Vincent metal-blue-brown?

[jlynn]

Working on first of 2 vincents-Never seen one in color.  Did J and J C brown or blue their barrels and locks?  Thank You JWL

[Dphariss]

Back in the day the better guns were browned, the barrels anyway.
Lock may have been casehardened in colors along with triggers etc don't know.
If I were building a HC Vincent I would worry more about the finish on the wood.
There has to be someone here who knows more than I do.

Dan

[Jim Kibler]

The Log Cabin Shop in Lodi, Ohio has several Vincent rifles.  One in particular has caught my eye.  It is in exceptional original condition and I recall that the barrel is finished bright.  I don't remember the finish on the others.  Next time I'm there I will have to pay more attention to them.

Jim

[wvmtnman]

I have seen a couple Vincents over the years.  I am not sure how they left the shop but they had a "dull grey" metal look 125 years later.  Almost like they were left in the white and allowed to slowly turn brown over the years. 
   Some builders here have achieved that look.  I think they use a cold blue solution and allow it to form a little surface rust, then card it off and either repeat for a darker color or follow application directions to stop reaction.
   I have left a couple in the while and if properly cared for, gives a real nice looks over a few years.  I would try leaving it in the while.  You can always changed it down the road.
                                                                              Brian
                                                           

[blunderbuss]

 

 Blue is OK too the first guns were blued ,yes blued, many of the wheelocks were blue as were the American long rifles The guns smiths at Williams burg will back me up on this. Some of the blue guns turned brown after years and some of the bright guns were originally blue. I worked on an American long rifle once that was converted to percussion cap from some earlier type of percussion ignition and when the barrel was removed the underside of the barrel was definitely blue.
I recently was privileged to take apart Sam Houston's' flintlock duelling pistols with an eye to make copies of them. On close inspection I was able to discern that they had been blued with a gold plating of some sort in the engraving. Meaning that while the museum was calling them dueling pistols they may have been a pair of his pistols. 

[Jim Kibler]

Yes, blueing is a very old metal treatment.    I don't think that is the question though.  I beleive the question is what would be specifically appropriate for a Vincent rifle.  Although there might have some variability in metal finishes used by the Vincents, it is likely that they had preferences and specific treatments are most common. 

[Gaeckle]

Go to the Ohio Longrifle Association site and click on publications. There is a newsletter about the Vincents and aside from the artcle, there is a photo of Caleb Vincent sighting in a rifle cira 1900. It appears that the lock and barrel is left in the white. I am going to guess that the rifles were left in the white, but this is only a guess.

Somebody from the OLRA should be able to answer this better than I can.

[smokinbuck]

The majority of Vincent rifles I have seen or handled were left in the white. Like everything, I'm sure John or Caleb would do what the customer asked for.
Mark

[ohidan]

I've been very interested in Vincent rifles for some time now and have purchased a John which looks to be a very early gun and it has a deep brown finish,the Caleb and Vincent and Son that I own appears to of had no finish at all and changed color as they aged.