TC Hawken Kit finished (pics)

[30coupe]

Well, 40+ hours later, she didn't turn out too bad. I didn't want shiny brass, so I used some Oxpho blue to age it a bit. It came out okay, but it's a bit more copper colored than I wanted. I used six coats of Tru-oil for the finish, then Johnson's Paste Wax to finish it off...buffed with flannel. I may hit it with some Stock Sheen after a month or so to cut the shine down a bit more. I ended up short one brass screw for the fore end cap, so the phillips head screws are still holding that on. I'll pick up some brass ones at Menards when I get back there.

Overall, I'm not too unhappy with how she turned out. Now if I could just find some caps to make her go boom once my mold gets here, all will be good!

Anyway, here are some pictures:




The wood is pretty nice. I used a dark walnut stain on it first, which brings out the grain and adds some character the factory finish lacks.

 

[30coupe]

Here are some shots of the other side:





The flash kind of makes this one look redder than it really is, but it does show off the grain nicely.



I know there are lots bigger bores out there, but a fifty is still pretty impressive from this angle!

 

[10_point]

Looks real nice, i like the grain pattern you got there.

 

[izzyjoe]

Wow,that's nice, you can also age the brass once you fire it. Just wipe the brass down with some dirty patches you clean the bore with,it will give it a nice patina look.

 

[necchi]

Nice job! :wink:

 

[uno676]

looks good I hope mine turns out half that good :thumbsup:

 

[MSW]

nice looking work!

 

[frogwalking]

You really brought a nice figure out in the wood. I like it. Note on screws: the vast majority of original rifles had steel screws. My first builds had brass screws as I thought they looked better.

 

[ohio ramrod]

The Philips head screw has totally destroyed the gun. If you ship it to me I'll properly dispose of it for you! :rotf: :rotf:

 

[OldNo7]

Looks great to me, nice job! :hatsoff:

You can buy sets of Hawken brass screws on eBay, if you want to match the others.

Tight groups!

Old No7

 

[Spikebuck]

That really turned out nice! Love the finish and the figure in the wood. Beautiful gun that should serve you very well in the field.

But I have to warn you that something could go wrong with it during a hunt, so to make sure it's OK, I'll volunteer to come down and go hunting with you for some of those BIG Iowa bruiser bucks...errrr, I mean to help out if something goes wrong with it. :grin:

 

[cynthialee]

:thumbsup:

Makes me want to strip off the factory finish from mine and do a proper job of it.

Looks very good.

 

[Wes/Tex]

There's often some nice wood grain hiding under many commercial gun finishes. Pedersoli finally seems to have figured this out as well...that hideous red slop they used for years is finally being replaced with something much more eye appealing.

 

[30coupe]

I have refinished several factory finished guns that revealed surprisingly beautiful wood hidden under a bland, plastic finish. Go for it! You are bound to end up with something better. :thumbsup:

 

[cynthialee]

The finish that T/C used on their stocks looks like it will be a serious PITA to remove.

Any hints, suggestions or ideas to make the job easier than sanding it all off by hand?

 

[Wes/Tex]

See if you have any furniture refinishers anywhere around your neck of the woods. If they're a fairly high production outfit, they might have the bath tank stripping system. Drop in a piece, let if float a few minutes and rub all the finish off with a plastic brush et voila! Does all the finishes you'll ever find, even polys. The one thing you don't want to do is painted pieces...works just as quick but you have to spend an hour seining tiny flecks of paint out of the bath! Yeah, it was one of my Deco dressers that got Don into trouble...felt morally obligated to help seine! :wink:

 

[30coupe]

See if you have any furniture refinishers anywhere around your neck of the woods. If they're a fairly high production outfit, they might have the bath tank stripping system. Drop in a piece, let if float a few minutes and rub all the finish off with a plastic brush et voila! Does all the finishes you'll ever find, even polys. The one thing you don't want to do is painted pieces...works just as quick but you have to spend an hour seining tiny flecks of paint out of the bath! Yeah, it was one of my Deco dressers that got Don into trouble...felt morally obligated to help seine! :wink:

That would be the easiest. You could try one of the off the shelf strippers. One of them might work. Sanding would be my last resort.

 

[Jason Lewis]

certistrip will do the job just fine.

 

[Renegade Dan]

She turned out real nice! Great Job. :thumbsup:

 

[chazz1975]

did you remove the patchbox to refinish it? if so, was there some sort of glue/adhesive holding it in? I just tried removing mine without any luck, after i removed the screws, it is still stuck on there.