Like many early daggers, early Walther P-38 pistols had a high polish finish which took a fair amount of talent and effort to accomplish.
Circa 1942 in an effort to speed up the process, instead of trying to create a perfectly smooth surface like that seen on early guns. Workers at Walther instead applied what is called by some gun collectors as a �brush� finish. Wherein the machined surfaces have an evenly applied series of small parallel lines which effectively camouflage all or most of the small irregularities created by the manufacturing process.
While in some areas of dress weapon collecting Solingen makers were slower to make changes than on the military side of the equation. �Crossgraining� is not one of them. With makers adopting that particular finishing technique years ahead of the military, as a cheaper and faster way to get the products out the door and into the hands of prospective purchasers.
Some very nice examples !!!
FP
