doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Restoration

I have this old I.Hollis action that I rescued from SAP smelting furnace.

I know this isn't the greatest engraving, but it isn't so bad that it should be scrubbed.

My dilemma is how restore the action with out damaging the engraving. How about some ideas and suggestions on how to go about it?

Are you thinking of refinishing the action and having it case colored or blued? Then your only option is to have an engraver pull the pattern, take the metal down and have the engraving recut before case or blue.

It actually doesn't look that bad in it's present state you'd be surprised what an ultrasonic bath might do.

Double D ---- Recoil Rob is right re. having a pull made beore polishing out the pits. However, Let the chosen engraver make the pulls -- he knows best which pulls work best for him when laying down the new pattern. You can lightly hand polish this action with some 1000 grit paper which will polish up the surface but not remove the engraving or pits. Once the color case has been done, you probably won't see the pits near as much as you do now on a white frame. Give me a call if I can answer any questions --- I'm in the shop seven days a week, 10-12 hours a day.

I like Ken's idea. I restored a badly pitted and rusted prewar Browning Midas. These guns have some pretty large unengraved surfaces on the blued receiver, so the cleanup was a challenge. I chose to be very conservative with the cleanup, leaving both the engraving and some of the pits. That was undoubtedly the right decision. The gun is a wonderful restoration but not perfect. It would be a POC in my eyes if it were done "perfect". It would have also been very expensive. The entire restoration of the gold, the pitted receiver, and the bluing of the barrels was less than a thousand dollars, much less. Murphy

Okay guys for the less culturally enlightened here, please explain the process of making a pull.

I don't believe these actions were colored,any one please prove me wrong.

I am tempted to just got aftet the couple of active rust spots and rust blue this thing as is.

Double D ---- I make pulls many ways but think the easiest for you would be to acquire some two inch wide clear packing tape & a candle. Light the candle, hold it under the action which is being held sideways and allow the candle soot to fully cover the sidea of the action. This is followed by pressing a piece of tape large enough to cover entire side of action firmly against the action. Once removed, keep seperate from anyother surface. Get a piece of clear transparency sheet and press down against the tacky/sooty side of the tape. I can further explain steps better if you'd care to call, Ken 910-221-5288

If you go into Ken's shop/studio, there are hundreds of pieces of tape and acetate with an incomprehensible assortment of pulls, ranging from simple scrolls to highly detailed carvings (that's the only way to describe) of all manner of animals and other things. It's hard to get enough of Ken's work in one place to fully appreciate the scope and variety of the work he can do and has done, but seeing his pulls will begin to give you a small hint. My sincere hope is to make the trek down to NC before too long and make a pilgrimage to Ken's place!

Green Frog

Or,,take a piece of card stock (like a business card thickness) and moisten it a bit on one side after rubbing a little transfer wax on the other side. Place the moistened side down onto the gun surface and with a burnisher, rub the card into the surface. The wax is to lubricate and avoid tearing up the card only. Has nothing to do with transfering the pattern to the card. After burnishing the card into the surface, carfully lift off. It will be firmly imprinted with all the finest detail of the engraving and markings and pits! All in reverse of course. Let it dry which takes a few minutes. The patterns are quite durable. To lay it back down, now take the transfer wax and dot it over the gun surface evenly and lightly. Need only show a haze of wax on the surface. Take the pattern and scuff accross it with a charcoal pencil to highlight it with the black. Lay it down into position and again very lightly with the burnisher go over it to imprint the black line pattern onto the wax coated surface. The pattern is reusable unlimited times if not abused. The edges and screw holes burnished into it help in lining it up when laying it back down onto the surface.
Takes 3 times as long to explain as to do. My transfer wax is now about 1/2 bowstring wax and 1/2 beeswax. I think there's a piece of crayon in there too. Kind of sick green looking!
Everyone has their own way of doing this. There is no 'best' way to do it IMHO. Excellent advise above is to let the engraver doing the work take his/her own patterns for the job. Anything else may be nice to look at but worthless to them in the actual engraving process.