In this installation of “Learning on a VH” I will share how I have prepared the barrels for rust bluing.
Thanks to the advice provided by Tom Flanigan, it was very helpful in preparing the barrels. Thanks as well to Brian Dudley, who sold me a very nice VH forend that will appear in a later installment.
My first step was to have an experienced gunsmith look at the barrels to make sure that they were safe to use. I contacted Dan Cullity, a well-known master gunsmith in East Sandwich, MA, and we arranged to meet at his shop. Dan was very helpful and full of excellent advice. His shop is an amazing place- I could have spent hours just looking at the beautiful guns in process of restoration, and the specialized tools he has created over the years. He inspected the barrels and measured the wall thickness of the RH barrel to be .033”-.038”, and the LH barrel to be .034”-.035” and assured me this was sufficient thickness to support a refinish. Dan also gave me an impromptu lesson in zig zag, or wriggle engraving, which is extensively used on the VH, and discussed ways to remove the dents from the barrels.
Now that I knew the barrels could support a refinish, I borrowed a bore gauge from my machinist and gunsmith friend, Bob R, and measured the bore at .733” with dents that protruded into the bore as much as .007”.
After much online research, I found a particularly excellent post on dent removal here:
http://www.16ga.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9374.
Following the approach described in this post, Bob R made a similar tool for me that measured .728” OD (.005” clearance) with a rod for inserting the tool and a second rod to hammer the mandrel out of the barrel when it got stuck (which was often).
Mandrel 2.jpg
Using this tool and a brass hammer to tap the outside level while the tool acted as a mandrel in the bore, I removed all the dents, then finished the barrels to remove the cuts in the barrels. For more detail on this, please read the excellent post, where you will learn yet another use for Scotch tape. Here is a before-and-after picture of one section:
Before.jpg
After.jpg
The next challenge was to learn enough about engraving to recut the nick and dot engraving at the breech end of the barrels. While I will report success, I have learned that engraving is a very demanding and laborious art. It is not possible to pay too much to an engraver- this is difficult work that takes years to become proficient, and the level of artistry being created by many engravers is astonishing.
Having said that, I received some excellent advice from members on both the Parker Forums and EngraversCafe. I purchased a variety of tools from Contenti (
www.contenti.com), an engraving hammer from Brownells, a belt sander to sharpen the tools, and 2 books on engraving: “The Art of Engraving” by James B. Meek and the excellent book “Engraving Historic Firearms” by John Schippers. This latter book was exceptionally helpful and formed the basis for all my work.
After weeks of practice on copper, then steel plates refining my technique, I felt ready to go at the VH.
Here are the barrels after polishing. The remaining nick and dot were closer to the edge than I liked (.030-.050”, when other VH’s appear to be a consistent .050”) and was not evenly spaced (I wanted .095” spacing and the existing varied from .050”-.100”).
Start.jpg
I made the decision to remove the original engraving completely, leaving the first nick to set my start point
Polished.jpg
Using a black sharpie, I colored the area and drew my layout lines to guide my engraving:
Layout.jpg
Here is the shape of the cutter as recommended by Schippers. The working point is at the junction of the oblique angles:
Tool.jpg
Here is what it looks like after all the cuts are made:
Cuts.jpg
Finally, after filing the displaced metal and sanding to 1200 grit:
Finished.jpg
While I don’t love the “dots”, I’m happy with the finished job:
Completed.jpg
Next up: Rust Bluing! Thanks for reading :-)