"Restoring" a basket case original.

[user 31232]

I mentioned earlier that I will be putting some black back in the appropriate areas and will try to blend the black epoxy around the lock and tang so it is less visible. Also will age the brass and rebrown the tang with a more aggressive chemical so it is as crusty as the barrel. I knew long ago that scabbing in new wood is the proper way to do that repair and appreciate it being mentioned (like by yourself and the very first person who replied also politely suggested) since you don'tknow me yet, but while I have quite a hoard of fancy hardwood scraps, I have no finely-striped maple and further not THAT much talent to attempt an actual restoration. That sort of thing is for other folks. As I wrote before, I'm taking the easy way out here and I don't think the remains of the stock are worth any more than that. I DO have a reasonable amount of skill and experience working with Acra-Glas and know what it can and cannot do. This was a good application for it and I stand by what I did for the reasons I have repeated in many different ways.

I have decided to stay as I have a lot to share and also a lot to learn. I am not a collector or an especially obsessive student of history as some are (and I am glad for you who are), or I would have joined ALR instead of this board. I do many unconventional things some of you may be find entertaining, and as an example I may post a thread detailing the trade gun I made. Some of you will have a stroke when see how I made the trigger plate and trigger

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Glad you decided to stay !

 

[Shiloh]

When ZZ Top was looking for Caddy to turn into their Cadzilla they found a near mint car. When they took it to the shop to have the work done the guy said you’re not going to cut up this car. To which they replied “your torch or mine?”

 

[earlwb]

I liked what IanH did. That was an amazing rebuild got a old junker that would have been maybe rebar in a concrete something. Nice job. Congratulations. I would have never been able to fix something up that nice.

 

[Snooterpup]

I think we can all revisit the lessons we learned when we were small children. Be helpful, offer asked for help with kindness and respect. Conflicting opinions can be stated in a respectful way. It seems everyone here had something beneficial to say but could have tailored their thoughts and responses in a less aggressive manner.
I believe both main characters in this play on this stage could have been great friends if met under different circumstances as both have great knowledge and skill but approach things from a different perspective. When tempted to react strongly I try to recall what my grandmother used to say:
“The wise old owl sat in the oak. The more he heard, the less he spoke. The less he spoke, the more he heard. All should learn from this wise old bird”.
Snoot

 

[mushka]

Sometimes in our journeys on these kinds of sites we meet someone that just does not gel with us in our thinking and discourse becomes bitter and unproductive. The ignore button is sometime a peace of mind tool. I use it sparingly, but I have used it.

 

[sturmkatze]

There is a difference and a midpoint between preserving historical artifacts found in their original condition as such, and doing whatever you want because it happens to be yours and everyone else be damned. I believe in being responsible and conservative, but I also take a realistic approach to valuing anything based on the condition it is actually in. I didn't know this was an Ohio rifle but it doesn't matter, I knew it was made in the 19th century, was an original, and figured that it was a late flint era, so yes thought twice before working on it but upon closer examination I saw that most of the value as an original or collector had already been destroyed, so might as well try to make a silk purse out of it.

I like it. If any of you don't, that's fine too, but I'm sorry you didn't listen to what your mother told you when were children.

It looks good and you saved it. Not every gun is a collectible. Guns are made to be shot.

@IanH good job! Ignore all the snarky experiences. They forget theirs are OPINIONS.

 

[trackpin]

Wall hangers dont impress me . I think you did good on that rifle that you can USE for its intended purpose.

 

[büchsenmacher64]

I checked back to see if Meriwether had fulfilled my request to close my account and in the meantime got some photos in the daylight. Since he has not yet, might as well post them for further ridicule before I go.

Genuine, homemade ferric nitrate stain, blushed with a non-correct electric heat gun, two coats of drying oils. Still needs some screw heads shaped and darkened, all the brass nails cleaned up and installed, some patina put on the brass in the spots where I had to remove it, and some darkening done to the appropriate areas and especially to blend the Acra-Glas fill into the wood around the lock plate, barrel breech, and front bit of the tang.

Just to tee-off the purists (not really, but it no doubt will) I coned the muzzle with a boring bar with the bore center itself indicated true on both ends via 4-jaw chuck and outboard spider (it was pretty deeply and deliberately if not very accurately coned to begin with) and installed a stainless-steel TH liner....with a screwdriver slot in it.

I know the browning touch up on the top and right barrel flat and tang sucks because it's way too smooth and light so I will redo it with LMF rust-pit-in-a-bottle so it woll better match the 200 years of crusty rust on the rest of the barrel that I was actually quite careful to preserve.
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Amazing! Disregard those alleged expert gunsmiths who’ve dumped on your project. They’re simply threatened by you.

 

[Rustycorvair]

Refresh and you'll see what I did with it while you were typing. That's close to 130 hours of painstaking work to make the multitude of durable, lasting, mechanically sound and correctly functioning repairs and modifications I deemed necessary to put it back into safe shooting order so it can be enjoyed again. I also preserved many of the last monkey's faux pas so his part of the history is not lost. I don't remember if I posted a photo the test target or not but it shoots like a laser beam and the unmolested, original sights are still dead-on at 25 yards.

Gun looks great. I hope you enjoy it for a long time.

 

[rickpa]

I guess I'll throw in my 2 cents worth. I got started in BP with an original .36 caplock with a Whitmore and Wolf lock. My dad bought it from an old guy from Finleyville PA thinking I'd like it. It was cut down to 30" and freshed out and the cherry stock was patched and refinished. I was 14 and shot that gun for several years until I sold it to buy a T/C Hawkin. Yeah. Dumb move. That was 61 years ago and that 14 yo kid is now a 75 yo greybeard. If it hadn't been for that old .36 that was redone I might not have enjoyed muzzleloaders as much as I do today. Good on ya for making a shooter. Wish I had that rifle back now.

 

[Uncle Miltie]

I bought this rifle as a parts rifle. 32 caliber, the bore was badly rusted at the breech. Cracks in stock, wood eaten away by cap use in front of the lockplate and behind it. No parts to the lock, just the plate. But the wood was pretty.

The rifle came from Stark Co. Ohio, though it is unsigned. The rotten wood was carefully patched, cracks stabilized, and Davis parts were used on the original plate. Barrel was freshed by the folks at Friendship to 38 caliber. Shoots great now.

The rifle was not worth much, and was not collectible, but to me it was a survivor. Rather than make it something it wasn't, I did my best to preserve it as much as possible, and am very happy with the results.

 

[appalichian hunter]

Nice rifle, good for you to bring it back, it's now doing what it was built for.

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

I bought this rifle as a parts rifle. 32 caliber, the bore was badly rusted at the breech. Cracks in stock, wood eaten away by cap use in front of the lockplate and behind it. No parts to the lock, just the plate. But the wood was pretty.

The rifle came from Stark Co. Ohio, though it is unsigned. The rotten wood was carefully patched, cracks stabilized, and Davis parts were used on the original plate. Barrel was freshed by the folks at Friendship to 38 caliber. Shoots great now.

The rifle was not worth much, and was not collectible, but to me it was a survivor. Rather than make it something it wasn't, I did my best to preserve it as much as possible, and am very happy with the results.

This is the correct way to bring back a rifle

 

[BadDaditood]

Old Auntie Mildred used to tell us, “if you don’t have anything nice to say, sit next to Me”

 

[Buckskinquin]

Hi all, new to the site and and new to flintlocks as of this year but not new to gunsmithing or rifle building. So far I have put together a Kibler SMR to learn how they're supposed to go together and built a trade rifle from a board, barrel, lock, and flat steel.

My late father in law had several flintlock rifles that were mostly for decoration and of unknown vintage. This one had been converted to percussion, shortened, and very poorly repaired and refinished a very long time ago but since the advent of original, liquid Acra-Glas and tinted varnish. The barrel is hand forged and pitted evenly throughout the seven lands but good enough to use. The stock is junk but I'm trying to save it.

Here's what I started with:

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The barrel had been set back an inch from the breech end, a no-fly percussion lock installed (half-**** notch wrecked by double-set triggers), barrel ground down for the drum, wood severely burned and rotted away from the breech of the barrel and around the lock, toe broken off and replaced with a mon-matching wood scrap, nosecap poorly inletted to the shortened stock, patch box lid a corroded mess from ancient patch grease filling the box, and a host of other issues.

Giving life back to an ancient piece is a great endeavor! And once you get to shoot and enjoy your and previous persons labors, it is truly humbling. Thanks for sharing and for saving an old firearm.

 

[HighUintas]

I would put a good aged finish on that lock to match the barrel

 

[IanH]

I would put a good aged finish on that lock to match the barrel

Excellent point, Sir. Will do that when I refinish the tang and touch up the barrel flats to better match.

Would you do the same on the muzzle, with a silicone plug to mask the bore, or let it stain naturally from use?

 

[HighUintas]

Excellent point, Sir. Will do that when I refinish the tang and touch up the barrel flats to better match.

Would you do the same on the muzzle, with a silicone plug to mask the bore, or let it stain naturally from use?

Yes I would age that bit also

 

[Rudyard]

I once had just the original half stock of such an Ohio rifle but I fitted a new barrel & made a lock up from older internals onto a new lock plate , I've restored a few such relics but kept just that one It came right out of Darke County Ohio and under the butt plate it had details of the circumstances as to the trade & acquisition from its 1919 owner written on a scrap of a Versailles Garage paper had an advert for 'Speedmans tyres'. Its the only long American gun I own Though I've set many' Ethnological 'gun parts into plausible original context just to have an example & better than floating forever in boxes as bits . Rudyards take on such matters .

 

[Sam squanch]

Most of these old rifles are used hard, and not worth much to a serious collector. So redoing them into a safe shooter is ok, BUT- be sure that the old gun is not a rare item from history! Research long and hard before touching it. I’m sure we all read the story in the track of the wolf catalog about the guy who refinished the Indian trade gun…..