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Making a walnut shotgun stock. A restoration project.


demonwolf444
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After the rasping came filing down the rasp marks, I filled the file with chalk which helps you see what is left to be done by filling the cuts, and also lubricates the file and stops it digging in too much.

 

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Probably after about an hour of filing then i began on sand paper, and used paper ranging from 40 grit, progressing up to 60 grit, 80 grit, 100 grit, 120 grit, 150 grit and then finally 320 grit - i am tempted for the smoothest and best finish to progress right up to 1000 grit papers.

 

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They were all put on sanding blocks. After a bit of sanding

 

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At this stage i have only done the but of the stock area, there is still some carving that i need to do around the wrist area so that was left unfinished at this stage. We can start to see that this lump of walnut is very clean grained and not particularly fancy, but it does have some very pleasant tiger striping on it. With finishing this will all come darker.

 

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This is still all prior to the wrist area being sanded up.

 

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At this stage i sent my trigger guard to be reshaped for this gun.

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Some new arrivals kept me busy! While the trigger guard was being done.

 

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And my air rifle received some walnut forend and grip caps using up some of my off cuts.

 

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Then i started up making a motor case, its childish but i have always wanted a cased English shotgun, and by god i will make one!

 

Dont have images from making the case but its a simple timber case made from cherry and sycamore from john boddy timber in borough bridge an excellent hard wood importers the owner of which is also the keeper at ripley castle shoot.

 

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The case was power sanded to 150 grit then finished with some water based walnut stain and finish.

 

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perhaps some proper stain and some french polishing might have looked better but it will serve.

Edited by demonwolf444
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Lining the case with red felt required some spray on adhesive, scissors, felt, and a trade label i made up.

 

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I found a linsley brothers trade label ( who made the gun ) on the internet however it was very pixilated so i restored it pixel by pixel using MS paint as it is the only program i have for that sort of thing, it turned out very nice just when i printed it on white paper it looked ****. Henry krank catalog wanted 50 quid for a white paper one and so that wasn't an option either. In the end i blotchily stained some paper with some oil and some tea and then dried it, to give it an aged look. I was dubious that i would look like a 12 year olds history project but it turned out okay.

 

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I lined one half of the case mainly because i still need to make the compartments for the other side.

 

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The trade label sets it off nicely, in this picture it hasn't been glued down but now that it is it really looks good!

 

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Will the guard was being done, i stripped the forend and soaked it in white spirit to lighten it up and draw all the oil out, the longer you leave it in spirits the more oil gets drawn out, it really needs a week soaking in it to get it back to just wood.

 

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Hope this was enough of an update for you to make up for the last few days!

 

 

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Your write up and the pictures, don't tell the true story of the many hours you've put into this project. Fascinating. Please don't rush the oiling of the stock and forend just to get shooting the gun, it deserves just as much time spent on it. It's a smashing bit of wood and with the grain like that would've made a good stock on a trap gun!

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Still contemplating what finish to give it, I need to leave the for end in white spirit for a few days to draw some more oil out of it.

 

Not all that keen on a London finish as that's a LOT of oil that ends up going into the stock, and just because of how the original failed ( over oiled ) i'd be dubious to go down this route, also i have never done one like that before so i wouldn't want to cock it up.

 

Tru oil appeals as i have done a lot of air rifle stocks in it very successfully, and it can be quite nice, also it is very water resistant which appeals for pheasant shooting ect...

 

I have my muzzle loader and my Winchester super grade 101 for shooting, so I'm in no rush to shoot this one until it is perfect I am too nervous that after a bit of recoil my screw holes just widen up a bit :/ or something like that. I think i am going to carefully apply some sealer to the inletting areas and under the butplate and where it meets the action to stop any water getting in.

 

I haven't weighed it but it makes a VERY light gun, perhaps under 6 lbs maybe considerably so. It is lighter than some twenty bores i have used. I expect some harsh recoil from it. I am tempted to fit a decent rubber recoil pad on to it and then cover the whole pad with leather to make it fit the time period of the gun.

 

This is the sort of thing i was thinking of; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=du-8TZisi-8 ( full video available on midway site )

 

It was designed for black powder and i have always found black powder to be more of a push recoil than the jab you get from nitro powders, so the other option is to get some black powder cartridges for it.

 

The other thing i have thought of is just a slip over leather recoil pad, these are unintrusive and can be removed as and when you like, though i would still be tempted to use black powder as it is what the gun was designed for. I will give henry kranks a ring but if anyone else can sort me out some black powder cartridges or has a formula for them using pryodex; let me know.

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Best London Oil finish will not weaken the stock gun oil will they are not the same products.

 

Tru oil is rubbish IMHO.

 

You have spent the time and skill carving a lovely stock I would use a best London oil but nock it back hard at the end for a matt finish with Rottenstone as it would originally have been.

 

Great work so far stick with it I find pure acetone works faster and better than white spirit.

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Well Reece i have been away - but got some more done today, did some carving on the stock ( which was not easy with my smallest chisel being 10mm ) but patience got me there and i resisted the urge to take the dremel to it. Anyway another five hours done today and we are a few steps closer to finishing!

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Just removed some more of the excess wood which took about an hour going very steady with my spyderco UK penknife ( which is a great carry knife for anyone interested ) just because its super sharp and easy to use and weighs nothing. Anyway i removed a bit of the excess wood.

 

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Then made a template for the start of the carving i was going to do, i think its called a tear drop, or a dolls heads cradle or something like that. There was one on the original stock but i have been putting off doing it because i knew it wouldnt be easy with my limited range of tools.post-24172-0-92001100-1376420021_thumb.jpg

 

Then marked out and added in the tear drop part free hand.

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So tentatively started carving, my smallest decent chisel is a 10mm one as all my other chisels scratch and leave marks because of crappy steel.

Anyway just started to remove the wood from around my outline, making sure not to go inside the outline, and making sure not to remove anything from any edge that the metal work sits in.

 

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Continued slowly; ive never done this and so every progress is very slow progress. I was terrified i would ruin it.

 

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Anyway persisted and kept gouging deeper around the outline for definition.

 

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End result before sanding up looked like this, which i was fairly pleased with.

 

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Edited by demonwolf444
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The little round gold or silver dot was particularly hard to fit. chiseling a round hole with flat chisels was very difficult. Which is why it is slightly off center.

 

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Trigger guard fitted.

 

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The bottom of the stock.

 

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I was playing around with the trigger guard and bottom plate ( as i was oil bluing some screw heads ) and managed to recreate a case hardened effect on the steel by unevely heating the pieces. I want to have the gun look original ie have the steel worn as it should be, but its interesting to note that though an uneven oil blue you can get a nice case hardened effect on steel. I tried to take a picture of it but it doesnt show up particularly well on a phone camera; but the colors range from purple to blue to yellow to golden browns.

 

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A rub over with some emery cloth will remove this finish if you don't like it. I was tempted to do the whole action in this way but i decided against it, but i thought i would show you never the less.

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Will go for the English oiled look!

 

Also decided that i my dolls head's cradles, tear drops, ect are nor right, in that they don't need to be carved into the surface of the wood so much, also the shape is wrong, and in general they want a bit of looking at. But i can't get them right without finally investing in some finer tools. So i will have to do that. There will be another break in the project, i go on holiday on Saturday, for a week so there will be no updates for the next week or so.

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