I'll tag on to the OP question:

I just received this 1896 EM Reilly 16 gauge, imported from Holt's with the service of SKB (Thanks Steve). I bought it for my son as his first gun and as a project for him to learn some of the craft of gunwork (and I along with him). I will probably start a separate project thread once we've taken stock of the whole thing, but for this thread, the question would be how you all would address this stock and forend.

The stock is surely a replacement and the wood is not of particularly high grade, but it is structurally good so far as I can tell. I was thinking a simple refinish with red oil and slacum.

[Linked Image from i.ibb.co]

The forend appears to be original. The finish is extremely dark and the checkering is well worn. For this I was thinking a good scrub down to remove the gras-du, maybe a light freshen up of the checkering, and an oil finish. I suspect it has a decent amount of oil in it, and might need to be addressed as well.

[Linked Image from i.ibb.co]


So, how would you all tackle the wood of this gun? Would you completely refinish or just "refresh"?

Jim