I am going to just do some cleaning up of my Remington 1889. The barrels are at Mike Orlen's for evaluation as to whether or not he can clean up some bore pitting. Looking at the wood, I see that the black (I guess it's supposed to be black, it's so grungy) forend inlay is held in place by a wood screw, from the top side of the forend. I looked through Semmer's chapter on 1889s, but while I see pics of the same inlay, I can't find a reference to what it is made of. I would assume ebony, but would appreciate a confirmation, or correction, of that before proceeding with my cleaning.

Thanks in advance, SRH

most vintage inlays are horn but I am no expert on Remington guns. I would start with something mild like warm soap and water. Sometimes it is amazing what it will remove.

Ithaca used ebony for the fore end inlay. No screws.

That was my plan, Steve. Thanks.

Would horn be held from the factory by a screw? I've never seen it done before, so since it appears to be a wood screw I figured maybe it was ebony. I guess it doesn't really matter if I just use soap and warm water.

Thanks, Walter.

SRH

Mine is ebony and there is a screw on the back side of the forearm.

Thanks, Paul. I took out all the screws and scrubbed it good with Murphy's oil Soap and warm water. It's drying now over very low heat. My inlay is not very black, even after cleaning. It might could do with some staining to get the really black color back.

BTW, I was impressed at how many of the wood screws are parallel sided screws, very well made. Inlay screw, buttplate screws and trigger guard tang screws are all made like this.

SRH

Stan, here's a couple of ideas: touch a hot needle to the back of the inlay if the resulting smoke smells like burning finger nails it's horn. As to staining the inlay I've used Fiebing's USMC black leather shoe dye it's what I had and it works well.

Doug

Be careful with even light heat; both horn and ebony are much more humidity/heat sensitive than you might imagine. Even small inlays can can shrink, swell or warp.

It's ebony. The hot needle test determined it. None of that stinking burning horn smell. And, the front end of the inlay displayed end grain after it dried. I'll stain it to darken it.

Semper Fi, Doug

Thank you Steven, I'll be careful.

Thanks all, SRH

I decided to do a complete strip and deep clean of the action on the Remington 1889 yesterday. I took it down and soaked it overnight in acetone to loosen the old dried crud. I was/am amazed at the quality of workmanship and engineering in that gun. My first indication of quality was that most of the wood screws were parallel sided screws, not common tapered wood screws. But I wasn't prepared for the rest of what I saw. Today I finished the cleaning, oiled and reassembled. That is one slick operating action. Very strong and well built.

SRH

I own a number of Remington SxS's and think they're one of the best gun deals per dollar spent, or at least they use to be. Lately the price of them has gone up. I think they must have hired a bunch of German gunsmiths when they started making double barrel shotguns. The quality is right up there with any SxS being built in the USA, at least IMHO. The only item ever to break is the top lever spring in a couple of my 1894's. I shoot one of the nine [ 73, 82, 89, and six different 94's ] three times a week at my club. Glad you're happy with yours.

That little vee spring can be tricky to get back in place perfectly. The way you know you've got it right is when you work the top lever over and the spring doesn't jump out and fly across the shop!

SRH