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Unfinished 'white steel' revolver

chaz12
I noticed an auction recently for a Taylor's .45 LC SAA revolver with a finish described as 'white steel'. An email to Taylor's got the information that this is a plain polished carbon steel with no additional protective finish. They offered their experience that the finish was not any more fragile than any other finish.

I'm still wondering if this finish would not be susceptible to rusting. Why would firearms have been blued, parkerized, nickel plated, dura-coted, and so on if carbon steel was to be trusted.

Anyone have any experience with unfinished firearms like this one. It was a beautiful pistol, without doubt.

Chaz
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Comments

6 comments

Date Votes
  • perry shooter
    Hello I am not familiar with a Taylor's but most guns that were sold /shipped "IN THE WHITE" were done that way so the owner could have it engraved and the finish of choice BLUED ,NICKLE , CASE COLOR etc done after the engraveing was done. IN THE WHITE unless it is made from stainless would be a bear to keep without rusting/pitting.
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  • 1911a1-fan
    Think of "in the white" as getting a new car with no primmer or paint

    Yes it would be very hard to keep it from rusting with normal use
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  • rhmc24
    I believe the question was about whether bare polished steel offered any protection against rust. No, bare polished steel offers no rust protection. Polished steel can look as good as nickel or chrome plate but has to be kept well oiled or otherwise protected against rusting. The "in the white" condition described above is much the same subject to rusting. Incidentally the old Colt heat blue and color case hardening were bare metal and subject to rust much the same as white or polished bare steel. Modern finishes such as Parkerizing and many others put an oxide coating on the steel that offers its own protection. It should be noted tthat rust itself is an oxide, rusting is oxidation and all the oxide conditons such as the old barrel brown, parkerizing and many others are controlled oxidation processes that can offer cosmetic benefit as well. Someone with a knowledge of chemistry or metallurgy may want to expand on this with correct detail.
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  • wolfdog45
    "in the white" form is as just described left that way so the buyer can have either engraving done to it before having it blued or nickled And "in the white' is very easy to rust. If you get this revolver my suggestion is to either have it engraved and blued or nickled as quickly as you can.

    Veritas vincit "Truth conquers"
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  • rhmc24
    In re-reading the posted item, I would wonder how the piece got that way. It may have had a long useful life and an owner decided to refinish it, polished the entire piece and for some reason disposed of it as-is.
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  • forthhorseman
    It may have been special ordered in unfinished white so that the original orderer could have some custom finish applied elsewhere.

    A friend of mine has an Uberti Military Henry in white finish and it is highly polished but it does get rust on it from handling, etc. He is constantly fighting the rust. But I've seen stainless, nickled, blued and parkerized guns with the same problem. I think all steel guns need to be kept clean and lightly oiled regardless of finish.
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