Hello Cameron.

The late Dr. Austin Hogan, 7-year editor of Parker Pages prior to 2011, and oft times contributor of articles about various aspects of the Parker Gun, wrote and published two successive articles on original stock finishes. The first, "Some Reflections on Stock Finishes" (Parker Pages 1999, Issue 1) and later reprinted in Parker Pages 2017, Issue 3 and the second "More Thoughts on Stock Finishes" (Parker Pages 2000 Issue 4) was also reprinted in Parker Pages 2017, Issue 3 and both of these articles pretty much discuss the techniques and methods, including French polish, that Parker Brothers employed in finishing their stocks.





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My 1893 GH Parker 12b
https://www.jpgbox.com/jpg/61546_600x400.jpg

Thanks, Dean. I will certainly get these articles. As I am new to the PGCA, I will get the cd.

That CD is such a wonderful resource you will never be sorry you bought it.

Thank you fir supporting the PGCA.





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just noticed that your gun was a 12 b what kind of shells do you shoot in this gun...good looking gun... charlie

Black powder using traditional 2 3/4 dram (70g 2F Olde Eynsford) load with components (over powder card, lubed fibre wads, 1oz shot, overshot card, roll crimped) in 2 1/2" brass (Magtech) hulls or same load in roll crimped Federal paper. Federal paper is trimmed to get a good roll crimp. This is my primary hunting load.

Also use low psi 700-X 24gram loads in straight walled hulls such as Fiocchi or Estate using BP REX wads CB4100 WJ wads. I also have a 1oz load with American Select and CB4118 wad. Smokeless loads are all under 6000 psi.

There are also a couple of low psi loads using Clay Dot.

I hope this helps.

I load my own shells.

Cameron here are a few pics of my GH fore end as asked.

Thank you. These photos are quite helpful.

Looking at these photos I am inclined to think the finish is amber or perhaps garnet shellac without any other color added. I have read the excellent piece by Woodreaux on classical finishes (thanks for a fine piece) and the material by Ken61 concerning shellac. These do use alkanet red and Brian Dudley states he will sometimes add this in the final finish application. I am trying to decide whether I should add color to my shellac as I refinish my Parker forend.

As I am not familiar with using shellac as a gun wood finish I would appreciate any other views on this idea. My experience is limited to using orange shellac finishing on shooter gun boxes and such made from lighter wood such as maple with a final application of clear wiping varnish to provide a protective layer.

French Polish is just shellac with a little oil applied to the pad to keep the pad from sticking to the wood when applied. Oil and shellac don't mix so only the shellac goes on the wood except if you use too much oil, Shellac dries almost immediately so when you complete one application, you can start again. Many applications can be put on in one day. Search the Internet for how to do french polish. I use amber shellac from Bullseye which can be thinned if needed. If you use flakes it needs to be cut down for the proper thickness.

Austin's personal instructions to me to "Finish gunstocks the Parker way".
Put 1" of shellac in a bottle and 1/8" of linseed oil on top. add a couple drops of japan drier.
Make a round pad with some wool the size of a nickel, cover with pure cotton cloth (T-shirt type). Fold pad a little larger than mouth of the bottle, shake bottle and apply to pad.
Rub finish onto stock and keep rubbing until dry (about 10 to 15 seconds). some people like a little oil on pad as well.
Ratio of oil to shellac is not critical but too much oil will give a oily surface. Oil can and should be wiped off after shellac dries.
Supposedly if you thin shellac to say 50 50 with alcohol you will get shinier surface.