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Have seen and read a few posts on here about barrel blacking and bluing, thought I’d share my experience with you, especially if you’re on the hunt for a quality tradesman in this field. Just wanted to post a thread for others to read on my recent experience with Paul over at Stevens and Johnson barrel finishers down in Barnstaple. After having a failed job already attempted on the K80 barrels by ‘another’ company I took to the internet/Facebook/forums trying to find the right man for the job of refreshing the barrels on the K80. I had been looking for someone to carry out a best london finish on the barrels, so after exstensive research I reached out to Paul at Stevens and Johnson and had quite a long chat about the barrels and blacking services he provided. I found the conversation absolutely fascinating as he went on to explain the history of his family and their involvement in this industry since the mid 1800’s, they were somewhat pioneers in this field and his knowledge and explanations over the phone showed it, I knew at this point he was the chap for me, he also knew pretty much everyone else in the industry as well, which was also reassuring. The Barrels were securely packaged up and sent over to Paul in Barnstable and in just over a week they were back with me, no fuss whatsoever. I make no allowances I am pretty fussy and very particular about my gear/kit, I come from the old school of if a jobs worth doing it’s worth doing right and well. I’m glad to report that Paul didn’t let me down, The finish Paul’s achieved compared to the first company that had them (no names mentioned) is genuinely night and day, the job is as good as factory you could get, the depth of colour and finish he’s achieved is absolutely outstanding. Marks on the rib and barrel simply gone, mega impressed. Anyway, just wanted to share this and a few images of the finished article, any marks you can see are merely oil/grease etc. Very hard to photograph as they are so blooming well finished! One happy chappy here and nice to find a dedicated hard worker in the industry still providing this top class service. Im not affiliated in anyway to Steven Johnson finishers, just nice to give credit where credit is due. Feel free to ask any questions.