Fixing a poor job

[GClark]

Afternoon everyone.

A couple weeks ago I got a gun from a pretty well known builder. I had expected, from another gun i saw of his, that it would come out just as nice. I was sadly mistaken.

I ordered it with the stock unfinished so I could stain it myself but man, the fit of the butt plate, trigger guard, etc is all so poor that i think i could have done as good a job myself as a first timer! I have a ton of sanding to do on my own!

I am more upset than ticked off though.

Guys, if there is anything you can tell me to make finishing this gun easier, I appreciate it. I know that some of the small gaps between metal and wood should get
filled and sanded before I stain. Otherwise they are going to be noticeable. If you have some tricks for filling in small places in cherry, please tell me. I had hoped to stain it a med color but i think I may have to go real dark to hide alot.

I am just real dissapointed. Especially after paying over a grand.

someone cheer me up by telling me all isn't lost.

 

[widget350]

Have you tried contacting him? Perhaps it's a misunderstanding, and could be easily remedied.

 

[Roy]

You can glue in pieces of wood and re-inlet some of the problem areas. If you plan to stain, its best to do this first to both the gun and the filler piece then glue... this will partially hide the glue line. Some of the parts if brass can be peened a bit to fill small gaps..

If you need some scrap cherry, I have some laying aroung that I can send and hopefully it will match up.

 

[mazo kid]

[quote

"I ordered it with the stock unfinished so I could stain it myself but man, the fit of the butt plate, trigger guard, etc is all so poor that i think i could have done as good a job myself as a first timer! I have a ton of sanding to do on my own!
I am just real disappointed. Especially after paying over a grand.[/quote]"
I would expect to do sanding on an unfinished stock, but would also expect the parts to be expertly and closely fitted to the wood. I would call the builder and express your concerns. Word of mouth works just as well in reverse as for a job well done. For that kind of money I would expect my rifle to only need sanding and finish applied. My $0.02 worth.

 

[Black Hand]

.....I got a gun from a pretty well known builder...

"Well known" and "respected" are two different creatures. Are you willing to share who it was? You may get some helpful feedback based on that information.

Realistically though, you should feel you got your moneys worth and a job well done, or the product should be returned for a full refund as it was not as promised....

 

[Swampman]

I've had a similar situations myself. I did a heavily aged finish to cover up the problems. Artist type acrylic dark brown and black paints look a lot like built up gun crud, and are excellent to fill gaps with. Flat black spray paint can hide a world of sins. Bee's Wax is good, but melts if the gun gets too hot.

Personally I believe that's why some of the less expensive builders use the heavy aged look.

 

[sundog]

I believe the easyest thing to do is call the builder and talk it over, see if he will make things right or will he refund your money.
If that fails I would advise him that you are going to post pictures of the poor job and give details about who he is and how much the total was. Perhaps that will get you some satisfactory results.

 

[tg]

It is hard to tell with out seeing the problem areas sonetimes one can pound the furniture to expand it and file to fit the mortice, extra wood proud of the furniture is ok if the fit is good it will sand down to meet the parts, as i say it is hard to really call this one without seeing what we atre dealing with I have gpt some used guns that were put together with a heavy hand and light mind and cleaned them up by a number of methods but each problem has its own possible solutions.A talk with the builder and measureing his response would be the first step.

 

[J.D.]

Would this well known builder be located in Utah?

This particular builder is well known, among those of us who know his work, to do some slip-shod work, though he is capable of very nice work.

 

[oldboot]

If I paid one grand of my hard earned money I shouldn't expect to fix it. Call the builder and he should complete his end of the deal.

 

[Roy]

Personally I believe that's why some of the less expensive builders use the heavy aged look.

aging doesn't really help a poor job though.

 

[Swampman]

No but all that gunk can be used to hide bad inletting. I've seen it done. I've done it myself to fix other folks bad work.

 

[Zonie]

Depending on exactly where the "small gaps between metal and wood" are and how small "small" is the gaps may not be very noticeable once the stock is stained and finished.
When the oils are applied to the wood the wood will expand a little and the gaps will shrink in size.

If there is little chance that the gaps will shrink enough to be unnoticeable I think a real problem exists.

Filling gaps with putties, wood dust (from sanded wood) mixed with glues, small blocks of wood, stained bees wax, etc. can look just as bad as the original gap if the putties or wax doesn't exactly match the wood, or if the glue won't accept the stain like the adjacent wood does.
Additionally, putties and waxes remain soft and will be wiped away over time leaving a noticeable depression.

Notice the glue line starting just above the rear lockscrew and running around the rear of the block across the wrist.
Although I used a "stainable" wood glue to attach the block it refused to be stained as dark as the wood.

In this case, it looks 1000% better than the Plastic Wood that a previous owner had used but it still shows that it has been repaired.

If the gaps are fairly small, you can wet the wood with water and then use a steam iron to cause the wood to expand. This won't really add any wood to the mortise but it can reduce the gaps some.
The swollen wood will take the stains and oils just like the adjacent wood so it won't be noticed.

 

[Roy]

yep to some extent.

Kind of curious how off his build is. Any chance of pics of the bad areas??

 

[mazo kid]

If the gaps are fairly small, you can wet the wood with water and then use a steam iron to cause the wood to expand. This won't really add any wood to the mortise but it can reduce the gaps some.
The swollen wood will take the stains and oils just like the adjacent wood so it won't be noticed.

Zonie, does this really work when wood has been removed? I know it will work on dents as I have successfully removed dents this way, just never tried to swell wood where it has been actually removed as in too large an inlet.

 

[Roy]

It will sometimes. :v Not always though.

 

[Swampman]

I could take some thined acrylic black paint and make that look mo betta!

 

[Bountyhunter]

Zonie, that musket has a very close appearance to my D Nippes 1840 musket, marked D Nippes US, Mill Creek PA 1842......is it?

 

[Zonie]

The Musket shown is a 1842 Springfield.
It is a .69 caliber smoothbore without a rear sight.

I consider it to be unshootable due to the condition of the bore.

Even though I won't shoot it, it is neat to have a piece of American History. Many is the time I wish it could tell me what it's been up to and where it's been during the past 166 years.

 

[Mike Brooks]

$1000 is not a lot of money for an in the white gun. These days parts alone will run $700 to $900. I wouldn't put together an in the white gun for a couple hundred bucks. You get what you pay for.
To properly fix this you'll have to inlet wood in the gappy areas and re inlet the parts. Personally, I'd send it back.
Wood repairs can be made invisibble.