My unknown rifle journey

[NavyDoc76-80]

Did you get a nose cap and wedge escutcheons with it? If so are they iron or silver? If silver my money is on a Western Arms or Allen F.A. kit from 1985-ish.
Here is a pretty well documented run down on the history of the Uberti/Ithaca/Santa Fe/Jedediah Smith/Western Arms/Allen F.A. Hawkens.
http://grrw.org/uberti-santa-fe-hawken/

Nose cap. If you mean the trim piece at the end of stock towards the muzzle, then yes. Seems to be solid brass. The wedge escutcheons are brassish. Could be silverish too. I put one the buffing wheel. It actually shined somewhere between silver and brass. Took that to mean thin plating. The ends of the wedges are definitely silverish. Figured it was stamped steel. I will review your link with interest.

 

[NavyDoc76-80]

Ok, stop the press. Apparently I’m full of dookie. Went out to to take a second look. The nose is not solid brass. It’s more shiny silver than brass, depends on the light source what color you think it is. Did some research. I believe now it’s anodized aluminum with a hint of yellow thrown in. Same for the escutcheon plates. Put a magnet to them as well. Nada. Now, the heads of the wedges is definitely steel. I’ll bore you all with some more pictures when I get back to the shop.

 

[NavyDoc76-80]

Ha! Forgot I brought these in to get a second opinion of color. My wife could see the yellow, yet silverish as well…

 

[kelvinator]

Yep, I believe it is referred to as German silver... not sure exactly what that means in terms of alloy composition, but not iron.
It takes on a slightly yellow tone with age but when freshly sanded or ground on appears more silver but never looks like brass, to me anyway.
I refinished mine last year, re-shaped the nose cap and escutcheons and left them somewhat satin, not polished. They looked almost silver then but have since turned slightly yellowish just like they were before the re-finish.

 

[NavyDoc76-80]

Outstanding. Looked up German Silver. A couple different combinations but here’s one 60% copper, 20% nickel, 20% zinc. Thus the golden hue. Copper. Ain’t Aluminum for sure.

 

[kelvinator]

Ain’t Aluminum for sure.

Nope.
Here's a few more pics for comparison.

 

[NavyDoc76-80]

Very similar. Your fit and finish is exceptional. What did you choose to use to finish the wood?

 

[NavyDoc76-80]

What did you do to the butt plate to darken it like that.

 

[NavyDoc76-80]

Nope.
Here's a few more pics for comparison.

See questions above.

 

[kelvinator]

Mine was really dark finished on the wood when I got it, and I believe it had some kind or stain or finish applied to it on top of the original finish so it was kind of a mess.
So I stripped it and re-contoured a few areas, then just applied Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil, hand rubbed till the pores were mostly filled and light once over with 0000 steel wool... no stain.
I think these are European walnut, which I had no experience with.
My only experience with walnut has been with vintage american walnut on old Benjamin/Sheridan air rifles and they are very dark even without any stain... so I just went with the Tru-Oil right over the bare wood on this one.
It's definitely lighter than any Uberti or Pedersoli Hawken you'll see, I call her Blondie

 

[kelvinator]

What did you do to the butt plate to darken it like that.

Laurel Mountain Forge browning solution.
It works great on most cast iron parts.
But there are some steel alloys that it does not react well to at all, some have had issues with it on various barrel alloys.