doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Katrina wood?

My client sent me several guns which had been submerged for over a week in the overflow from the levee hence the long soak to remove salt/chemical intrusion into the wood. That stuff even dissolved some aluminum parts! Most chrome moly steel was pitted. Interestingly the rust blue on a custom I had built the year before fared pretty well except where a cloth cover touched the steel. After replacing the barrel (due to slight pitting in the bore), the rest of the rifle was salvaged and will be back hunting this fall.

For what it is worth.
I do not think that water, plain water, will harm the wood.
The Portsmouth Navy Shipyard has quite a few huge timbers, submerged in a lake, to be used as needed to restore any wood on the USS Constitution.Most of these timbers are white pine and were cut in the 19th century. They are as sound as when cut.
It seems, to me, that being under water would not have greatly harmed the wood on any gun. Metal is another thing.
I would think that any salt could be easily "washed" out with soaking in fresh water. The residual oils in the walnut should have protected the wood for a long time.
This is NOT the same scenario as the wood that was used on the Browning guns.
Best,
John

I use bronze wool and motor oil, rub gently. Softer and less damaging than any sort of steel, wool or razor blades. Sometimes, with luck, the surface rust comes off and the blue is still Ok underneath.

I used steel wool, bronze brushes and even boiled the rust to soften it, all helped. The razor blade was just the ticket for the really hard stuff. I used rust blue to blend it all out. I've showed them to several people, no one thinks they are anything other than old guns. They came out very nice.
Steve