So then topgun, we get into the matter of semantics, and the question of whether these guns have been Restored, or Refinished and Refurbished.
I think the definition Restoring implies bringing an item back as close as possible to its' original condition and configuration as humanly possible. For an H Grade Lefever, that would include black and white Damascus barrels, an LAC Monogram buttplate, an appropriately figured English Walnut stock, unaltered chokes, etc.
Of course, we still have a number of people here who should know better who continue to refer to the frame of their double shotguns as a receiver, and quite a few so-called Restorations are actually not very close to original configuration. Might be a good topic for another Thread sometime. I could get Dr. Wanker all fired up by calling action flats a water table.
I could have lived without your story of the engraver who fell off of his tractor and got chopped up by his Brush Hog. My Dad always warned me about a neighbor of my Grandfather who met the same demise. Years ago, when I first bought my property, I was mowing with an old Ford 8N that had an over-running adapter on the PTO that sometimes locked up, and hydraulics that were very slow to lift my very heavy old Brush Hog. Those defects conspired to push me right over a large bloated, and maggot infested deer. The Brush Hog chopped that rotten deer into about a million putrid pieces, on a 90 degree day. One of those Kodak moments you never forget! I am now shutting down my PC and going out to Brush Hog a few acres until it gets dark.
