Painting wood grain onto wooden butt extensions

[John Havard]

This past September while in Alaska for my annual moose hunt I found a little forlorn Parker VH 20 sitting on the shelf of an old favorite gun store. Nothing very special mind you, but a VH 20 in reasonably good shape except for the butt. Someone in days gone by had chopped off the butt to shorten it. Some time later a wooden extension about 1.5" long had been added to the butt to bring it back out to around 14 1/4". The old saying about "standing out like a diamond in a goat's a**" was never more true. The extension had been well fitted but was made with a blonde wood - probably maple.

Normally I rescue 3-legged dogs but this one had more like 3 1/2 legs, so I made it mine. After bringing it home I decided to send it to Mark Larson. I know full well that a VH isn't worth much but I couldn't leave it the way it was. As usual Mark did a great job of matching the nice wood grain (it was a late VH) on the extension.

The metal was not corroded but desperately needed a cleaning. Multiple vibratory cleanings later it was presentable again. The after-market DHBP was put onto the end of the wood and there you have it. More than anything a testament to Mark's ability to blend any extension.