My screw up with an original brown Bess (I think)

[Md80runway23]

About a year ago I posted an original second model brown Bess on the forum I had thought about acquiring. Well long story short, I did! I normally pride myself in delict care of my antique firearms. Upon looking at my Bess the other day I noticed a nice little scratch or gouge in the wood. I’m not sure that I done the damage, but I do know that looking in the photos the seller sent me i can’t make out the scratch. I’m the type of guy that it’s made me physically ill that I may have scratched this gun. The only thing that may make me feel better is that, this was not a perfect museum piece by any means. The stock has been restored from the middle forward I think with new wood? If that’s the case the scratch is in the newer portion of the stock. I wanted your thoughts, opinions and suggestions on moving forward. Thanks

 

[2 shots]

rub a little oil on it to darken it.. replaced wood and i would say a repro nose cap. no need to worry.

 

[wiscoaster]

Pretty tiny scratch. Likely you're the only one to notice. I think a tiny little dab of dark walnut stain cut with 50% solvent, excess soaked up, then oil rubbed in to blend sheen with surround should hide it pretty well.

 

[Md80runway23]

rub a little oil on it to darken it.. replaced wood and i would say a repro nose cap. no need to worry.

Thanks! Makes me feel better you think it’s new wood as well. The thought of scratching something so old killed me!

 

[Clark Badgett]

Don’t worry about it. You are freaking out over nothing.

 

[wiscoaster]

.......The thought of scratching something so old killed me!

I know the feeling. When I'm cleaning up some old vintage milsurp. Scares me sh*tless somestimes I might be destroying its history or its story. The main thing, I think, is to not do anything they wouldn't have done back in the day to restore the firearm to its correct period functioning and appearance condition. So .... DON'T be tempted to fill that scratch. That's NOT something the arsenal would have done back in the day/

 

[Taevers]

About a year ago I posted an original second model brown Bess on the forum I had thought about acquiring. Well long story short, I did! I normally pride myself in delict care of my antique firearms. Upon looking at my Bess the other day I noticed a nice little scratch or gouge in the wood. I’m not sure that I done the damage, but I do know that looking in the photos the seller sent me i can’t make out the scratch. I’m the type of guy that it’s made me physically ill that I may have scratched this gun. The only thing that may make me feel better is that, this was not a perfect museum piece by any means. The stock has been restored from the middle forward I think with new wood? If that’s the case the scratch is in the newer portion of the stock. I wanted your thoughts, opinions and suggestions on moving forward. Thanks

In 6 months, you won’t remember a thing

 

[Eric Krewson]

A steam iron on high and a damp wash cloth will pull most of the scratch out, then stain it and forget it. If you haven't done this, put the slightly damp washcloth (one layer not folded) over the scratch, touch the hot tip of the iron on the washcloth and iron the scratch for a couple of seconds, check and repeat until the scratch won't swell out any more.

I inletted this toe plate and had an embarrassingly huge gap around it, almost 1/8" in some places, I got out my iron and closed the gap some. It is still not the best but compared to what I started with it is much better.