What's in the Box?

[ssgross]

And other times perhaps genuinely "really good" appearing ideas are still-born only because they appear to similar dead-ends?

Ha! Questions which provably have answers but are provably impossible to answer?
I would say no. Meticulously following every lead no matter how ridiculous it seems is a normal part the job - like always first ensuring a clear chamber before anything else. Then again, if I am wrong I have no way of knowing it because as you say it would have already been dead, unless of course someone else answers to the contrary to provide me the example.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decidability_(logic)

Ok...back to finishing my checkering cradle. The other job can wait till Monday morning.

[ssgross]

I got caught up between my day job and the summer's honey-do list. Father's Day put me back at it though!

A small shard was missing starboard underside. I already had 2 more cracks in the sidewalls I found while doing the top piece that needed spread open and fixed - and a noticeable chunk missing along the edge of the butt. So we mixed some acraglas and took care of all these issues.

The sidewall on the right side is much thinner than the left. In addition to the blowout top and bottom, there were 2 more lateral cracks. I spread these open, filled with acraglas, and smeared more acraglas to coat the inner surface to reinforce it. Hopefully I don't have to take off too much of the addition to get the hammer to fit. I'm punting on that one.

Time to fit up (or re-fit) the frame.


The cause of the initial blowout(s) was obvious during disassembly. Oil soaked end grain allowed fibers to compress under recoil until the thin outer edges bore against the frame. I pulled out all the oil I could from the end grain by smearing on a paste of chalk dust and acetone followed by a heat gun, and then I soaked the entire inletting area in a jar of acetone for a couple days. Lastly, I lightly scraped away the loose fibers.

Any adjustments, either from damage or repairs, to the bearing surfaces changes the alignment of the frame to the stock. So I skim-coated these surfaces with acraglass to make a new starting point. As you can see, the frame is now riding a bit low - original wood is proud on top and recessed on the bottom. Working back the top edge of the replacement piece allows it to slide down...until the recoil surface makes contact under the tang. The whole frame now pivots on this area. There is still a bit more to go. Once I get it where I like it, I will glass bed behind the tang, skim coat any exposed end grain around the edges, and finally set a tiny gap on all areas that shouldn't bear any recoil forces. Lots to do still. I can't see my inletting black on the dark wood inside, so I pilfered some lipstick and got yelled at. Slight delay while I go shop for my own stick! They make neon glow in the dark/blacklight lipstick! Order placed (Jerrows seems out of business)!

[ssgross]

I think the hard part is done! I got the guts glass bedded. There was lots of shrinkage under the frame's tang from bubba cranking down on screws to try to keep it all tight. This in turn bent the bottom tang too as the angle changed.
I fixed all that by squaring up the leading edge of stock with the frame, and then holding in tight to the face with a clamp fore-to-aft. I should mention the recoil stud was barely engaged when all was squared up with the unmolested side. Regardless it was trimmed back 30 thou or so short of engaging the frame at all (enough room for my epoxy). I then gently persuaded the bottom plate tang back in to shape to engage the stock again at right spot (between the screws) with it's rear edge square to the sidewalls. Yes, there is even engagement all along the front edges which would be a bad thing. Keep reading.

Dab of epoxy in all the right places, then clamped it all up again for-to-aft and tightened the screws (plenty of release agent everywhere, and plumber's putty filling in all the tangs and frame). Looks pretty good. A bit of work to re-cut the channel for the safety bar, and the channels for the trigger return spring wires. Easy peasy.

Now, with everything tightly bedded and square to the leading edges, we will shave back those leading edges by 30 thous. or so, bed them with another round of epoxy, then shave that epoxy back 20 thous or so. This will leave an unnoticable gap between frame and edges so the recoil stud bears all the force, and also seal the end grain to prevent it soaking up oils and causing the same blowout I just repaired.

Things should move a bit faster now that the delicate work is all done.

[Low & Slow]

Nice progress.

[ssgross]

I started polishing the frame, and soon I will be at a crossroads. I need some help deciding how to finish it. My options seem to be
1. Matte polish and leave in the white
2. Rust blue, or do a "weathered" rust blue.
3. Faux color case hardening. I would likely weather this a bit too so it doesn't look overly "new". https://steelfxpatinas.com/product/g...-complete-set/ I've seen some good results with this stuff, and they sell a "gunsmith kit" for ~$50 with smaller amounts.

Any thoughts?

[Low & Slow]

For what it's worth, I think a weathered color case hardening would suit it.

[ssgross]

Ok, so I tried the gel patina's that I linked above. I polished a piece of bar stock and gave it a whirl. The results are absolutely stunning in appearance. Looks like the real thing when you do it right. Using the blue-halo gel produced some nice vibrant colors. Rinsed to neutralize, dried with air, then used the blue-black gel which sort of dulled the brightest colors back to a nice aged appearance. Then I experimented with what to do next, and it all went down hill. It is the most delicate thing I've ever encountered. It starts to rub right off when handling with nitrile gloves, or even with just a clean, wet cotton towel. I thought maybe polishing to 800 grit was too much, and it needed more surface area, so I tried again with both 600, 400, 320, and 240. It's slightly more durable at lower grits in that it takes a bit longer to rub off, but even a finger back in forth will do it. Oil, grease, etc. doesn't matter either. It wipes right off. Unfortunately, the only thing that will keep it on is a clear coat. I used a rattle can on my test piece and it turned out find, but I don't really feel like fussing with all that in the screw holes, or assembling then clear coating knowing it will get ruined when taking apart again. The only way to do it right is to airbrush and bake on a professional clear coat. No thank you. Even then - I'm planning on using this thing and would really like it to stand up to normal maintenance and use for at least another generation. I thought it was going to be like cold-blue. Even cold blue will stand up to some oil+0000 steel wool to even it out when you're done. This stuff, no matter what, wipes right off with steel wool, or even just a few strokes of a cotton towel. I was so excited when I saw the initial results though.

So, I have the frame and frorend metal all ready to rust blue. We are going to do just 2-3 iterations, then a nice scrub with wd-40 and 0000 steel wool. The rust inhibitors in the wd-40 will lighten the bluing to a dull grey (every noob figures this out the hard way the very first time they tried to rust blue - me included ). Might not even need to scrub. We'll see. The worst that can happen is it looks clean and refinished. The bluing on the barrels is nice and dark, so I don't think I need to worry much at all.

[ssgross]

Big update coming soon! I got my checkering cradle built, and started playing around on some blank blocks of wood. I have a rather nice old 03' sporter stock I rescued a rifle from. Going to checker it next. If I don't ruin it, I'll sell it in better shape than I found it. After that, I have some custom 1911 grips to practice on as a gift for my littler brother to get my confidence to peak shape before doing something serious and irreversibly like this old shotgun.

Man is checkering fun. Therapeutic, like reloading. Only more artsy. I will admit though the first few lines I cut were pretty nerve racking. For anyone wanting to try, the first thing I figured out is that if you are cutting with a 60 degree tool (like a 2 line cutter), and switch to a 90deg. tool (like a single line cutter to straighten out the last pass since it will be a guide for cutting the next line ), then you are screwed on the next line because the 60 degree tool will wobble in the now wider groove and throw it all off even worse.

[Salt Flat]

SS, The most important thing is to get the first two lines extremely straight and angled to each other properly for the diamond shape. I first draw these on the wood with a sharp pencil and then use an exacto knife to cut these deeper. Use a straight edge to guide the exacto. The cut line will guide your checkering cutter and prevent it from slipping or wandering. Try it on some scrap first. Also to keep the straight edge from slipping around it can be taped on or clamped on. After the first lines are done, the rest is the fun part. Salt Flat

[ssgross]

SS, The most important thing is to get the first two lines extremely straight and angled to each other properly for the diamond shape. I first draw these on the wood with a sharp pencil and then use an exacto knife to cut these deeper. Use a straight edge to guide the exacto. The cut line will guide your checkering cutter and prevent it from slipping or wandering. Try it on some scrap first. Also to keep the straight edge from slipping around it can be taped on or clamped on. After the first lines are done, the rest is the fun part. Salt Flat

Thanks, Salt Flat. I had no problems on the master lines. The trick of using a knife first to score it in, then the veiner chisel is pretty slick. The veiner follows the knife-line like a train on tracks, whereas the single line tool is nearly impossible to keep straight until you have the line started with the veiner.
My challenge was that I don't have a 60 degree single line cutter, only a 90. So even with a perfectly straight master line started with knife, then lightly cut with the chisel, then evened out with a 90 deg. single line cutter,, my next line wouldn't be straight because the guide of the 2-line cutter (which is 60 deg) was wobbling in the 90deg master line. The trick then was to 1) order a 60 deg. single line cutter and/or 2) use the faint line produced after the 60 deg. veiner on the master to get my second line lightly scored, but just as straight as the master line. Then going both ways I can produce 2 perfectly straight and parallel master lines. Just hands-off that 90 degree cutter until you are at depth. Once you switch to it, you can't ever go back.