Stock Extension Treatment

[Ed Blake]

Several years ago I bought an 1892 vintage GH with 32" barrels. What caught my attention was the unstruck weight of 5 even. It had 3" of drop and a stock cut to about 12 3/4". From the first picture you can see the stock was dirty with a lot of oil and dirt at the head of the stock. Recently, I decided to have the stock bent. There was so much oil in the wood my guy just heated the wood and did not have to add canola. It came up about 7/8" in the heel. I then soaked the stock in lacquer thinner to remove the oil and my stocker added a 1" extension, which he then checkered. I had heard of this from more experienced Parker collectors and always wanted to try it. What do you think? The wood turned out gorgeous. The checkered portion is simply screwed to the stock with the pad screwed through the extension to the butt. The dimensions now are 1 3/4" x 2 1/4 x 14 7/8". Pardon the somewhat fuzzy pictures.

[charlie cleveland]

looks good to me...and that is an unusal barrel weight.... charlie

[Dean Romig]

Nice job... looks pretty classy.

Remember to store this one "muzzles down". ;)

[George Blair]

Ed, with a barrel that heavy I would guess it's a 3 frame.

[Ed Blake]

No George, it's a 2 frame. The GH has a companion hammer gun with barrels of 5.2. They will be my battery for the Southern.

[Daryl Corona]

Ed,
What a great way to disguise an extension. Looks like something Parker would have done. Why don't you bring it to the Southern?

[George Blair]

No George, it's a 2 frame. The GH has a companion hammer gun with barrels of 5.2. They will be my battery for the Southern.

The best I can muster in a 2 frame is 4.8, and the 3 frame is 4.12. I don't think either one of your heavy dutys should have a wall thickness problem!

[LarryAngus]

Very nice fix! What does it mean to have a stock "bent".

[Brian Dudley]

Larry,

Bending the stock is placing the gun in a jig and then with oil and heat the wood is made plastic enough to be able to be bent by ratcheting and holding in a given position. The results can be very effective. Drops and casts can be adjusted through this proceedure. Do a search on the double gun shop forum for stock bending. tehre was a very good thread on there a while back with photos of this process.

Ed,

That checkered extension is a very nice solution to the short stock problem on that gun! It looks very classy and best of all, it is not perminant. It is something that you have to see the results of before believing it would have worked out well.
Gotta love that original pad on that gun. Talk about used up. I have taken off a few beat up ones. But never that bad.

[Buddy Marson]

Ed, your extension looks very, very nice! Well done! I am looking forward to seeing you and Edward at the Southern.
Buddy

[Don Kaas]

Many stockbenders just use heat lamps. I have had dozens of stocks bent by that method. The "oil method" requires more complicated equipment and assocated mess. I have to disagree on the aesthetics of the extension...sorry...

[Dave Suponski]

Ed, Be sure to show me this gun at the Southern. A great alternative to a black spacer. I'm interested in who did the work. Thanks for the pictures.

[Ed Blake]

Thanks for your responses. I'll have it at the Southern so those interested can get a closer look. It's more pleasing to the eye than black spacers and not as obnoxious as the 1 1/2" pad that was on it before.

[Ed Blake]

When I picked the gun up I got to see a Remington-era GHE 410 skeet gun in nearly perfect condition. I'd never seen one. What a treat.

[Rich Anderson]

Very nice Ed, I have seen one other Parker employ this method when a stock was lengthend with a non matching piece of wood.

[John Dallas]

To each, his own, but if it were mine, I would have had Mark Larson work his magic on the extension:
http://www.marklarsongunart.com/

[Bruce Day]

With respect to the checkered stock extension, I think a person needs to ask "what is the intention?" Obviously, it is to be conspicuous. It draws attention to itself. The eye first draws in the entire gun and then is drawn to the stock butt. The extension could be any wood grain pattern. There is no need to painstakingly match grain and growth ring spacing.

The other approach is to take the time to select as close to a wood grain match as possible, then using the artist's touch, finely paint grain lines across the joint. I've seen some that if I had not been told that it was an extension, I would not have known. These guns are more integrated, more fluid appearing, the eye is not drawn to a single feature. Mark Larson, Dennis Smith, David Trevallion are masters of this craft.

[edgarspencer]

I have said on several occasions, that when you can not hide something perfectly, go the opposite route, and make it a stand-out feature. This is an excellent example of doing just that.

[Bruce Day]

I have said on several occasions, that when you can not hide something perfectly, go the opposite route, and make it a stand-out feature. This is an excellent example of doing just that.

I know just what you are talking about with butt treatments.

[edgarspencer]

How were you able to so quickly pull up that picture? Is it your screen-saver?

[Daryl Corona]

I think I'm going to be sick.

[Greg Baehman]

I think I'm going to be sick.
I already am.

[Bill Murphy]

In other words, you fellows are casting a vote for Mark Larson? That would be my preference also.

[George Blair]

WOW! Big enough to share with a friend!