Can anyone give me the Ph # of a smith to relay a rib on an English SXS percussion gun with Damascus barrels? Thanks, LK

Longknife,
Since you are in Illinois, I would suggest Del Whitman who is located in Traverse City Michigan. I believe he laid ribs for Rigby. He's done some very good work for me in the past.
I hope this helps,
Karl

Del couldn't give me an estimate right away. I just purchased this gun online and received it yesterday, The lifted rib wasn't disclosed so I need to negotiate a partial refund or send it back in three days.

Relaying a rib is an expensive proposition .if you want to see what can go wrong with a partial repair look at Devon gunsmith files on you tube he attempts a repair but ends up.relaying the rib.good luck

I got a quote from AM Little Bespoke Gunmakers LLC, $1000 but he does not rebrown the barrels.

Unless it is a really nice, unique, or high grade gun, you might want to just send it back. Getting the rib relaid and the barrels rebrowned as per your other post is going to set you back a good amount of money. It will also take a considerable amount of time.

I have a gunsmith in Georgia who can likely do both at a reasonable cost, if you want to proceed.

Or you can GOOGLE : "Larry Potterfield laying a rib".

Dan I would like that info. Jimmy, I am pretty sure I know all the procedures for laying rib, but I have never had the guts to try it??. Maybe a good time to learn!

Here is a recent thread
https://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=622425&page=1

Unfortunately I couldn't find Chuck H's tutorial. I lost the narrative when Picture Trail folded, but still have the images if Chuck would like to recreate the thread

Chuck is a great guy,and fellow.410 enthusiast. I really miss him on here. At one time he was very active here.

Send it back unless you just have to have it.
JR

Maybe if you got an old broken down clunker and practiced. Take it off and put it back on and few times. Most of us would probably never have the chance to do it. I have done a lot of soldering in my lifetime. I solder things all the time. Years ago I worked in an automotive electric shop and have soldered big truck starter armatures, coils and alternator rotors and stators using a large soldering iron. The secret is the flux. You have to have that. Now days I just use a soldering gun around the house for smaller things. It would be neat if you could learn how to do that. It would be a unique business. Good luck.

I've been following this thread because I have been interested in learning the process of relaying ribs. I guess that I've been lucky that I haven't bought any guns that need a full strip and re-lay. Thus far, the most I have done is a fairly easy repair of a Baker Batavia Leader that had a loose top rib near the muzzles. Only about a 3 1/2" section was loose, and I didn't want to make it worse, even though it was an inexpensive field grade gun. A pro probably would have charged more than I paid for the whole gun, so it was a no-brainer to do it myself. Fortunately, I was able to get some thin emery paper between the loose rib section and barrels to get the old joint nice and clean. I did not have to re-tin the area where the rib separated from the barrels, and was able to make the relatively small repair with rosin flux, 50-50 solder, and a large old soldering iron. I learned that a common graphite pencil will help to keep solder from sticking to places where you don't want it to stick, which made clean-up easier.

A few years ago, I bought several SxS barrels from a local gun parts dealer to use for practice on rib relaying and also for testing different rust bluing processes. So far, I have not made the time to try removing and then resoldering any ribs. From what I have read on the subject, it would not be advisable to attempt this job without doing some research followed by serious practice on junk barrels. There is a lot that could go wrong. Soldering isn't rocket science, but there is a fair amount of preparation work and set up involved. Then there is a fair amount of labor involved in removing excess solder from the barrels, and then refinishing. I can see why a pro might charge upwards of $1000.00, but it is probably a fairly profitable job for those who have gone through the learning curve. I kept this old Thread from ChuckH where he showed us how he did it. Chuck was very modest about doing the job, but from reading his posts over the years, he is no rookie when it comes to mechanical skills and knowledge. This wasn't his first rodeo:

https://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=76255&page=1

The post from crossedchisels where he told us how badly his attempts at rib relaying went is worth reading twice, at least. Somewhere, I also have a photo of the very nice jig that Dewey Vicknair built to properly hold barrels and ribs in position during the jointing and rib laying process. Something like that would likely save a lot of time for a gunsmith who would be doing this job on a regular basis.

I want to thank everyone for their help, it is much appreciated!,,,,,LK

I suspect in the trade there are only a few who tackle this job but not many. You might do one job well and the next come out looking like a dogs breakfast. Do 50 of them and I bet the last ten are all perfect. It is the learning curve which somebody has to endure and pay for. I had to replace two engraved screws and decided to engrave them myself. I had two screws to finish but used over a dozen screws to practice on first. Had I’d gone directly to the two I needed they would have looked like that dogs breakfast. But with a bit of learning they came out well.

as a long shot...try...

-Gunter Pfrommer in va 540-484-5555...

-Bill Schwartz in ga 706-276-7668...

let us know what they say...