De Farbing

[BigDuke634]

I've been hearing about "de farbing" a musket. Someone please explain?

[Ephraim_Zook]

Hi, BigDuke

Do a search for "defarbing" and all kinds of useful information will come up -- discussions, threads with links to other info, etc.

Good luck!

[tompritchett]

The short answer is that modern reproductions are not totally accurate reproductions of the originals. There are differences in the markings on the lockplate, in the shape of the stocks, sometimes in the bands holding the barrel in the stock, etc. De-farbing is the process of having those discrepancies between the modern reproductions and the originals corrected.

For more details, do the search suggested by Ephraim_Zook.

[Sgt_Pepper]

Adding period proof marks to the barrel, moving the serial number to the bottom of the barrel, re-contouring the stock, replacing the sling swivels with correctly-shaped ones, period refinishing... and so it goes. Depending on how close you'd like to get, sometimes it makes more sense to get an original in good shape and have it "refurbished" by a professional gunsmith.

By the way, "defarbing" is not the same thing as artificially aging the item. One thing that amazes me is when reenactors ask how to make a new, modern reproduction look 145 years old for use at a reenactment of an event that occurred when the original weapons were new. :confused:

[bob 125th nysvi]

your musket make sure you're happy with the performance with the musket you are going to defarb. It makes no sense spending the extra money on a weapon your not going to be happy with.

Second if you haven't acquired a weapon yet add the cost of defarbing an off the shelf model to the acquisition cost. You may find it might be cost effective to just acquire a defarbed weapon from a vendor.

And lastly make sure that the defarbing process you chose is appropriate for your portrayal. You may select a really cool defarbing process (like a unique lock plate) and when you get to the field find out it is one of only 10,000 orginally issued and none to your unit or side.

[Ephraim_Zook]

Bob makes a very good point here. While spending to defarb a weapon you don't like isn't a total exercise in futility since you'll get some of it back with the increased re-sale value, why go through the aggravation? I'd use it for a season, then decide whether you are in love with the rifle enough to have it defarbed, or not.

I removed the "made in Italy" etc. markings myself from my miserable '61 Springfield, but I wouldn't spend 2 cents more to have it professionally defarbed. But I can't in good conscience dump "Ol' Miss Fire" on an unsuspecting new reenactor, either.

[Jim Mayo]

If you decide to defarb, COPY AN ORIGINAL. This isn't much of a problem for Springfields but I have seen defarbed Enfields with a hodge podge of markings which were not representative of originals used in our CW.