F.A.Q.

Knowledge Bombs
To make a firearm ‘black’, the bare metal is introduced to chemicals that cause the iron in the metal to react, causing red oxide; AKA rust, or Fe2O3.
The red oxide is then ‘carded’ off using an extremely fine wire wheel or a nylon brush. This removes the red layer, exposing black oxide; AKA ‘blue’, or Fe3O4.
 
This is an ‘old school’ method and takes a lot of skill and patience; not to be confused with hot bluing, caustic bluing or oil bluing. 

Conservation is the process of revitalising and cleaning a firearm that has been rust blued. It uses dihydrogen oxide ebullition to convert existing Fe2O3 to Fe2O4.

In lay speak, the firearm is boiled in water and carded, in the same method the rust bluing was originally applied. As boiling water does not exceed 100°C, it will not change the temper of any of the components, including springs; it is also a safe, chemical-less, method for cleaning firearms with hot blue, parkerised and cerakoted finishes. 

While is it extremely common for front and rear open sights to be attached via screws on modern firearms, it has not always been the case. The benefit of screwed on sights is the ability to take them off, at the cost of reliability. Nothing worse than losing a front sight on a hunt.

Tin/lead solder is the traditional method for attaching open sights, in a semi-permanent way. Tin/lead solder is twice as strong as Loctite 680 (approx. 8000psi vs 4000psi), while silver solder has a tensile strength of up to 60,000psi. 

The added benefit of silver solder over tin/lead is the ability to hot blue due to its higher melting point. It is for that reason that soldered shotgun barrels and ribs cannot be hot blued. 

Gunsmithing is a very broad set of skills, encompassing many disciplines such as woodworking, machining, engineering and painting. Not every job can be taken on, particularly in a timely manner. 

Having said that, we have an incredible firearms community in Australia, and in the event that we can’t complete the work you want, we’d be happy to pass you on to the right person.

e.g. You really want a Swan SS barrel, fluted, threaded, cerekoted. We’ll happily pull your old barrel and organise to get the work done. Sending only the receiver interstate will save you money in postage.