doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Who did this?

I think Doug's prep work was the best I've seen on this side of the Atlantic. I suspect the quality of his finished product was because of that and the constant adjustments he made to his solution and technique. For the average barrel finisher the ultra smooth finish he achieved in prep work might double the number of rust and carding steps. He was only concerned with getting as perfect a job as possible, not doing a good job quickly so he could make a few dollars. I know he did one set of barrels twice, three times I suspected, and wanted to do them again if I was not absolutely satisfied. After long examination I could not even detect the slightest short coming in the job. His standards were much higher than mine I guess but no one who has looked at that barrel sees anything but a superb job.

Sad to say he left us too soon.

Doug rust blued a set of 28 bore barrels for me after his accident and shortly before he died (I had shipped them to him before the accident). I suggested to him to just send them back to me if he felt he was too sick for the job. He did them anyway and did a fabulous job. Doug really was a perfectionist. Sad that he�s gone.

Doug was a perfectionist, not only in his gun work but other areas of life as well. Almost to the point of being eccentric at times, but always in a good way. Not long before his passing he bought a new Toyota pickup, replete with the "stick-on" graphics that so many new ones have. As soon as he got it home he went to work with a heat gun softening the adhesives that held them on. He removed every vestige of striping, dealership decals, 4 x 4 emblems, etc. Everything that he felt detracted from the clean lines of the truck.

I've known other pilots who, like Doug, balanced comfortably between eccentricity and perfectionism, and I've admired every one of them. Doug had his head on straight. Dang, I miss him. Doug Jr. offered me the last gun his Dad ever bought. He was so happy about that particular Fox .................and had every right to be. It is a gem.

SRH

The fit (or misfit) in that top photo looks positively scary.

Crisp and clear reflections??? Impossible! The conventional wisdom is that it is simply a waste of time to polish beyond 320 grit because slow rust bluing inevitably creates a matte finish.

Doug's work and experimentation blew that notion right out of the water. And his case coloring work was excellent too. Of course, as Stan noted, his automotive work was meticulous too That's pretty remarkable when you consider that he was a retired commercial jet pilot, and not a gunsmith or painter by trade. It's good to know that Doug is still remembered, respected, and missed by so many here, and not just for the excellence of his gun work.

Keith, I suspect Doug and Tony Treadwell have had a few interesting conversations up in Heaven. I know Doug and Tony exchanged a lot of information while Tony was learning about case coloring and gun finish in general. I still admire the effort Tony put into learning finishing techniques and how to bring these old guns back to a state of beauty.

I understand why most people do not polish like Doug did. It had to take him three times as long to do it. Then the rust cycles take a lot more of them to work. A 320 finished surface gives the solution a good "rough" surface to bite into. After all we are talking about rust and where better to do that than a rough surface? All those microscopic grooves and pits to increase the surface area. But you are also right that you can not get a deep mirror finish starting out with such a rough surface. Conventional wisdom in this case is just good enough not as god as you can.

A very tiny pencil torch for that job.

I'm looking for field grade to "mid grade" 16ga Darne made post 1964. I would like original configuration with some field use wear, but no beater with issues. Do you know where I can find one for sale? It's this or nothing.

KYJon, what started my discussions about rust bluing prep with Doug was my own experiences with the process. He told me how much he helped Tony Treadwell, and I'm still amazed at what Tony was able to learn and accomplish at a time when most of us would have been most concerned with simply making it through another day with his terminal cancer. Doug made a real connection with him that probably had a lot to do with caring for his own wife. I'm sure he helped make Tony's last days on this Earth far more tolerable. I couldn't believe the finishes Doug was producing because I had tried hand polishing as far down as 2000 with 3M Wet or Dry, and even crocus cloth level, but was still ending up with more of a matte finish no matter what solutions I tried. It seemed the recommendations about not polishing beyond 320 were absolutely correct. Diluting them and going to shorter rusting cycles helped, but clearly there was something he was doing different that I couldn't figure out. Looking back, it is doubtful if I ever would have figured it out on my own.

I do recall reading something to the effect that a mirror polished carbon steel knife blade has nearly 50 times less surface area subject to oxidation at the molecular level as the same amount of steel right off the rolling mill. I don't know if that's actually true, but I never had all that much trouble getting my highly polished parts to rust if there was adequate humidity and temperature. The problem was that everything I tried, whether commercially bought or mixed from something in Angier's or other sources always left me with a matte finish by the time I rusted, boiled, and carded enough cycles to get the color I wanted. I even tried some that contained the dreaded mercuric chloride. There is no question that Doug's process took a lot more time and hand labor because polishing without damaging engraving, lettering, or edges isn't easy, and takes a lot of careful work. A glossy finish also shows any imperfections and mistakes. I asked him why he didn't bottle and sell his formula. I think he could have made a lot of money from it.

That 311 might be the one Ed was carrying home when he got beat to death by the �Bear Dago� a while back. Can�t blame Sasparilla Mike for leaving it.

�Take the cannoli paczki, leave the 311�


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Barnabas Collins