Been doing some sprucing up on the 1885, and I think it's done, other than allowing a few weeks to totally dry before waxing the stocks.
The forearm had the bottom cut flat for a palm rest, so I filed it straight, and grafted in donor walnut from the mounting screw to the receiver edge on the bottom. The forearm repair came out better than I thought it would, and I found a replacement for my beloved Tapaderas N35 Win. red (ran out, and it seems they're out of business). Went to my local Woodcrafters and the guy there directed me towards "Transtint Bight Red" dye. It did a great job of duplicating the old Win. color from the 1800's! I used N35 on the buttstock, and the Transtint on the forearm, and got a good match.
And even more surprising was the deep cleaning I did on the barrel! I scraped the rust spots with a penny, and then went over them with 4/0 steel wool and 50-50 mix of acetone-ATF. Took all the loose stuff off the barrel, but left the patches of lightly pitted metal. I then took a very small 1/2"x1" long wood block, and wrapped it with 240 grit emery paper. I worked the pits out, and then used Oxpho Blue to touch up the bare spots. The barrel looks very nice, and no sign of the bad spots or repairs showing!
Done for now, and probably hit the range next week to see how it shoots!
