CVA Hawken Project Finished- "After" Photos

[MSK]

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[agill]

Wow! That turned out very nice! :hatsoff:

 

[Mickc01]

Wow, what a transformation!! :thumbsup:

 

[coloradoclyde]

B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L
CVA...one letter better than TC :grin:

After a transformation like that we are going to have to call it a "Smollett Rifle" :thumbsup:

 

[bpd303]

Ya did that rifle justice. Nice job.

 

[bubba.50]

major improvement to an already fine gun. especially love how the stripin' turned out. hat's off to ya :hatsoff: .

 

[fpatton]

That striping turned out great!

Fred

 

[Grizzly Adams]

The best looking CVA I have ever seen, great work!

 

[kemart17]

wow!!! very nice

 

[MSW]

looks great- well done!!

 

[MSK]

Thanks all. There were additional improvements I'd like to have made but I stuck to a complete refinish as anything else was beyond my capabilities and would add cost I wasn't willing to pay. I don't like the shape or material of the fittings (would prefer steel); the shape of the patch box is strange; the profile of the stock is wrong and too thick; the round, beveled washers for the lock screws look cheap; and, the tang is way too short. Oh yes, the nose cap...

Still, my son received a ton of compliments at the range and I--for a change--was pleasantly surprised with my efforts. Again, there's NO WAY I could've done it without the help of the kind and smart-as-paint folks on this forum. I paid up as a member once I realized how much I got out of being here!

 

[David Snellen]

Dear Sir, That is very pretty. I am sorry if you already covered this, but how did you do the stripe in the wood?
I have a couple of things I want to refinish and I would love for them to look like that!!
Thank you, David

 

[MSK]

Sure. After much trial & error with individual brush striping and cutting down paint brushes, I found that duct taping 6 kid's watercolor brushes together in a row did the trick (the cheap thin plastic ones--10 for $1 at the Dollar Store). Line them up, touching together on a table. Make sure they are even in height and them put a piece of duct tape across the stems to stabilize, then tape them up well. I used Fiebings dark brown leather dye. The trick is to dip the brushes in the dye then LIGHTLY touch them to a paper towel to wick off the excess. Start the brushes moving before they hit the wood to avoid too much bleeding (you will get some bleeding and blotches no matter what, just like the original Lemans) and move them quickly across the wood. The stripes aren't going to look so hot after you're done (running and blotches), but once you hit the stock with a coat of oil they will blend in better and you will be proud of yourself.

 

[Crewdawg445]

Never gave striping any thoughts... However your finished results have certainly caught my attention! Beautiful rifle and very well done work sir! :hatsoff:

 

[Billnpatti]

Okay, I know how you did your brushes and what you used to do the striping but, how did you hold your stock so that your stripes were continuous around the stock. If you did one side at a time, you would likely have overlaps of the stripes at the top and bottom of the stock that would not look right. Did you have your stock in some kind of cradle so that you could rotate it as you applied the stripes. Your work is so well done that you obviously solved these little problems before you ever started. What is your secret?

 

[Zonie]

I really like the striping you did to the stock. :thumbsup:

I can't blame you too much for not liking the cap box but it does "fit" the gun.

You mentioned Leman and many of his guns had cap boxes very similar to the one on your rifle. :hmm:

 

[MSK]

Thanks Zonie. It's the shape of cap-box frame that I don't like; looks a bit too rounded and "modern," at least to me.

As for the concentric striping, I agonized over how I was going to turn the stock to: a) get the stripes from one side to the other; and, b) without the dye thinning too much by the time I got all around. I ended up going around only on the thin forestock. On the rest of the stock, I applied the stripes to one side and then to the other without trying to line up the stripes. Some ended up lining up, some didn't, some lined up with others, but somehow it all came together. I was careful to not finish the stripes all in the same line. I went part way around to the other side on some (by simply lifting the stock off the table a bit), and stopped short of even going to the bottom on others. You can see this in the photo of the cheek rest side. Here's the real key to what I did: before striping, I reddened the stock with aqua fortis and heat so the striping contrast would be more muted. After aqua fortis then the striping, applying oil to the stock morphed the dull reddish orange into that deep reddish brown. The striping work really blended into the darker wood quite beautifully. If you look back on my earlier posts, Zonie commented about oiling the stock to make the work pop, and it really did. I am all thumbs, honestly, and I found that not trying too hard or over-thinking the project did the trick.

 

[99whip]

I really like how you took a gun with a fairly standard look to it and turned it into something personalized and unique. Very well done.

 

[Billnpatti]

Thanks for the input. :hatsoff: Now for the guts to strip the finish from a stock and give striping a try. I do have a rather plain stock that would look a lot better with some figure.

 

[R.C.BINGAMAN]

I like the rear sight, is it silver and did you make it, Nice job on the re-finish. R.C.