fa8e14570171e2b.jpg
25884466c4de66507403dba4f131d0fa.jpg
a871b873dc4b2e989a95e8f3e11de689.jpg
 
And to add, that picture is recent I blued the rifle a few years ago... OP don't be talked out of trying something you want to do. I put this off for years because of the negative comments about at home refinishing.
 
ipscdrl said:
Dude! You have wood grips on the 500? Mad respect.

I like running wrist twisters in mine and the sorbothane (or whatever it's called) helps.
Click to expand...

Ha! Thanks. I actually changed those grips out just a few days ago. Stayed wood though but added ones that had some stippling as the smooth grips were just a tad too jumpy in my hand. I really like the silver/black wood.

IMG_0449_zpsma0blqob.jpg
 
CMEBoston said:
And to add, that picture is recent I blued the rifle a few years ago... OP don't be talked out of trying something you want to do. I put this off for years because of the negative comments about at home refinishing.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I wasn't thinking cold blue as I had been reading that it wasn't a durable finish. From your experience I'll have to rethink that.
 

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