(UPDATE) The Death And Rebirth(?) Of A Double Barrel

targa911S · 10-20-2011, 04:32 AM

Now that Vash's busted gun is done and delivered, it's time to get back to the little .410.
I have been working on it piece at a time while working other stuff. John was shocked when I told him I was moving ahead with the repairs and that I believed it was "savable".
We are still looking for a good set of barrels but in the interum I will rust blue the originals. I will disable the bad barrel and he can shoot the good one if he chooses. Lots of pics here, but it IS a big job.

The old finish just melted away. The recoil pad is bonded on and still soft so I masked it off so the stripper didn't melt it. We will restore that too later. The wood under the old finish was pretty nice really.

Moving to another box..

targa911S · 10-20-2011, 04:40 AM

The checkering will all need to be recut but especially at the repair site...

Good for now. I will clean it all up better after the finish is back on it.

Now for the barrels...

First rusting and boil.

into the pool...

targa911S · 10-20-2011, 04:52 AM

Out of the tank they look like black velvet. I will "card" or burnish them with 000 steel wool, treat them with rusting solution again, and repeat this process 8-10 times before they are really black.

Now back to the stock...

tacking in the broken pieces with "hot stuff" first to secure them..

I will let this all set over night and we will Acra glass it tomorrow.

MRM · 10-20-2011, 05:40 AM

Wow. David, you are the Magic Man. Great work.

Tim Hancock · 10-20-2011, 05:49 AM

Those stock pics remind me of the refurbishing job I did on my grandpa's old Crescent 12 ga. His stock was much worse and was missing both strips of wood on the bottom with the rest of it being held together with 16 penny finish nails and cloth tape. Amazing what some time, epoxy, grafting and careful re-inletting can do to bring these old guns back to the living.

I am interested in how you do your re-blueing as I simply used the store bought Birchwood cold blueing liquid. It looked "OK", but I am sure your process is much better.

targa911S · 10-20-2011, 05:53 AM

I remember when you did that gun Tim and you did a great job. These old Crescents are always busted up bad. Shoot me your home email and I will send some details on the slow rust bluing process. It is the only way you can do a SXS and the proper finish for a gun of this era.

Tim Hancock · 10-20-2011, 06:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by targa911S

I remember when you did that gun Tim and you did a great job. These old Crescents are always busted up bad. Shoot me your home email and I will send some details on the slow rust bluing process. It is the only way you can do a SXS and the proper finish for a gun of this era.

It was a fun project and definitely made grandpa happy before he died. I wish I had known you prior to doing it back then as I am sure I could have done even better had I picked your brain a bit.

Thanks...... PM sent with e-mail.

vash · vash's Garage

amazing!!

remind me..how did this one get broken?

targa911S · 10-20-2011, 06:36 AM

Use...just use.

Tim..brain picking is allowed. I got yer PM I'll get with you later today about the process.

Mericet · Mericet's Garage

I know this will look awesome when you are done with it David. Can not wait to see it.

targa911S · 03:30 PM

I had a good day with it today...

reassembled to see were the gaps are..then mix up a bit of acra glass. It's a high impact fiberglass resin about the consistency of bearing grease. It's like rock when it sets up. I use it to bed rifle actions and barrels. I will fill the voids with this to strengthen the areas in contact with the action internally.

I used a gel that resists bonding brushed liberally to all the internal parts earlier. I brushed paste wax on the inside of the locks. This works good and you don't have to wait for it to dry...

Then I install the locks, clamp it all together, and hope I can take it apart tomorrow, yes that happens sometimes.

Tim Hancock · 10-20-2011, 04:56 PM

That is pretty much how I did mine except I added in some missing wood and added sawdust filler to some of my epoxy for the initial mating with the receiver. I later carefully whittled out the added wood to recreate the inletted shoulders to accept the side plates. IIRC, I did go back and bed the side plates with epoxy for a perfect fit. Of course my stock essentially had no inletted wood shoulders remaining for the side plates to rest on which is why I added wood back in there vs just epoxy bedding the plates in place.

targa911S · 06:07 PM

what you did is pretty much where we are headed next. I didn't color the glass as not to try to pretend it's anything but what it is. I'm looking for strength here. Nobody will see it. Anything outside I mix sanding dust and glass to match more closely the color of the wood. You can never recreate what is missing though glass ain't wood.. You will see it. Ordinarily with a stock this bad, I just replace it. But this was his Grandpas gun and I don't want to take the Grandpa out of it.

Jandrews · 10-20-2011, 05:39 PM

I seriously wondered how you were going to deal with that splintered stock. That looks incredible!

And what kind of wood is that...is it walnut? I like the matte look of it stripped raw like that, especially with the fresh, crisp checkering!

Can you send me the description of the bluing process, too? You have my e-mail. Not likely I will try it anytime soon, but would like to read about it.

Great work, David, and knowing we will have one "good" barrel for now, was enough to make my son's day!

Thank you,

JA

targa911S · 10-20-2011, 05:56 PM

It's walnut John and pretty nice really. If you like the matt finish, I can matt the finish rather than gloss it if you like. It's getting better all the time now. We are almost to the fun part. I'm actually a day ahead of all these posts so I know how this all turns out.

targa911S · 10-20-2011, 06:16 PM

Hey John are either you or your son left handed? The triggers are set up for a RH shooter, I could switch them while I'm at it. Not that it really maters as only one barrel will be operative. Just asking.

Jandrews · 10-20-2011, 06:31 PM

Yes, I would definitely prefer the matte finish!

Please post more progress pics tomorrow! This is really fun to watch...

JA

targa911S · 10-20-2011, 06:38 PM

I'm at the shop tomorrow. So more to come on saturday maybe. matt it is. It will be like a danish oil.