cleaning up a matching Gew98 Danzig

[clarkaim]

I posted about this weapon a couple years ago. it's an all matching Danzig 1916 pre-Alpha numeric. The bolt and receiver are pretty patina'd. Should I want to get these cleaned back into the white as issued, one- who would you recommend? or 2-leave it be?

Not wanting to go all mitchells' on it, but it is in the white below the wood line and I like the way those that are clean look.

 

[Warrior1354]

You need to be very careful before you ever take on a restoration job if it's done correctly yes it can make the rifle look a lot better but if it is done incorrectly it will make it look like a pimp shine piece. Remember these are only original and untouched once as we collectors tell other collectors if you don't trust your abilities to do the restoration job correctly it's best to just leave it alone. I have myself restored two Gewehrs in my collection they were both a very tedious job that took well over two weeks to finally get them done.

 

[flynaked]

Patina is one thing, active corrosion, another. Way too many G98’s are over cleaned on the bolt/receiver IMO. Maybe post the link to your rifle so it can be easily seen, best to look it over first before offering any advice on proceeding.

 

[Warrior1354]

Indeed clay many fine gewehr 98 rifles have been ruined over the years my buddy Chris has sent me many pictures from a Facebook group he is on. One of them was an extremely rare rifle that someone just had to pretty up that poor rifle looks like a buffing wheel was taken to the steel it was that bad. The other sad factor you have to think is how much a rifle like that survived so much over the years well over a century to be ruined in less than 24 hours. That's something to think about before you tackle on a project like this. Here's a couple pictures of a few restorations that I did showing what time and patience will give you.

 

[joryfreeburg]

Indeed clay many fine gewehr 98 rifles have been ruined over the years my buddy Chris has sent me many pictures from a Facebook group he is on. One of them was an extremely rare rifle that someone just had to pretty up that poor rifle looks like a buffing wheel was taken to the steel it was that bad. The other sad factor you have to think is how much a rifle like that survived so much over the years well over a century to be ruined in less than 24 hours. That's something to think about before you tackle on a project like this. Here's a couple pictures of a few restorations that I did showing what time and patience will give you.

Fine work right there!

 

[Warrior1354]

Fine work right there!

Thank you very much these are never something you want to rush but never underestimate that you can't bring them back to their former glory it just takes patience. There were nights that I worked on them for several hours just cleaning one individual part because it had to be that slow and tedious and if there were times that I got frustrated I just walked away.

After I had the firing pin fixed that Simson shoots great too!