C&R Storage Rack

[mrandig]

While I'm watching the glue dry, I guess it's time for a random unrelated topic.

I accidently purchased a pair of VZ.24 rifles (Romanian contract). It must be Christmas, as the barrels are pretty frosty, but overall they're pretty damn cool. I love the red wood with the white metal. I'll post more on these later. Right now I'm in the process of cleaning, and figuring out what I've gotten myself into.

Some people accidently get into car crashes, hit by meteors falling from the sky, scalded with hot coffee, etc. I accidently buy rifles apparently. I've also got an 1891 Argentine Mauser coming soon, which was also an accident. Not sure when that's supposed to arrive, as I understand that the mail is all tied up.

For this cleaning job, I just picked up this ultrasonic cleaner from Amazon (@$100). With some Simple Green and water, the cleaning is first rate. I would definitely recommend. Everything comes out shiny and like new. Will the ultrasonic cleaner last? Who knows...

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I hate to even ask the question, but is there some reason that these floor plates don't release? I can't get either of the two to come apart, and I've gotten pretty violent with them. They don't appear to be soldered closed, they're just stuck together. Yes, I know that button needs to be depressed...

[mrandig]

Since I'm doing product reviews while the glue dries, why not another.

I've been trying out different ways to clean wood, and came upon the steam cleaner shown below. It's another Amazon purchase ($35.99). It's good for when you have a stock and/or handguard that needs a light cleaning, but you don't want to get too aggressive. Just steam then wipe down, steam then wipe down, steam then wipe down. When the wood becomes matte and you can see the voids in the wood grain, it's done. I'd say it's good for removing around 50 years of oil, dirt and grime; over that amount use something else.

This cleaner does put out a ton of steam, but the tank is small, so it will take a few refills (or more) for a full rifle. It needs to cool down before you can refill, so that's my only negative (only takes a few minutes). If it's not totally cooled down, it's really easy to get burned (ask me how I know).

I used this on the handguard for one of the VZ.24s. I steamed it, and then oiled it again; the cleaner worked out pretty well. I don't think it took an hour total. You're not submerging the wood in a lot of water (or chemicals), so there's not a lot of drying time, and the wood doesn't seem as prone to shrink, swell or crack.

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I didn't realize my dinner was peeking out in the right corner of the rifle pic. Thumbs up on the Hatch Pepper seasoning. That's the real winner here!

[browningautorifle]

I have one of these also, it's excellent for popping out dents that are present. Some of these dents are NOT small and some have been there for decades I reckon...yet they come out. Just a sideline of removing the crud.

[champ0608]

About six months ago I sold off twelve rifles to buy the rifle on the left, so I built this rack for my remaining, humble collection.

[mrandig]

They have also slowly been sneaking into the wife's domain of the living room. There are now three hanging on the walls above openings and two sets of deer antlers mysteriously moved down beside the actual mounted deer in the past couple of weeks.

I really like the bicycle hook idea. I've got an awful lot of empty wall space...

---------- Post added at 02:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:42 PM ----------

I have one of these also, it's excellent for popping out dents that are present. Some of these dents are NOT small and some have been there for decades I reckon...yet they come out. Just a sideline of removing the crud.

I was really happy how things turned out. It was a little work, but it was filthy. I was watching Tucker on TV at the same time, so I didn't really mind the effort. The little dings and dents cleaned up nicely, but it didn't strip all the way down to bare wood.

Whoever designed it so that the safety valve needs to be removed in order to refill it is an a**h*le.

[mrandig]

I think these side pieces came out pretty well. One side is already sanded, the other side needed a little more wood filler, so it will have to wait. The seam on the left side is a little more pronounced than I'd like; I may try to mix together a slurry of glue and sawdust, and see if I can fill that in a little bit.

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The top piece is pretty mindless work, so I think I'll start that next.

[browningautorifle]

slurry of glue and sawdust,

Standard practice and works well enough.

[mrandig]

Making a slurry and then running it down the seam helped somewhat. It already has a strong, solid glue line, so there's not much of a gap to squeeze anything into. I'll probably work with it a little more, but I think it's close to being good enough. I can scratch that glue line with a dental pick and then fill, but that's a major pain.

The right side is almost invisible.

Also seemed to be a good time to finish up with the wood filler.

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[jonnyc]

Cool targets under the deer heads!

[mrandig]

Happy New Year Everybody!

2020 was like a chocolate chip cookie, but once you took a bite, it turned out to be oatmeal raisin. Hopefully 2021 is a little better.

I'm going to let go of my OCD and just live with the glue line. Time for a quick trip to the chop saw to make sure the two sides come out the same size. I'm just going to trim these very slightly (1/16"). I tape both pieces together for this step, so when they're cut, be it oversized, undersized, or the right size, they're the same size. Don't want a crooked rack.

Attachment 113755

Perfect. Now on to the top shelf.