Stock Refinish

[Dylan Rhodes]

Well as the saying goes nothing is easy….

After removing it from the first filth I noticed that the trigger guard screw hole was basically a gelatinous mess, at some point since 1893 someone has stripped that and then filled it with some kind of epoxy or glue. so my strategy there is to sand a 1/4” walnut dowel down in the drill press to fit in the hole and glue that in with some 2p-10 Jel.

I also had a pretty good crack open up along a grain line near the butt plate, i can’t get it to really close even in a soft jaw vice, so I’m thinking I’ll have to fill that with some died epoxy and resand the rear of the stock there flush with the butt plate. Not ideal, but I don’t think forcing it shut is really going to hold for any period of time.

All in good learning. Nothing that’s going to turn this project into a lost cause.

[J. A. EARLY]

Originally Posted by Dylan Rhodes

Thanks everyone. The acetone is quite disgusting after 24 hours, nearly the color of black tea. Should I switch this out? I was going to put a new gallon in at the 1 week mark, but that’s still 6 days away….

I buy it by the five gallon container at Lowes. I use a gallon and when it has finished, I save that and then use a new gallon. On the next stock I use the first gallon and then change out to the second gallon since that is usually not too filthy.

[Dylan Rhodes]

Well it is out of the acetone bath, and this thing swelled up like a balloon! the buttplate is a good 1/4" short on the bottom and 1/16" plus small on each side of the stock now. It seems to have lifted all of the oil staining however. Hopefully it returns to its normal size after some time to dry out.

[J. A. EARLY]

I saw the comments about the wood shrinking after soaking. I have never seen that, but the opposite. They swell to original dimensions in my opinion after the soak and complete drying before applying finish.

[Dylan Rhodes]

Another update. It did shrink back to size thankfully. The butt plate and cap are black again. Managed to repair some chipped inletting to some degree. Took me a few batches of acraglass to get the sawdust coloring method down so the right side is far superior to the left. Also successfully filled in the gaping crack that opened up in the acetone soak near the butt plate. Put some acraglass down into the stress cracking, and used 2p-10 thin on some other fine cracks under the butt plate to shore them Up. steamed out all the dents, that was a 5 hour chore. Lightly sanded, and hit it with some water to preview the grain.

The final boss is epoxying a dowel in the trigger guard hole and resetting the screw. There was nothing but some tape jammed around the screw holding it in when I removed it.

Then it’s just a couple coats of timberluxe and out to the clays course.

At some point I will try to make a flat top checkering tool to chase the checkering, research is ongoing on that front.

Seems like it’s going to come out to be a winner

[B. Dudley]

A V checkering tool is just fine. Parker were not cut with a square bottomed flat top tool.

[Dylan Rhodes]

Today’s update:

The fourth coat of timberluxe is taking well, and my suspicions were confirmed that buried under that grime and marred surface of this GH was some superb grain pattern. Quite pleased with my first attempt at a crack repair (see heel photo), and my inletting fix isn’t the worst job for my first attempt and an education from YouTube university. A couple more coats and it’s essentially done. Checkering tools are on the way, but that’s going to be a more of when we get to it job. The current checkering is not bad and the toothbrush method has kept the valleys from becoming traps for excess timberluxe.

all opinions welcome.

[24 grams]

Looks beautiful!
I envy your skill and patience.

[Dylan Rhodes]

Appreciate the compliment, but calling me skilled in this regard is a disservice to many other more adept members on here.

[Dylan Rhodes]

The last update on this thread. SHE’S DONE. Grain not seen this clearly since someone picked it off the shelf in a likely oil lamp lit Chas Godfrey store in 1893.

This was not a disaster, although a few minor errors I would rate myself 6/7 out of 10. Much better than I had anticipated. To be frank, I had purchased this with my inner demons telling me I would not be upset if I had to call it all a wash and resale for parts. Fortunately, we are in the camp that’s set for another 100 years.

Criticism and comments welcome as this was a learning experience.