Restoration of Fine Sporting Arms

[Bruce Day]

Bachelder left , original right.

Bachelder and Turnbull charge more than some others.

[Joe Graziano]

John, your point is well taken and something I considered before posting. I think the photos speak for themselves. Regarding money, I do think it’s best to keep the specifics between the three parties. I will say that am out the initial payment but that was promised to be returned tomorrow and I expect that it will be. I am however, currently out a Parker shotgun. I expect this will be corrected one way or another with time. I don’t ascribe malice to what happened. Hopefully we can work together to resolve it. You are correct in that if a resolution had been offered, that would have made things exponentially better for all.

[edgarspencer]

In my opinion, it would be foolish to spend another dime on this gun. Any annealing will soften it, but it will erase any 'memory'. Annealing it would only soften it so that it could be mechanically manipulated, and that's a total black hole. I say this because I spent over 30 years making steel, then heat treating it. If a casting warped in heat treat, it was always possible to anneal, straighten, and re-heat treat. All luxuries I may have had are lost once a part is finish machined.

[C.O.B.]

Mr. Campbell makes a very valid point as there are two sides to every story and we haven't heard from either one of the other parties involved.

John Gillette and JJ Roberts have both done work for me and in every case it was well done. What happened to this particular Parker is a travesty to be sure but lets not get the cart to far in front of the horse in a rush to judgement regarding the other involved parties.

[Joe Graziano]

Rich, I agree. This is an open forum and the other gentlemen are welcome to participate in the discussion. I would love to know what happened between the time I dropped the Parker off, until I picked it up several months later in its current condition. Only those two gentlemen know the answer and I invite them to provide it. The Parker is on its way to be evaluated and will update the post after that is complete.

[MD*GSP]

If your point of sale was with Mr. Roberts your dispute is with him, period.

Sounds to me that Mr. Gillette made an honest mistake, and owned up to it instead of slinging bs (which actually says alot about the man). How it's resolved in order to make Mr. Roberts whole, as a result of his indebtedness to you, is between Mr. Gillette and Mr. Roberts. Mr. Roberts, from the sound of it, should be doing whatever it takes to make you happy and as hard as it is due to your frustration, which is understandable, you've got to allow him the opportunity to do that. Sorry to hear your project went sour. Even the best screw up sometimes. Good luck achieving a favorable outcome. I agree w/Edgar, once final machining's occurred..straightening things out is a tall order.

[Joe Graziano]

Scot, you are correct. Again, this is a collector’s forum and my post is about what all can agree is a restoration gone terribly wrong. I have met with Mr. Roberts and we have agreed on a path forward and options for resolving the matter, which I appreciate. I will know in a few days whether or not the frame is repairable. I will update the thread after I know. My update will only involve the restoration of the Parker, which I trust is understandable.

[PML]

Originally Posted by John Campbell

While I can certainly understand Mr. Graziano's frustration with his Parker's "restoration," there is something about this thread that makes me uneasy.

Perhaps it's that the "prosecution" has presented its case... but the defense has not.

What's more, there's an expectation that the two aggrieved parties attempt a private resolution as gentlemen before any public airing of issues. I don't see evidence of that yet.

There are two sides to every story. And I'd hate to see the PGCA Forum even partially descend into the vile mire of ego, incivility and negativism that another notable "BBS" has become.

Kensal,
The man did not prosecute anyone. He presented the work done and showed the results and gave his actual(photo) and anecdotal evidence of the facts based on his dealing with the men who performed the work. I very much appreciate the fact that he took the time to do this based on his business with people who restore the guns we all pursue. I guess if you lawyerly folks think there is a case to defend, then ok, defend it. From the evidence presented I think you might want to just plead it out as SHIT work and move on. Kensal, You certainly might be a witness for the defense as you like to "lightly restore" guns. Good luck, but I think you have a looser here.

Personally, I think this should be the next Parker of the month to remind people that we should shoot them and not try to make them young again. I feel bad for the owner but I think he should just hang it on the wall and the next time he wants to take a Parker and put lipstick (new case colors) on it he can have a reminder of what might happen.

Patrick Lien

[Joe Graziano]

Darn well said!

[PML]

Originally Posted by Bruce Day

Bachelder left , original right.

Bachelder and Turnbull charge more than some others.

Bruce,
How much Flitz did it take to get Bachelder colors toned down to be comparable to original faded Parker colors?

Patrick Lien