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

Gentlemen,

I hope this is the right place to post this. Looking at some of your work I thought you might be able to help.

I have here an 1884 Trapdoor Springfield that belongs to a friend. It has been stored in an attic for years but the gun is in remarkable condition. There is some slight rust starting on th metal but it should still clean up nicely. There are still some case colors evident.

The stock is another story. The wood is very sound, and is the most figured military springfield wood I have ever seen. Fiddleback walnut in nice tight curls from one end to the other. The problem is it has turned near black. I am not thinking of refinishing, this is a nice original gun with all its parts. I am looking for a way to clean the wood so you can see the grain, and not remove original finish. Any thoughts, suggestions, ideas are welcome.

Thanks
Brad Hurt

Use a good furniture wax.

Sounds like it had had a lot of linseed oil rubbed into the stock over its life in the military.I think a heat lamp and some whiting will get a lot of the oil out and then you can use some good paste wax on it.

Go to this url and see how the Trapdoor experts do it.

http://www.trapdoorcollector.com/restoration.html

I've used the turpentine/linseed oil/ rottenstone method on two rifles and it really helped the stock's appearance without making the rifles look refinished.

Jerry Liles

Thanks for the advise, it is a big help. I spent quite a bit of time on that website, a lot of neat stuff there. The linseed/turp/rottenstone/pumice formula looks interesting. My only concern is with the coarser pumice is there a chance of washing out the stock cartouches? The ones on this rifle are in nice shape and I would hate to damage them.

Thanks
Brad Hurt

I used the finest pumice and it worked well without damage to the stock's cartouche or to the real patina underneath the ancient, black crud. I suspect medium grades of pumice would be OK on a really foul stock and, with just a bit of care, won't damage the the stock.

Jerry Liles

Do you use raw linseed oil, or boiled. I assume boiled.

thanks,
Brad Hurt

boiled