doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com The Pitfalls of Restoration or ...

In the antique furniture restoration and conservation biz, as soon as potential customers been questioned & guided to a fairly clear understanding of what work is entailed in order to meet their goals, the next bit of conversation is about the very subject so well reported by Rob: restoration and values.

There are opportunities to carefully repair a piece and realize profit, over and above mere wages. However, it is far more likely to cost the value or even far exceed the value when repairing family and sentimental goods. Once families understand this and have a clear idea of what is entailed, sometimes to the extent of a formal report, about fifty percent+ of them give the 'go-ahead'.

As a corollary sidebar, I am having a real wrestling match with a locally famous gunsmith over my .22 Combat Masterpiece S&W, that he has had for two years and to the tune of over 500.00. After attempts to prompt a completion, I consulted with Alex Hamilton at Ten-ring. He regularly does a column on gunsmithing in a magazine. Alex stated that quite a few gunsmiths are just lousy businessmen, no matter their competence level. Another national 'smith I queried reported that he receives around thirty phone calls and about 100 e-mails a day, which eats up bench time rapidly.

The in and outs that Rob reports, and the monetary travails he lived thru, do indeed make for a classic example of 'read-before-restoring'. If Dave would edit and save the report permanently, I think it would be a valuable reference for the BBS.

Rob, congratulations on getting to your goal and finally enjoying the results. And thanks for writing it up.

Best shooting and happy powder smoke,

John

sorry for your loss... hopefully, this post will help others from going down that road... high priced gun restorers and drug dealers seem to have a lot in common.

Let's be clear about this, the problems I had were with the first barrel man and the Proof House itself. All the work done after those fiascoes was top notch.

My main intent was to provide an example of how things can get out of hand. I was lucky in that I ended up with a lovely shotgun that is stocked to my dimensions. I have read any horror stories about fellows spending big money and not even getting their gun back.

"I shoot it well, it carries well and I never tire of admiring it when in the field."

When you get right down to it that one short sentence covers all that we are trying to achieve here with these old doubles. Looks good, feels good and is good. Says it all to me. Enjoy!

Bob,

Thanks for referencing your old thread, which I found both interesting and instructive.

Abe Chaber is still around. I had trouble with a Reilly 16 bore 1886 ejector spring. David Trevallion recommended I talk to him. Others on this board said he'd never discuss the issue but I wound up having a delightful 30 minute phone conversation. He does some miraculous work with a micro-welder which can build up the worn end of a spring. I wound up not doing the work but what an interesting man. Doesn't read emails.

ah remember Zeke...

used to hunt and fish near his shop...

stopped in often...bought a gun sometimes...

What a trip. The late John M. and, I suspect, the late Lapin were both here for this post.

Seems to sharpen the edge of time just a bit for me. Not that it needed that.

Great gun, Rob.

Best,
Ted

Recoil rob,I'm sure you know the gun you restored is an 1884 pat.WR action I have two one tollys one francotte.its a very nice gun not a game keepers gun

I always thought the engraving was too nice for a game keepers gun but Abe told me it was. And engraving was cheap back then.

Hard to see with the Photobucket stamp but the water table is stamped Anson Deely's Pat 7221.

Rob