Rough barn gun

Dusty_Traveler said:

GREAT SCOTT!!!! Turned that one into a fantastic piece you did! Great character!

Huzzah!!

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Thank you!

Lovely work!

If those holes are from powder post beetles you need to treat it ASAP. Years ago my Mom dragged home an antique that had them, stored it in the garage and it took YEARS to kill them off. I still empty everything every 2-3 years and retreat in case I missed some. Left unchecked that garage will eventually collapse due to wood loss. If there is any sawdust dropped from the holes over the course of a year, they are active. I pray yours are long dead!

lbothell said:

Well this is an old post, but I received so much help with ideas to finish this gun figured I better post some pictures.. it turned out better then expected and I have yet to have an issue with any worms that made the holes I believe they are all gone. I like how it is a working man’s gun and I’m not afraid to use it, but yet it still has parts that really shine. Really shoots a patches round ball very well, 50 yrds no problem but I haven’t shot past that, thanks again for all the help and ideas it is much appreciated

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That’s VERY nicely done. Good job.

lbothell said:

So I received an in the white barn gun in a trade. It came from a reparable builder but it I understand correctly he apprentice did a lot of the work.. I didn’t get to see it up close and it’s hard to figure out things in pictures but I’m gonna make the best of it cause it has great parts! Now I’m no master builder someone who was could make this thing shine but for me it will look like the barn gun it is okay so my first question is how do i finish the cast still parts? Butt plate trigger guard etc.. you can see the cast line and the butt plate has Like lugs on the back of it, is a file what you all use?? I’ll post more pictures and as more questions as I go hahaha

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Yikes, that IS rough! But you seem to be into it, I'm sure you'll work it out fine. Let us see it a few weeks down the road! Basic guns like Barn Guns and SM rifles are cool, being the very basics.

rp77469 said:

Lovely work!

If those holes are from powder post beetles you need to treat it ASAP. Years ago my Mom dragged home an antique that had them, stored it in the garage and it took YEARS to kill them off. I still empty everything every 2-3 years and retreat in case I missed some. Left unchecked that garage will eventually collapse due to wood loss. If there is any sawdust dropped from the holes over the course of a year, they are active.

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Yikes!

Overall the gun came out looking good with some character and shoots well, so you done good.

Love the wormy stock. Talk about going down a wormhole!

Pete G said:

Love the wormy stock. Talk about going down a wormhole!

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Hahah yes! Well I was worried about for a year about them but they show no signs of activity and I did treat them before I finished it as well. As neat as they are I don’t think I’ll do a stock with them again only bc it’s not worth the worry

Nice job and it turned out great. I'd have that trigger guard welded and finished off though. You could even silver solder it since it's a barn gun.

lbothell said:

You guys are great I’m appreciating all the help. Feeing a lot better after sleeping on the matter and reading your responses. I knew it needed finished but there were just things I didn’t expect. You’ll see in the pictures the bottom of the barrel is very rusty which I can sand out, was rust in the inside but I got that pretty clean and rig greased it till I can get to it. Next you’ll see the farthest lug on the back of the barrel came off.. it definitely wasn’t soldered on properly, silly question but do I really need that one? The two in the front a perfectly fine just wanted your opinion on that. The worm holes are definitely neat! Excited to see how they turn out. Lots of epoxy by the tang and some by the butt place, any care I need to take towards those areas?? The drilled hole for my ram rod is straight but he didn’t make both sides of the stock even to it so it looks off. Is a file my best tool to reshape that? I’m very limited on tools, the CVA squirrel kit I’m doing needed some filing snd stuff but not to the extent this one will so that’s why I’m asking. The lock is a nice L and R just needs stripped down and cleaned no problem there. The trigger and the guard are off as you can see it wasn’t done very well but I will say it’s a SMOOTH trigger pull so who cares. Any suggestions are welcome, remember I’m new to this so bear with me hahah

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The worm hole are adding a unique feature. Interested in seeing the finish product

lbothell said:

Well this is an old post, but I received so much help with ideas to finish this gun figured I better post some pictures.. it turned out better then expected and I have yet to have an issue with any worms that made the holes I believe they are all gone. I like how it is a working man’s gun and I’m not afraid to use it, but yet it still has parts that really shine. Really shoots a patches round ball very well, 50 yrds no problem but I haven’t shot past that, thanks again for all the help and ideas it is much appreciated

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I like the way it looks.

I love simple fowlers!
You did a great job.
The worm holes add character.

lbothell said:

Well this is an old post, but I received so much help with ideas to finish this gun figured I better post some pictures.. it turned out better then expected and I have yet to have an issue with any worms that made the holes I believe they are all gone. I like how it is a working man’s gun and I’m not afraid to use it, but yet it still has parts that really shine. Really shoots a patches round ball very well, 50 yrds no problem but I haven’t shot past that, thanks again for all the help and ideas it is much appreciated

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Yes I must agree with the others, that came out great. You should make a lot of meat with that.

LD

Loyalist Dave said:

Yes I must agree with the others, that came out great. You should make a lot of meat with that.

LD

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Well one down so far hopefully more to come!

That turned out great! Well done!

Yes, do weld up the trigger guard. It deserves that.

The worm marks in the wood are actually neat and perfect for a barn gun. . . I think you'll have a nice looking smoothbore when you're done.

Not that you want to hear more about powder post beetles, but I thought I'd share my story. 4 years ago I build a fancy woodworking bench, a big chunky 5.5" thick beech top and red oak legs. Last fall, I started getting powder post beetles exiting the wood. They were in there, in this kiln dried wood for > 3 years. The type of beetle I had was a lyctid, verified by a penn state entymology professor, they eat dry hardwood, he confirmed it was most likely infected between the kiln and my house. I started by spraying with permethrin last fall, which didn't work. more came out in the spring once temps warmed up. I treated it with bora care, and more came out of the wood. painted on more borates, this time tim-bor (the white chalky stuff you see on the legs) but they kept coming out. I took the bench apart and threw it in my truck under the tonneu cover and let it bake, but a thermometer showed the wood never really got above 110 F, the truck bed had too much air leakage. Ultimately, I built a wood kiln with foam insulation, particle board, and built a PTC heater and fan setup driven by an arduino, temperature sensor, and a relay to bake it at 130deg for 2 days. I just put it back together this past weekend.

My suggestion is if you can, not sure where you live, wrap it in a black plastic bag and get it out in the sun for several hot 80 F + days with full sunlight before you take that stock around any other hardwood. If you can't, keep it segregated, maybe just tape it up in plastic and be patient, and bake it in the sun in the spring