Barrel Colouring Question

[Andi B.]

Hello,

I'm looking for information about this kind of teppo.
It is a slim and short rifle/pistol with an overall lenght of 65 cm (barrel 41 cm, calibre 10,5 mm). It's most probably a Bajō-zutsu (or is there something equivalent to a wakizashi?).
But what puzzles me the most is the unpatinated shiny barrel with these nice floral and insect inlays in gold and blackened silver, which i have never seen before.
I'm not so familar with teppo and how they usually look like but I would expect a black-brownish barrel with silver inlays, so the barrel is protected and only the small silver parts may oxidize. But this way the whole iron barrel is prone to rusting, while silver and gold stay fine.
Can someone confim, that this is the intended state or has pictures of similar examples? Or any hints, how these kind of teppo usually should look like?

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Without seeing this gun in hand, it is difficult to judge. Everything looks good, possibly too good. My first impression is one of newness. The wood is so clean, and an unusually bright reddish colour. Could it be a replica, like the ones that are made in the USA, I thought?

 

The brasswork could be original, but looks as if it has has been cleaned back to some 'original' look. Quite possible. Is the woodwork new, or has it been stripped and recoated? This too is possible. The ramrod looks as if someone has added an ivory tip to it. Is this later, I wonder?

 

To the barrel now. It gives me a good feeling. Without seeing the important bits it is again hard to judge. Is there a clean pan inside with a clear vent, and can you remove the bisen breech screw? (These questions really need to be answered first.) All we can see are the decorations and the steel surface. These decorations were not important in Japan, but were usually added later for attractiveness to visiting Westerners. Whoever owned this gun before you has probably tried to brighten and clean the barrel and the inlay, without erasing the beautiful inlay work. The original lacquer coating looks to have gone. There are two or three things you can try. 

 

If it was mine, I would clean the whole barrel inside and out in very hot water, so there is no grease on the surfaces.. The residual heat will help dry it off as you brush off the immediately-forming rust. Then I would apply Ian Bottomley's (Leeds Royal Armouries ex-Curator) *magic mixture all over, give it some time to set and semi-harden, wipe off and repeat the process until you achieve a happy medium for steel and inlay. (Personally speaking, I like the particular designs on your barrel as designs in themselves.) This coat will stop new rust from forming and 'fix' the metal surfaces, though you may not get the complete blackness back of a plain barrel.

 

*Boiled linseed oil, and what they call 'white spirits' in the UK. It is hard to find 'boiled linseed oil' but if you can get some, mix it with 10~20% white spirits (a turpentine-like solvent, I think). The actual percentage of white spirits to be added can vary with the job at hand. 

From Wiki: White spirit (AU, UK and Ireland)[note 1] or mineral spirits (US, Canada), also known as mineral turpentine (AU/NZ), turpentine substitute, and petroleum spirits, is a petroleum-derived clear liquid used as a common organic solvent in painting.[1] There are also terms for specific kinds of white spirit, including Stoddard solvent and solvent naphtha (petroleum). White spirit is often used as a paint thinner, or as a component thereof, though paint thinner is a broader category of solvent. Odorless mineral spirits (OMS) have been refined to remove the more toxic aromatic compounds, and are recommended for applications such as oil painting.

[Andi B.]

Thanks Piers for this feedback!

Yes, ramrod has been made and added by the previous owner.

The bisen screw can be removed and the pan has a clean vent as you can see below.

The protection plate 'ama ooi' was a bit loose because there was no 'ana ooi kusabi'. This little (lying L shaped) brass piece below the long plate is a DIY replacement by me to pretend completeness...

I assume the surface has been cleaned and treated somehow over the time and so I'm asking myself if dark motifs on a bright ground or bright motifs on a dark ground was the original colour/patination scheme. 🤔

[Bugyotsuji]

Mmmm.... all of that looks good. Your pan is finely-shaped and in near pristine condition.

 

Just playing with the secret mixture on some gun barrels this morning, and when I treated an area of inlaid iron, the paintbrush covered the iron happily, but seemed to clean and probably protect the zogan inlay with an invisible clear coating. This stuff will turn rust black and stop red rust forming. Two birds with one stone.  

 

But you are saying that someone has already coated it in something. Yes, I have a kozuka with Kaga zogan which is bright and shiny forever. I did hear about there being some method out there, in fact it may have been mentioned here on the NMB not too long ago. Will need to double-check that.

 

In an ideal world, the zogan should lie on a black field. May have a photo somewhere...

[Bugyotsuji]

Not perfect, but here are one or two:

 

 

[Andi B.]

1 hour ago, Bugyotsuji said:

But you are saying that someone has already coated it in something.

No, there is no special coating - the inlays made from silver are black (naturally oxidized or patinated), gold is untreated golden of course and the iron is (brushed?) light gray. I could imagine, it was maybe completely cleaned some time ago to remove rust and so the brown iron patina (if there was any) and any other colouring got lost. Then - not knowing of the original state - only the silver has been blackened to get a nice contrast. At least that's what I assume, because actually I would expect a reversed color scheme.

Or am I completely wrong and unburnished barrels were also common?

[Bugyotsuji]

Sorry I misread your original post, Andi.

 

In that case, in order to preserve your Mino-esque designs, please refer to the secret magic mixture formula above! 

(How is that green achieved by the way? Apart from enamel, I cannot recall ever seeing that colour of metal inlay before.)

[Andi B.]

Thank you - I'll check this mixture. 👍

These green looking parts are more grey but in sunlight this artificial rainbow (modern gun blue?) effect appears. I think the actual material is silver.