Beating the snot out of a rifle!

[jerrywh]

CaptainKirk
Does this mean you don't love me anymore??? :grin:

 

[Pete Gaimari]

CaptainKirk
Does this mean you don't love me anymore??? :grin:

I think you're on the couch tonight.

 

[CaptainKirk]

CaptainKirk
Does this mean you don't love me anymore??? :grin:

Oh, heck no....we's still good friends! :wink:
(It's a black powder thang)
No reason not to love just 'cuz you're wrong!:grin:
It would be a boring world indeed, if on things we all agreed!
(hey, I'm a poet 'n I don't know it!)

 

[BLAHMAN]

Jerry:
There is no "race for the bottom".
Nobody is advocating doing a Pete Townshend to their favorite rifle!
In this world, you will always have purists who can't or won't see outside the box on any issues. In fact, I was one of them, until I saw a few "antiqued" firearms on the tube. I don't think I could do that to one of mine, but I could do it for someone who was paying me to "age" their firearm!
Honestly, I don't see the difference between nicking and dirtying up a stock or brass, and browning or rust-coating a barrel. Personally, I like my blued firearms. But if someone gave me a real antique, I wouldn't be rushing off to the 'smith to get it re-blued and re-stocked...would you?
As for this being a "troll" subject and/or thread, as the thread starter, I assure you that was not the intent. I am genuinely interested in seeing what some of the other forum members have done to tastefully "age" their guns. And if you can't understand or agree with that, maybe you're reading the wrong thread? :shocked2:

What a firestorm! Seeing that you asked, I replied and Mr. Hudleston made a mioptic comment I'll provide some insight on the two rifles I showed earlier in this thread...

I was approached by a young man who was the owner of a broken up old original rifle that had everything but the lock. The barrel was a small caliber old original with the remains of a signiture and he asked me if this was a suitable project to be put back together so it could be shot. After investigation of the barrel and components we evaluated that yes it could be shot, but the stock, what as left of it, would be a continous source of repair due to being brittle, large amounts of wood missing and the uncertainty that any repair made would indeed last....we decided upon re-stocking this very old girl.

The first step was in rebreeching the barrel and shaping the tang back to it's original pattern then building the rifle. The breech plug and drum were in sad shape and not to be trusted. At some point in time I realized that fresh wood and old parts would clash and I asked for permission to age the wood. This brought me to another issue: I needed to make a study of what old used rifles looked like...I contacted several people in my circle of friends that had some, used some in my collection and used the resources of the Log Cabin Shop to make a study and then went to town practicing on wood with dyes and tools.

Making the tang look old and part of the original barrel was tricky and aging the backaction lock was another difficult task. I patterned the aged lock after a couple of old ones that I own and it was hard to tell the newness of the lock once done. I put the whole package together and gave it back to it's owner who shoots it to this day.

This work resulted in two more commissions to do the same thing. Those resulted in another asking me to build an aged gun....at this moment I have three more to do and one major repair on a John Ricketts half stock out of Ohio.....all of these are using old original parts and barrels, it's only the wood that will be new.

The term "RACE TO THE BOTTOM" is hardly that...it's a very slow, methodical and well thought out snails pace to get to the bottom....

From an artistic standpoint, this is hard to do because one has to limit the amount of "ageing" so it doesn't look like somebody randomly "beat the manure" out of their rifle.....

So....if you really want to challenge your skills, give it a go....

Now if you'll excuse me I've got to get back to work with that race to the bottom......

 

[Pete Gaimari]

I appreciate the skill it took to make a gun look like that.

Can I see what you can do to make it look really good?

Thanks.

 

[gordy]

I find this thread quite interesting , I would not be inclined to distress any fireams thhat I had control over , praise , money ,or marbles . :hmm: The one thing I noticed here is old farts like us or folks that had to scratch hard to even aqquire a gun in their youth , are more likly to find "antiquing" distastfull . :barf:
I certainly can"t cite or scold anyone else here that has a different outlook :v But for the most part, those of us who were "encouraged" to treat your fireams like a favorite Hound Dog or Horse , Find it diffacult to even think of doing this to a good firearm :idunno: If I were to come across one of these distressed gunns at auction or at a dealers shop , the first thought in MY mind would be , whoever owned this gun ought to have their butt kicked to let a weapon get abused this way . :rotf:

 

[biliff]

For an even more interesting twist, I once watched a guy at a cowboy action shoot complain that the table he was suppossed to place his guns on was too rough and would damage the guns finish. He was shooting "antiqued" replicas.

As a group we can be a strange bunch.

 

[Pete Gaimari]

Right Gordy. Then my second thought would be to making it look better.

 

[BLAHMAN]

I appreciate the skill it took to make a gun look like that.

Can I see what you can do to make it look really good?

Thanks.

Yup.....

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Satisfied??????

 

[Pete Gaimari]

Beautiful.

Thanks for showing. :thumbsup:

 

[JOHN F]

i think that there is nothing wrong with an aged or antiqueud firearm..i am a rennactor who likes my guns to be a little grudged and rusted.. after an afternoon in the rain at an event my bess is rusted . so a soldier on campaign would be working constantly to keep it clean.. and in an ill supplied army he would probably be fightinga losing battle..i really like grungded firearms...and i am not trying to defraud someone....

 

[jerrywh]

Truth is I also like muzzle loaders with some patina. But there's a limit. Has anybody ever seen a photo of Chief Joseph's gun???

 

[texcl]

I always age my rifles, but I don't make it look like an antique. I like mine to look like they are about 30 years old and used, but well taken care of. All the dents and gouges are from hunting but the patina has been sped up. Just personal preference I guess.

 

[matt denison]

Yikes!!

Illegal, immoral, fraudulant, counterfit artist? Now a troll. jeese guys take it easy. We're not abusing the elderly or pounding on little kids here. Aging a gun to look 200 years old could be considered an art form, a kind of artistic expression. In my case I was more or less copying a Leman trade gun I had seen that I kinda liked but couldn't affford to own. I'll mention that I ALWAYS put my cartouche on every gun I make with a date on the bottom flat.

 

[Tkendrick]

You can paint nudie girls on it for all i care

Actually...... I have one of those on a powder horn I made a few years back. And she definately aint Lady Liberty :shocked2:

 

[HAMMERSCHILD]

And Lady Liberty ain't half bad! Haw Haw Haw!!!! :rotf:

 

[hoochiepapa]

I completed a .32 cal rifle and went wild with the aqua fortis. I am partly color-blind and couldn't see the green from not using enough, and panicked when my wife told me it was green. Then I doused the stock with the stain and put too much on. Now I can't stop the reaction and it is making the rifle look old. Not only is it turning the steel parts brown, but it also is oxidizing the brass and a feller looked at it and couldn't believe it was new. He said it looked like an old rifle. And I've gotten dings in it from grouse huntin'. So.....

 

[CaptainKirk]

Look at this...we've got an "Illegal, immoral, fraudulant, counterfeit artist" here and he doesn't even know it! :idunno:
Ignorance is no excuse for breaking the law. :rotf:

 

[Davemuzz]

What kind and color of snot comes out of where when you beat these guns on whatever you beat them on? :dead: :surrender:

 

[Pete Gaimari]

What kind and color of snot comes out of where when you beat these guns on whatever you beat them on? :dead: :surrender:

Looks like a cross of bluing and wood stain. Kind of mushy.