Thank you all for the kind words, it was quite the long journey to bring that gun back, longer than I was expecting and not without its share of pitfalls along the way I might add.
What happened to the Holland?….the results were so satisfactory that the Holland went back to reside with the original family and will be part of their legacy once again…that has made it all worthwhile.
Thank you Steve…remember the Alex Henry label you sold me?…that project is still on the go
Daryl…my tools are simple, I made most of them from existing old wood chisels, but they are extremely sharp and some are very small to allow more control, but because I could be working on a Perazzi today, a Parker or Superposed tomorrow I will make a new one as needed or even alter an existing one to adapt it to the work required.. and I always pay attention to grain flow, the wood will “speak”to you when you first start cutting, It will always want to do what it wants, especially black walnut, so learn what it want to do during the first cuts so your final cuts are clean and sharp.
Stanton..the pins are heat blued, so those are basically temper colours, they are a royal blue but will change slightly to that purple rose when a thin coat of oil is applied, I think it just adds great finishing touch.
Keith..thank for the kind and thoughtful note, I think most of your questions might have been answered by my reply to others above except the wood finishing process and other metal finishes.
No secret here as well, two good coats of alkanet dye followed by many coats of the slacum oil finish, I find the best finish is acquired when it’s applied sparingly, a few drops at a time and allowed to dry before the next coat, I know it takes months to cure but there is no other way to finish a gun like this. They used to say, one coat a day for a week, then one coat a week for a month…one coat a month for a year and then one coat a year for a life time…I have already given it its yearly coat and polish and it looks really beautiful now.
As far as the “furniture”is concerned…I know I called it hardware (was actuality passing a kidney stone…not kidding here) so had a bit of a brain fart going on, so thanks for correcting that, the furniture is a mixture of heat blue, charcoal an nitre but I can’t recall what I used for what, but I remember the safety slide was glass hard so never pushed the heat to the blue spectrum,the purple tone was very pleasing as well.
And lastly I would like to thank James for being a good friend and also for providing the blank and introducing me to Chris many years ago
And of course to my buddy Chris and I think I said this before…it’s always been very difficult to find someone with the same level of pride and the eye to not only help but to also compliment your work.
They are a couple of great guys to have in your corner.
All Best
CJ
