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Post by Buckskin Billy on Jun 19, 2008 20:17:56 GMT -5
this is the first blackpowder gun i got at the tender age of 13. for my birthday. i have shot over 77,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 in it ;D. this is how it looks now. being young and dumb i didn't always take care of it even though i knew better . it has been rebuilt once when i was 16 by a guy who called himself a gunsmith. he put new springs in it too strong for the gun that cause the trigger and hammer to break. i gave up on the gun when i got my real colts. over the years this old gun has been shuffled around a bit. as you can see from the pictures the trigger is gone as is the hammer and most of the screws. its been in a box in my shop until a few minutes ago. i've decieded to bring this old gun back to life. i've been reading on how to finish guns the old fashion way. and this old gun will be my ginne pig. i'm going to do the old timey rust blueing on the barrel and cylinder. nitre blue the wedge pin and all the screws and trigger. the new hammer will come with a case harden finish and i have a old recipe for oil finishing the grip like they were done in the 19th century. i'm going to do a work log on this over time. and show how i do each step. good and bad this will be my summer project. cuz of a tight pocket book right now i'm going to start on the grips first. i have everything needed to start this part of what i will call "project headache". i will start on the grips tommorrow. heres the pictures of the gun as of now
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Post by Buckskin Billy on Jun 20, 2008 21:33:47 GMT -5
heres everything i'll be using to do the wood finish. the old west gunsmith book is a must have for anyone shooting old guns. 0000 steel wool, 100 & 220 grit sand paper,tack cloth,razor blades,pencil eraser some tru oil, and a tea kettle i already had the tru oil, eraser, tea kettle and gunsmith book. i bought everything else at the hardware store for $11.24 i'll start off with a razor blade to scrape off the finish note the angle of the blade also see the finish as it peels off heres the grip with the finish off of it. it took two razor blades and right at 17 minuets to srip. you want to take long and deliberate strokes here, going with the grain and overlapping the strokes as much as possible
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Post by Buckskin Billy on Jun 20, 2008 21:45:11 GMT -5
now for the sanding. i took the eraser and wrapped the 100 grit sand paper around it. the eraser is so you don't push down too hard breaking the grip and to keep from sanding too hard. sand smooth tring to get what finish you might have left when scrapeing. don't sand too hard around the edges and around any dents or dings in the wood. it took about 10 minuets to complete the sanding sanding the grip finished the first part of sanding
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Post by Buckskin Billy on Jun 20, 2008 22:08:31 GMT -5
phase one of the sanding is done. now it's time to see if i can get all the dents and digs out of the wood. we'll do this by steaming with the tea kettle. thats a preatty nasty gash in that grip that i'm pointing at. we'll give it our best but it might not go any where
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Post by Buckskin Billy on Jun 20, 2008 22:22:37 GMT -5
here i'm steaming with the tea kettle. yup that steam gets hot in a hurry. just hold grip over steam for a few minuets and use a blow dryer to dry the grip. you'll need to repeat this until the dent feels more like a bump. heres the grip right off the steam notice that it's wet here i'm blow drying the wet grip. shhhh don't tell the wife now look at that nasty gash. it just might go away. still too soon to tell. at this point it feels like a bump as do the other nicks. the dark color to it is the stain or finish. it is now to the top of the surface. it will be time to start sanding again to smooth this out and blend with the rest of the wood. but for now according to the gunsmith book the grip must set for 3 days. so it's break time
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Post by Buckskin Billy on Jun 20, 2008 22:27:57 GMT -5
so far i got 47 minuets on the grip. it would take longer if this was a rifle. and i aint had to take no asprin. the hardest part of this has been getting photobucket to work right for me
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Post by caretaker on Jun 21, 2008 8:24:20 GMT -5
sounds more like fun to me than a headache. Nice lookin pistol it should be restored.
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Post by Cody ( The Patriot ) on Jun 21, 2008 11:21:48 GMT -5
Dang Shady I got a few that need some work you might get me motivated.
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Post by Buckskin Billy on Jun 23, 2008 19:42:53 GMT -5
well it's back to work on the grips. here's a picture of the grip after dying for three days the next step is what the old timers would call boning. you take a wooden dowl and press against the dents you steamed to see if they will hold. ours seem to be ok. here i'm sanding with 100 grit paper to smooth out the steamed areas. we'll do this until its smooth and well blended after sanding with 100 grit paper
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Post by Buckskin Billy on Jun 23, 2008 19:58:18 GMT -5
now we'll be switching to 220 grit paper. the 220 grit is on the left sanding with the 220 grit. be sure to use the pencil eraser we're finished sanding and now rubbing the grip with a paper towel and then a tack cloth. this is to make sure we have all the residue from sanding off
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Post by Buckskin Billy on Jun 23, 2008 20:14:50 GMT -5
now for the oil. heres everything needed to do the oiling. note how the grip has a open clothes hanger on it applying the oil. notice my hi-tech tool for applying the oil. yep my finger. i'm giving it the finger treatment ;D. anyhow go slow and put a little at a time on. and heres the first coat of oil. i will put at least 5 coats of oil maybe more. we'll do this until we get the color we want or close to it. so it may take more. i got the grip hanging in my closet. i spent about a hour on this today. sanding and oiling. tommorrow we'll add another coat of oil
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Post by redthunder on Jun 24, 2008 2:02:24 GMT -5
you do a lot of work billy, looks like it be very nice in the end, thanks for all step by step pictures.,
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Post by Buckskin Billy on Jun 25, 2008 11:47:29 GMT -5
well friends and neighbors. i didn't get on the compooter much last night, cuz a bad thunderstorm came through. after what happen to my compooter with last thunderstorm i unpluged it. didn't want to take no chances. so anyhows i added another coat of oil to the grip yesterday. i didn't feel it was necessary to show that step. just rubbed the oil on with my finger. i'll have to do that maybe 5-6 more times before the last part of finishing. so i'll just post pictures if something drastics occurs with the overall look. will put another coat on this afternoon. my rust bluing solution should be here today or tommorrow so we'll be starting on the metal refinishing afore to long
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Post by Buckskin Billy on Jun 27, 2008 20:20:43 GMT -5
i've put the fifth coat of oil on today. it's darken up some. i will put coats on it through the weekend. still a few more small steps to complete before the grip is finished. the rust blue kit came in and i've got all the neccisary tools to perform this part of project headache. tommorrow i'll get the camera out and start stripping the old blue finish from the gun.
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Post by Buckskin Billy on Jun 29, 2008 21:27:54 GMT -5
well project head ache has turned into project pain in the butt. i started the rust blueing today. i took many pictures today but am to worn out to fight with this compooter to put them on it today. after tommorrow things will get some what easier and the steps won't take as long. so i'll post pictures of the beautiful disaster in a day or two
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