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Post by HeadHunter on Mar 4, 2021 22:10:56 GMT
There’s nothing worse than unsightly white lettering on a black gun, especially those that seem to have half the manual printed on the side of the slide ! I’ve seen (and tried) various attempts at removing it or at least recolouring it to match the rest of the gun, unfortunately at the worst they seem to do nothing and at the very best they seem to make it less obvious but still visible. Which brings me quite nicely onto a method that I came across by complete accident a few days ago, which seems to work really, really well. Previously I’ve tried black permanent markers, acetone, isopropyl alcohol, black stove paint and even cold blueing solutions BUT none of them seemed to work well enough for me to be truly happy with. I was working on my new Beretta holster, reshaping it to take my ASG X-9 Classic and I was waiting for it to dry out before using a black leather recolouring balm on it when I had one of those Eureka moments. I also had my KWC PT-92 out at the same time ( as it resides in the same case as the ASG X-9) and it has a four line paragraph of those typical ‘read the manual’ type of warnings on the side of the slide, I wiped over the white writing using acetone to get it clean and then sparingly applied the black recolouring balm using a Q-tip and allowed it to dry. The balm itself will not stain anything that is not water absorbent, so I wasn’t expecting it to even stick to the paint at all but I just thought that I’d have a go. Once it was totally dry I gave it a good buff and was shocked by the amount of lettering it had covered, not completely but very nearly ! After applying another coat of the balm, allowing it to dry completely and then a quick buff, to my great surprise most of the lettering was now covered apart from a couple of very small spots where I needed to apply a few dabs for a third and final coat. The colour match to the black of the slide was very, very close, the main difference is that the leather balm leaves a very slight glossy look which is barely noticeable unless you really look for it under close inspection. Unfortunately I never took any photographs of it before as I really wasn’t holding out much hope of it actually working but I’ve managed to source a picture of the same gun to show you the writing and then I've taken some pictures of it afterwards for you to compare it against. This is what it looked like before, not mine (as stated) but exactly the same. This what it looks like now ! In this picture you can see (when you turn it in a way to catch the light) that the lettering is still there (as it's embossed onto the slide by the original white paint) but it has been completely recoloured. This one is a little closer and you can start to see where it's starting to catch the light an start to show the lettering up slightly, but this is pretty close too. The ‘Balmy’ stuff… The product I used is from a ebay seller called 'Furniture Clinic' and it's their own brand of black leather recolouring balm. I've used this stuff a hell of a lot for my black leather holsters and I even use their brown/camel version on my Cowboy gun rig, without a doubt this is a remarkable product for it's intended use and now I've found another use for it too. The cost ? It's about £5.95 for a small tub (free post). I've got a Schofield lined up to get rid of the God-awful silvery white lettering on the barrel, fingers crossed that it'll work on that too.
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Modski66
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Post by Modski66 on Mar 5, 2021 6:32:36 GMT
Nice result there! In a similar vein of unexpected stuff to use on guns, I was doing some cold blue on an old air pistol, but rather than sealing it with oil, as instructed, I used some black shoe polish - worked a treat. The only reason I had the polish on my bench in the first place was to try and improve the paint finish on a very tired looking Hurricane, along the lines of the coloured car waxes. That worked a treat too, so I might try a bit on my glossy 586 which seems to have a slight 'bloom' here and there.
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Post by Wild Bill on Mar 5, 2021 9:31:11 GMT
That is a nice result indeed. Must get me some of that Balm. Nice one Shaun.
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Post by Wild Bill on Mar 5, 2021 9:32:49 GMT
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Post by oz on Mar 6, 2021 17:31:16 GMT
Good useful tip Shaun. Made in Taiwan is a big turn off.
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Post by Scott on Mar 31, 2021 17:15:26 GMT
I bought this for the white lettering on the Schofield in case it annoys me too much. But wifey seems to think it was to fix the dull worn leather on her Radley bag and of course I let her believe it so massive brownie points for me What did you use on your holsters to clean them before using the balm Shaun?
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Post by HeadHunter on Apr 2, 2021 8:38:33 GMT
I bought this for the white lettering on the Schofield in case it annoys me too much. But wifey seems to think it was to fix the dull worn leather on her Radley bag and of course I let her believe it so massive brownie points for me What did you use on your holsters to clean them before using the balm Shaun? If you're just giving it a clean and refresh I'd just use warm water, the balm is water soluble so I'd avoid using anything oil based as it will act as a barrier to the balm being absorbed into the leather. Make sure that the leather has dried totally before applying the re-colouring balm though. If you need to lift anything off the leather (grease marks etc.) then I'd use luke warm water and a tiny dot of washing up liquid, again just make sure that the leather has dried totally before applying the balm.
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Post by Scott on Apr 2, 2021 10:37:39 GMT
Thanks shaun I wont get the leg over after all these years but I might just get a smile
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CaptDAR
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Post by CaptDAR on Dec 16, 2021 14:48:33 GMT
This is stage one of trying to mask the white lettering cut into the Webley’s right side frame. This is using black leather furniture balm. Not to bad. I’ll let it cure before I continue on some of the detail not covered yet.
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Post by ifield on Dec 16, 2021 15:19:23 GMT
A big improvement Stove black or stove polish, is used to polish or blacken cast iron stoves or metal parts. By firing the stoves always become a bit grey, with stove black the stove becomes a deep black again. Would that help? It's just an idea
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CaptDAR
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The RIF Marshall
Always count your shots and don’t miss
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Post by CaptDAR on Dec 16, 2021 15:22:16 GMT
Don’t want it deep black as need to keep the worn battlefield look.
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Post by HeadHunter on Dec 16, 2021 15:26:52 GMT
Most of the time I've found that it takes a few coats. Just remember to let it dry thoroughly before applying any further coats as it just lifts the previous coat(s) if you try to rush it.
(I'm going to move this thread and merge it in with the 'How to remove white lettering' thread in the 'Tips n Trix' section, just to keep all that sort of information in one place.)
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Post by HeadHunter on Dec 16, 2021 15:28:54 GMT
A big improvement Stove black or stove polish, is used to polish or blacken cast iron stoves or metal parts. By firing the stoves always become a bit grey, with stove black the stove becomes a deep black again. Would that help? It's just an idea Tried that before and unless you want to heat the gun up to around 130 degrees C it never fully dries and comes off on your hands, holster and the inside of your lovely case too !
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Post by ifield on Dec 16, 2021 16:40:02 GMT
Tried that before and unless you want to heat the gun up to around 130 degrees Cok not a good idea then
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Post by reevo17 on Sept 29, 2022 7:13:39 GMT
I recently used the bisley aluminium black pen on my colt government- the pot metal takes it well. Just apply where needed as the acid in it can fade the paint around the edges but hides it well
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