Cleaning a Ithaca NID reciever. What to use??

[mikenbarb]

I am starting the restoration on my Ithaca NID I previously posted about and im wondering what the best thing to use would be for cleaning up the reciever and the exposed metal parts? Its a plain tool steel color and I dont want to use anything that may harm the metal. It has some discoloration from from years of neglect but im sure it will clean up nice with the right stuff. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Mike
PS- I will take some pics and post in a bit to show what needs to be cleaned up.

[dubber123]

0000 steel wool and oil is what I use. Won't harm blueing or the base metal, but removes corrosion well.

[mikenbarb]

http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo185/mikenbarbj/002-39.jpg

http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo185/mikenbarbj/003-41.jpg
Dubber, Its not a blued receiver. Most of it looks like its just tarnished and discolored but it has some minor surface rust. Its just in the surface of the steel and nothing is deeply pitted or rusted. I was thinking of getting some fine jewelers polish for the small pitted areas and polish the whole receiver with a good metal polish with a sealer in it. I have a great metal nano polish but dont know if I should use it or whats would be better to use.

[dubber123]

Yeah, steel wool won't help you on that one. It will help get the rust off, but the corrosion is too deep for it to do much more. It looks like what they call a coin finished receiver? Nickle plate?

[mikenbarb]

I believe thats the finish it has but the pitting isnt bad at all and the pics make it look worse than it is. Its mainly surface crud that cleaned off good with steel wool I just tried but its gonna need something else to get it nice.

[pietro]

[Its a plain tool steel color and has some discoloration from from years of neglect]


The original finish was most likely a color case hardening - done the traditional way, with heat/bone charcoal/quenching/etc.
It is very different from modern "case colors".

When the case hardening color wears/fades away, the metal is still hardened, since they were usually forged from a chrome-moly steel - which is why it will look shiney if you clean off the patina.

I wouldn't do anything more (IMO you've probably done too much already) - unless the entire gun were to be restored, ala Doug Turnbull.

.

[gnoahhh]

Pietro is right, they were color case hardened. If you have at it enough to clean it up you will most likely burn through the case into the soft steel underneath. The coloring, which tends to wear away quickly with hard use, was a side benefit of the hardening process. Unless you commit to doing it by hand with file-backed emory cloth (nothing worse than rounded edges and blurred engraving) and then having it re-hardened, you might want to reconsider. The hard integrity of the surface will be gone and it will look like Bubba had his way with it. If it were mine I would just give it a good cleaning and use it. There are outfits around that will re-case a shotgun reciever for not much money if you do all the prep work. The downside to that is there is a definite risk of the of the thing warping in the process if it's not properly fixtured. I'm beginning to understand why professional shotgun restorers are few and far between and command big bucks for their expertise. I have a couple of L.C.Smith recievers under my belt and brother I'm sworn off of it! Don't even get me started about guys who polish and blue a classic double!