Jolly well stated. I have enjoyed the 12 year Redbreast, I'm sure the 15 year is even finer yet. I'm a highland single malt Scotch man myself, but the Irish is a pleasure as well. I will have to fill you in on fine Japanese whiskey one day, an absolutely amazing culture of distilling over there, some very good stuff. I learned of it through my interest in Japanese blades, the two go hand in hand.

I will continue with my hand finishing of the gun metal. And I agree, a paper backing and silicon carbide provides a predictable scratch pattern, especially if oiled. I am going to drop down in grit but I think you are right, 180 will be too coarse. I will most likely start tomorrow with about 320 grit, just to get rid of at least some of the marks that are bothering me.

I know 2000 grit or even finer sounds over the top, but as I have mentioned, I have been exposed to ridiculously highly polished steel with many of my Japanese blades, and thus have become quite fixated on a very smooth finish. I have Katanas that are polished to mind boggling lusters!

Good tip on taping Over current engraving. I would like to think of re-engraving this gun as a distant option and not a necessity. It is a family heirloom but I do have others, besides, I want to leave my mark on this one. I just hope the mark isn't too ugly!

Would love to hear about Japanese whiskeys. My old man used to have tons of it when he worked for IBM, but I never knew what of it was good.

I'll keep this short, this not being a whisky forum...

First thing about Japanese whisky, drop the 'e'. Unlike America and Ireland, Japan shares with the Scotsmen (and the Canadians), the spelling. Even though the etymology of the word is Gaelic (Irish Gaelic not Scot Gaelic), so "whiskey" is probably correct, who cares though, if the Scots spell it without an e, then that spelling gets my vote too!

Next thing is, the Japanese have always pursued the flavour of Scotch. A Japanese chemist came back from years in Scotland and started the whole Japanese Whisky thing about 100 years ago.

The Japanese pride themselves in not selling off their extra stock to "Blenders", thus it is hard to find a Japanese Blend. Single malt rules in Japan.

My current stock:
1. Nikka Miyagikyo, 12 year, 90 proof, slow building lasting flavour, in fact when you first pour it, you can't smell anything. Then ten minutes in the glass and you can smell it from your chair. Really something.
2. Suntory Yamazaki, 12 year, 86 proof, very light and absolutely delicious. Yamazaki is a neighborhood in Kyoto, used to have more distilleries there than all of Japan combined.
3. Suntory Hibiki, 12 year, 86 proof, very full bodied, heavy, smokey, good with a cigar.

There are so many others, but...

There ends my first intro into Japanese Whisky.

Hope the moderators on this forum don't delete this! I promise, my next post will be about double guns!

Japan is on my list of future fishing locations. A couple of years ago I discovered Tenkara and really enjoy it's simplicity.

Very interesting Dan, thanks for the info. Definitely something I will check out.

I hear Tenkara fly rigs are fine indeed.

I have had a rough discovery on my Lewis. I stripped the varnish off the funrniture and am not happy. The varnish was dark, I never suspected any issues, but upon stripping the butt stock I now have a new challenge on my hands. There is a chip at least an inch long right above the right hammer. It had been filled in with glue and sawdust! There are at least three hairline cracks right up by the action in the thin inletted sections on both sides! And, there are scrape marks (almost like random carving marks) all around the last three or four inches of the rear of the stock. Then as icing on the cake, the oil soaking is extensive. No fun.

The front splinter stock seems fine but it too has a bit of oil soaking, but looks to be removable.

This project is growing rather large...

I think I might be in the market for a new stock, we will see. I have epoxied missing chips on to other gun stocks but this missing chip is in such a delicate an thin part of the stock. I have also injected epoxy into hairline cracks always with success, so that part may be OK. I have also drawn oil out of stocks, so that part might be doable but there is a lot of oil! I have already done three or four acetone soaks and the oil is still there... But that missing chip. I think that is a tough nut. I don't know if even a reinforced and epoxied new piece of wood will be strong enough. I will post pictures soon.

Any tips on this would as usual in this thread, be very much appreciated.

If you can upload some good photos, that would be very helpful. The expertise of Mr. Dudley will come in handy, here.

Without seeing the missing wood, I would think of looking into some glass bedding. When done properly, it can work very well in such a case. (I recently saw a 0 frame VH for sale that I believe was glassed by Bob Blake.) Especially if you're worried about there being a very limited amount of contact with the receiver.

As I recall, the wood is extremely thin in areas on the head of that stock. I'm not sure how much success you'll have with epoxy on those areas without some other reinforcement. When you reinstall the butt-stock, you'll find a fair amount of torque is put on it when pinning everything together. That is how these typically are. That force may pop your epoxy with the wood being so thin. Maybe it's worth a shot, but add the additional shock-load of recoil and you may be doing a fair bit of work for nothing, in the end. I think it really depends on how severe and settled you think the cracks are.

Ithaca Lewis buttstocks are a pain in the rear! All that inletting in the face of the head for clearance of the hammers makes them very prone to damage and difficult to repair.

Al, your reply with photos explaining how to use the flathead screwdriver clamped in a bench vise worked perfectly for me to finally install both mainsprings in my Ithaca Crass this afternoon, many thanks!

I'm glad to hear that it's properly (and safely) cocking again.

it would be nice if I could safely fire it just a few times

Have the barrels looked at and gauged.

I responded to your post on the original thread with some low pressure links, but those shells do not, in any way, guarantee that the barrels are safe to shoot.

I just got my first Ithaca double. The serial number "671XX" shows it to be a 1902 Lewis 12 gauge grade 1. It won't lock up. I see a pin blocking the locking bolt from engaging the locking lugs on the barrel. I'm a pretty good gunsmith when I've got a diagram but I can't find anything on this gun.

I can send you diagrams when I get back home to my laptop...

Bach, have you had a chance to find the diagram for it yet?

Does the top-lever stay open when all the way to the right, or does it come back to center on it's own?

I found the problem why it wouldn't lock. The lever stays open to the right when open. But when I close the action, the lever doesn't have spring tention to keep the lever centered. It has enough mention to lock it closed, just not enough to keep the lever centered.

The locking mechanism is quite adjustable to solve that problem. It may just be gunked up and in need of proper cleaning. Assuming that there are no substantial cracks in the head of the buttstock, a quick test would be to open the shotgun fully assembled, make sure that the top-lever is locked to the right on it's own so that the barrel extension doesn't hit anything, and snap the gun shut with a bit of force (open palms should be sufficient). If this doesn't make a difference, then you're probably in need of a bit of adjustment due to age and wear.

It turns out I need a new locking bolt. Someone in the past drill a hole in it so the set screw wouldn't let the straddle block from slipping. So I can't adjust it now.
Anyone know where I can get a new barrel locking bolt?

You may be able to fill he hole (drill, tap, plug screw, and file). But, it's probably easier to buy a replacement.

Here's a link to the part listing. Sometimes the parts that are listed with Numrich are mis-titled, so it can be a bit of a crapshoot. Also, I'm unsure if the bolt for the Crass model is longer than that on a Lewis. Of course, you could cut and file the longer one to the proper length for your shotgun. Anyway, try this one: http://www.gunpartscorp.com/Products/1007820.htm

Thanks. I've been considering all of the options you mentioned. I'm thinking about asking Numrich for a picture of that exact part.

Good luck with Numrich. FYI: their return policy is very good should there be a discrepency in the part.

Also,

Curious, how were you opening the action if the straddle block was not set to the locking bolt? Were you having to partially disassemble the receiver, or would the straddle block's set screw catch somewhere along the way moving the bolt rearward enough to clear the lug?

It's all there and working but the straddle block needs to be adjusted to keep the lever centered when closed. But I can't adjust it because a former owner drilled a hole in the bolt to prevent the straddle block from slipping on the bolt.

Could I possibly have that Lewis schematic emailed to me? wrgrguns@aol.com

I possibly have a bolt for a lewis. Let me check today.

I see.

There is also a dovetailed piece on the straddle block that is used for adjustment via the top-lever cam. That may come in handy if the lever doesn't need a lot of adjustment.

I checked and i have a pair of Lewis bolts on hand. Along with likey most any other internal part that you may need.
If you would like to purchase anything, please contact me.

I never heard back from the guy that was offering to send me the parts schematics.

Thank you Brian. I used your link and went to your website, found your phone number and gave you a call. I left you a detailed message of what I'm looking for.

Hi all,
I’m way late to this thread and a newbie on the Parker Gun forums. I’m working on CAD drawings for the Lewis components and an exploded view drawing. I’m measuring what I have on hand, but some parts have been through a lot in the past 115 years. I saw that alcaviglia had a notebook with dimensions and was working on an assembly guide if I recall correctly. Is there anyway to access that info? I did see his album with the photos of the disassembled action components. Right now, I’d like to see if anyone has overall length dimensions for the firing pins. The two I have measure 1.157” and 1.176”. Both are peened a bit where they’ve been struck by the hammers. I have similar threads going on shotgunworld, but no luck yet. Ultimately, I’d like to post and share the final drawings as a reference for anyone interested.
Thanks,
Wundermech

Had all but forgotten about this thread. I haven't been into a Lewis model in a few years, but I do have all of the dimensions, including those of both firing pins as observed on the one in the album (1901). I'm travelling at the moment, so I will not be able to access those figures until I return on 30 August.

When home, I can send to you what I have.

alcaviglia,
That would be great! My current plan is to get one part modeled and drawn per week. Work and the never ending list of to-do items necessary to maintain domestic bliss keep getting in the way of my hobbies!

Wundermech,
When you finish I would love to get a copy of that.