A promise is a promise

I've been out of game for sometime now but i had made a promise to fix this Sht LE Mk1 handguard, to a friend, so here goes.

The ears had been broken or chopped off... it wasn't a converted trainer since the cut was clearly square.
I used one of mine as a pattern to go by.
I re cut what was left of the ears, at an angle, to give me a longer gluing surface and i will also add dowels and pins for added strength.

Still have some final shaping to do and roughing of the wood to match the rest (and of course staining) but i think it will turn out ok.
I hope he likes it.

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Nice workmanship....
How is the Metford coming along ??

Very nice work, as usual, Tatou. FWIW, I usually like to lap-joint those handguard extensions. Not sure if one is better than the other, as once I install on the rifle, I very rarely remove them. And even then, only very gingerly.

Cant wait to see them finished product!

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Originally Posted by Warren

Nice workmanship....
How is the Metford coming along ??

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Thanks,
everything is on hold and so are my restorations, for now. I haven't touched anything in many months...
2022 has turned out to be a bad year to say the least.
I will probably finish them quickly and roughly just to call them done, for the moment.

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Originally Posted by smle addict

Very nice work, as usual, Tatou. FWIW, I usually like to lap-joint those handguard extensions. Not sure if one is better than the other, as once I install on the rifle, I very rarely remove them. And even then, only very gingerly.

Cant wait to see them finished product!

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Thank you,
to be honest a lap-joint never came to mind and like you i am not sure if one would be better than the other in this case.
There is so little wood to make contact that i feel any repairs will always be somewhat fragile.
that's why i plan on installing a brass treaded pin, from underneath to help secure things even more.
Of course like you say the piece should be removed gently, not at all if there is no use to.
I do know one thing for sure... the glue i use is strong. How much strong, i leave that to the end user to find out.
Heck, those ears are fragile even when the hg's are sound to start with. So caution is always a good idea.

Done
Each prongs has a vertical wood dowel that goes from top to bottom and a brass threaded pin at a 45 degree angle that is only visible from the bottom.
I also took the liberty to add a few small nicks here and there to help the new wood blend in a bit better.
Oh i forgot to mention... the prongs might be a hair too long (i did this on purpose too). That way the new owner can shave them to proper length (easy enough job) and make sure the fit is perfect.

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Nice, very nice...

An amazing standard of workmanship.
It could only ever be done as a labour of love, you'd never be able to make a commercial business out of it, the time and effort involved, if charged at a commercial rate, would just make it impossible to sell.

Really impressed.

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Originally Posted by Alan de Enfield

An amazing standard of workmanship.
It could only ever be done as a labour of love, you'd never be able to make a commercial business out of it, the time and effort involved, if charged at a commercial rate, would just make it impossible to sell.

Really impressed.

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Indeed, i only do this for friends. I enjoy doing this but if i count the hours i put into it, it would be outrageous.
This little repair took me 6 - 8 hours total (who's counting) and i had scraps of wood already to the right size and i had a couple of short brass pins laying around... so i saved some time there.
Not saying i would never do it as a side gig but there's no way one could charge for the time and effort that comes with it.