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

Will see what happens,

http://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/...2021#7751082021

Thanks for the information on the filling of tapped holes. What is the name on that floorplate?

FWIW:

Years ago furniture restoration had [and still has to a lesser degree]sort of parallel problems to this discussion. Fortunately, there is a lot of finish and woodworker talent out there: an immense amount numerically, compared to the "gun world".

Eventually, when highboys went for 12 million, the science and art of 'preservation and restoration' stared to draw it's guidelines from the world of formal high art conservation. On the whole, having added the ethical mindset, knowledge of material, historical forensic overview [ie 'truth in testing'], and the techniques developed to be suitable for other high dollah goods has been a positive input to the trade.

All that can be a two edged sword, when administered by trust fund babies with power tripping egos, but business is business, and in the end 'preservation' has proven it's market worth. Antique Roadshow, BTW, gave the whole concept of ethical restoration practices huge public exposure. And so, i do think that opening up this idea to the 'general gunsmith trade' will eventually benefit the objects we so wish to preserve.

The preservation/conservation/restoration idea DOES P.O. quite a few of the furniture repair folks to this day. Tho, about any restorer with pretensions to fine work now tacks 'conservation' somewhere in their shop propaganda. There is no real regulation for use of the term, other than having y'r peer certification stamp from the American Institute of Conservation. Mebbe a few hundred people, nationwide, who went thru the hurdles and schooling to nail that?

The reason for this dis-cursion here, is that I just wanted to shed a little light on the difficulty and problems of raising the bar overall in a trade. However, as is obvious in the ranks of "The Woodies", [yes, that's the nickname the AIC Museum Guard used to use for the common tradesmen who once comprised the Wooden Artifacts Group], there is much more awareness among restorers today of at least giving lip service to the idea of preserving and NOT destroying an object, in order 'to save it'.

Not having much time for all this lately, but wish the best to those who are engaged in opening the topic for discussion. One good thing about certain segments of the 'gun folks' collectors, is that condition is the trump card on the factory made Marques such as Colt or Winnie or Parker. Dunno if'n I want to get QUITE that obsessive, but at least keeping scopes off'n pristine iron sighted rifles would be a start.

Charles R. Gillson
Chicago
1913

If I could have a part in accomplishing that I would be a very happy camper!

A minor suggestion is to steal chunks of matching wood from under the buttplate or the inside of the forend. As a teenager I tried this on a birch stocked Stevens bolt .22 and it worked pretty well. I had more time to fool around in those long ago days.

From the other side of the fence, I do restorations; I’m almost completely focused on the old Colt SAA and Winchester Lever Actions. Just to do these guns, it has taken a very large commitment of time, energy and money to be able to restore these guns correctly.

I make barrels for the old Winchester levers, because of this my shop is fairly machine intensive, three lathes, two Bridgeport milling machines, a tracer Mill (for making one of parts) and a couple of surface grinders. I suspect that this would be serious overkill for a regular gunsmith, for the restorations that I do it’s adequate. (really could use a mill with a 54 inch table) .

Taking just one model; the Winchester 1886 for example. Depending on the period of manufacture there’s 10 or so different barrel addresses used on this model, three different tang markings, and 4-5 different serial number styles. To restore just the Winchester 1886 model rifle, you’re already looking at a several thousand dollar investment in just roll dies and stamps.

Parts, where do you find parts for a gun that hasn’t been made in 80 years? A simple thing as a buttplate screw…Nobody makes the correct buttplate screw for a Winchester. My only option was to make them myself or have them made. I finally ran across an American manufacturer that had the correct tooling to make these screws, only problem was the minimum order of 5000 screws.

You need to understand how these guns were originally polished and figure out how to polish them the same. Again back to the 1886, the radiuses on this rifle were polished with a radiused wheel. The Model 1886 lever for example, parts of the lever were polished with a radiused wheel of one diameter, other areas of the same lever were polished with a different diameter wheel. So now you have 6-8 wheels dedicated to polishing just one part. Multiply that by all the parts on a Winchester Model 1886.

Then the finishes: Color Case Hardening on certain parts, Rust blue on others, Charcoal blue, and Nitre Blue. All of these finishes can be found on one gun. For most of these finishes you have to learn how to do it “in house” otherwise it gets very pricey to farm out.

Anyway enough of my rant, but something to consider when looking for a decent restorer, and once you find him, don’t be upset when he tells you he has a year backlog. There’s not a whole lot of folks with the tools , knowledge and commitment to do it correctly.

Mike Hunter
Hunter Restorations
http://www.Hunterrestorations.com

I would be thrilled with a honest 1 year backlog. I am currently in the 3rd year of waiting on what was quoted as a 6 month job on one project.

John

Amen to that, one year is FAST! I never ask when it will be done. I did give up after only two-years waiting on a barrel. Should I answer the gentleman on the other board as to what kind of wood filler to use on these jobs? Sure a lot of different views on the subject over there.

Tell us about one project that you need done maybe we can come up with a name or something.

The last time I replaced wood to fill a scope side mount hole I charged the client $300 and he about threw a fit!
Took me five hours, almost undetectable, multi-thousand dollar rifle, very fast turn-around... one little piece of walnut was all he could think, I imagine?
Precise work doesn't happen in a hurry and I'd like to make the same $100 per hour that my plumber does.
Mike relates the investment in machine tooling, good hand work doesn't take that much monetary investment, just 20+ years of experience.
Who needs it? I'm not that thick-skinned.