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Very Nice

Homeless - I'm fairly certain that a Sterlingworth of this era would have had flat top checkering. I have a 1927 that letters and is in very much original condition with this style of checkering. There are a couple of good pics of Sterlingworth wood on the Fox site.

Best,

JMC

Rick:
On the Fox Collectors website there is a very good picture trail of how to disassemble your Sterlingworth...step by step.......should you take it apart, there are several mild acid based formula's which would tone the polished brightness down to a pewter state.....several applications of something like 'limeaway' (mild) should do the trick...until your desired finish is reached.....

At the same time it would allow you to refinish the wood as you see fit....and clean up the internal parts as desired, deburr the axles and re-set etc.

To have the action re-cased with cyanide is not terribly expensive should you want to go that route....i.e. like new....Fox products used cyanide case colors after about 1913 or so....., so bone and charcoal would really look fishy....

Best Regards,

strip, clean, lubricate, reassemble add pad or plate and go hunting/shooting.

Joe:

Yes, they were flat and semi-flat top checkered....except on the high end guns.....or special order.....money buys anything of course.....

Like any manufacturer back then (and now), the checkering quality and effort usually depended on which 'employee' did the work.......especially on the low end guns like the Sterlingworths......

I was under the impression that flat top checkering was an English thing and required more skill to execute.

English flat top checkering was very well done....American flat top checkering was very so-so...LC also used flat top and it was very basic to say the least, crude may be a better word.....on their field grade guns....

The English usually did it very fine like 22 and 24 LPI and up...this side we did it 16-18 LPI usually on non-graded guns.....and it was usually very crude to say the least.....IMO....

"English" flat-topped checkering and "American" flat-topped checkering were not one and the same. Both had their day. The difference is, the Americans eventually learned to checker. Just like solid rubber tires and whitewall tires, flat-topped checkering is not much desired for anything other than period correctness.

Thanks to all for you suggestions! PA24's gun is a very nice benchmark example. I do intend to remove the butt stock and clean the works and polish the triggers a bit cleaner. The checkering is 16 lines per inch and the flat top type appeals to me if I decide to redo it. Can this be accomplished by simply running the cutter shallow and using the original lines on the stock? I am waiting for the bill on the dent removel to determine whether to have the modified choke opened to I/C, but the smith gave me a one week turn around on the dent work and then when I spoke to him on the phone a second time to see if the gun arrived, he asked that I call him in two weeks and remind him to do the barrels? I guess I'm not in any hurry, but I sorta would like to have them back before summer is too far gone? I suspect he is quite busy and my job is small? Anyway I think I may go for a "refinish" that leans more toward making the gun look "better cared for" rather than "new". The stock is uncut and has its original curve but I need a short length of pull so I am thinking of using a piece of leather machine belt to make a "plate" that will match the contour? It won't be original, but might fit? Thanks again for all the useful advice and discussion! Kurt

Some nice photos. The 20 is like one I have completely re-done, except my guns have sanded in oil finishes that are not glossy. The one thing not mentioned is the stock dimensions...other than adding recoil pads. I've seen a number of these re-done guns which look fine but shoot shitty due to bad dimensions. I think the first thing to contemplate is the stock. Will it fit you? If not it's all just fluff. Fox stocks can be bent to decrease drop and add cast. That said, it's probably impossible to get one up to modern drop dimesions if you start with 3" DAH. I have two Sterlingworths bent from 2-3/4" DAH to 2-1/2"... they fit me much better and are good shooters. Have fun!

Cheers!