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Topics - Rancid Crabtree

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16
Archery / Sherwood Forest Bowman (Sussex, WI) Traditional archery shoot
« on: February 04, 2016, 06:59:11 AM »
Sherwood Forest Bowmen in Sussex will be hosting an indoor 3D brush shoot and an outdoor 3D shoot Feb 6, 2016. Shooting hours are 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Breakfast, lunch, and beverages will be available. Traditional archery gear only.

For more info contact Greg Szalewski at 262 853 4648.

Address:N61 W25600 Walnut Rd. Sussex, WI 53089

Directions to clubhouse:
http://sherwoodforestbowmen.com

17
Outdoor Related Craft Projects / Badger Mittens
« on: March 30, 2015, 06:39:59 AM »
I was asked to make a pair of leather Chopper mittens for a UW Wisconsin Badger fan.  I will make these a two tone design using split cowhide suede for the palms and cow leather tanned to look like buckskin for the backs. The removable liners will be fleece with a Wisconsin Badger pattern.. Here is the starting point.



Leather parts cut out and ready for red trim.



The buckskin cow hide lends itself well to adding ink. Bucky badger added.



All the leather and trim and ink complete.





Then a deep soaking with a silicone waterproofer and set aide to dry while I work on the fleece liners. It darkens the leather but once dried goes back to its original color.



To make sure these mittens are warm I doubled up the fleece. Here are the pieces before sewing.



In progress.



The finished fleece liners with trim added.





The liners in the mittens.



My hand model wearing the finished product.




18
Outdoor Related Craft Projects / Steam bending snowshoes
« on: February 16, 2015, 06:54:23 AM »
Ive wanted to learn to make snowshoes for some time but never got around to it. Now is the time I guess. Before I make actual sized and wearable shoes I will start by making half scale versions. Here is the process Im using as I learn about steam bending wood. Im using oak since Ash is hard to come by. I shape and thin the oak stick in the areas where the bends are otherwise it will break and I have broken many until I got a pattern that works.



The form I made.



The high tech steam creator (since one cant buy steam, premade)



The steam chamber is PVC



After a hour of steam It can be coaxed around the form.



and the nose bent



After a day or two its dry enough to hold the shape and crossbars are added and its sanded because the steam raises hell with the wood



Then I lace the heel and toe with deer skin and varnish everything.



Since the prototypes are half scale and cant be worn I will turn them into art pieces. The first batch will have deerskin leather enters with artwork.







Again, these are half scale.



Then I thought, since this is the 21st century I would make electric snowshoes so I bought a small light and cordset and fashioned up a lamp but I wanted a lamp that I could customize or change with the seasons. For the lampshade I printed oak and birch skin on legal sized paper on my printer. For the frame I steam bent small strips of oak.





Then I thought about adding a background that appears only when the light is on. (with oak)



Then birch



Then I went kind of nuts because its easy to change the skins.





The sky is the limit for options in regards to silhouettes but then I had another thought on how to customize behind the bark only when the light is on.





Then I went kind of nuts.





Now Im thinking 2 snowshoes side by side to create a shelf or other ideas for how to use these half sized shoes.

19
Big Game Recipes / Ven snack sticks with cheese and jalapeno
« on: May 06, 2014, 09:52:01 AM »
Im evaluating some products from Frisco Spices so I pulled a bunch of venison trim out of the freezer as well as pork shoulder trim. I used 16 pounds of Venison and 9 pounds of pork shoulder and gave it a few days to thaw in the cooler.



I ground the meat last night through the 3/8 plate.



I grind the night before the smoking because cure (Sodium Nitrate) is added to the meat and it needs time to cure the meat.

These sticks will also have mixed in with the meat some dehydrated  and crushed Jalapeno as well as high temp cheese.



This is the cure/salt. It normally pinkish in color.



I mix the seasoning and cure and jalapenos with 3 cups of water to better distribute it with the meat. Trying to mix dry seasonings with ground meat never works well and you end up with pockets of over seasoned as well as pockets of underseasoned meat. The cheese will be added later.



After seasoning and mixing the meat is packed tightly so there are no air pockets and then covered and removed to the cooler overnight so the cure can do its work.



This morning I preheated the smokers and then ground the meat a 2nd time. This time through a 1/8 inch hole plate.



The cheese is added right before stuffing.



Its kept frozen until its poured over the meat and then mixed in with the meat for even distribution.





Then half is loaded into the 100 year old Enterprise stuffer and the wife and I get to work.



I normally use 19mm collagen casings but this package came with 21 mm so they will finish out a littler larger in diameter than my finger. Larger diameter just mean more time in the smoker.



The stuffer tube  I made will work for as small as 18mm (3/8 of an inch



Collagen casings are edible but unlike natural casings do not need to be rinsed in water. They are used right from the package. I turn the crank and my wife regulates the fill to make sure they are not underfilled and so they don?t burst. Collagen will split and burst if you try to get them too full



The lengths are coiled during stuffing. Its just easier to manage them that way.



I start with the smoker preheated to around 100F and all dampers open. The coils are then straightened out and since my smoker was built with lots of head room, I cut them into 66 inch lengths and pinch the center where they will hang on the smoke sticks.



For these sausages I will use a mix of Hickory and Pecan chunks.



After one hour of dry time I add the wood chunks to start smoking. Less in more when it comes to smoking sausage. You don?t want soot or ash so a little smoke is all that?s needed.



Throughout the morning and afternoon I slowly raise the temp to 180F. I have a remote probe in one stick of sausage so I can monitor the batch. When they get to 170F the door is opened and they are allowed to cool in the smoker.



The distribution of cheese and jalapeno flakes looks good.



When cool enough to work with, they are removed from the sticks and then cut into manageable lengths. They then are placed in the cooler overnight and then vacuum sealed. 25 pounds of meat with the water, cheese, spices and jalapenos came out to 30 pounds of pre-smoked sausage. The final weight of the finished product was 20 pounds.




20
Big Game Recipes / Frisco Spices Jerky weekend
« on: April 13, 2014, 03:06:35 PM »
I make a lot of jerky (both beef and venison). Like everybody, Im always searching for the best jerky recipe or pre-mixed seasoning package so Im always trying new products. Over the weekend I tried a new brand of jerky seasoning from Frisco Spices out of Nebraska. http://www.friscospices.com/ Im trying their Hell?s Creek Jerky spices to make 25 pounds of venison jerky.



I always freeze my venison trim in gallon sized Ziploc Freezer bags and thaw it a couple days in advance of a jerky making weekend.



Once thawed (but still stiff with ice crystals) I grind it first through a 3/8 plate





After the first grind I mix the seasoning with water. Trying to get an even distribution because using the seasoning dry never works and you end up with a spotty mixture where some of the meat is over seasoned and some is under seasoned.



The packet says to use 1 cup of water but for this volume of spices I use 2 cups to get the best distribution. The pink packet is a sodium nitrate/salt mix that you need to stave off botulism.





The water and spices and cure are then poured over the meat.



Then (wearing rubber gloves) I mix the meat by hand until I cant feel my hands any more and my fingers start to ach from the cold.



Then I switch my grinder to the 1/8 inch plate.



And grind the meat a 2nd time. This improves the texture and more thoroughly mixes the spices with the meat ensuring consistency and it makes sure the cure contacts all the meat.



Then the meat is punched down tightly to remove air pockets and then covered with plastic wrap.



Then the covered meat sits in the cooler over night. This allows the sodium nitrate cure do its magic to ensure all the meat is cured so it is safe to consume because the jerky is not cooked at high temps but rather slowly dried at temps no higher than 165F.



Then its time to do the dishes. I don?t delay because the salt in the second grind will raise holy hell with the steel parts and knives.



When dried, I always spray down my blades with a food grade oil to keep them from rusting. Ive had this set of blades for more than 20 years.



I wrap the blades in paper towel and store them in Ziploc bags (to keep them from getting dulled by banging into the other blades) and then I store my blades in the freezer where the humidity is very low.



The next morning I use a jerky cannon to make strips right on the drying racks.



I always wipe down the clean racks with non-stick cooking spray that I spray onto a paper towel. I don?t like to spray directly onto the racks because it?s a mess and you get oil lines on the dried product that looks bad.



Since some in my family like hotter jerky I sprinkle a few of the racks with crushed red pepper flakes while the meat is still moist and tacky. I put on twicw as much as it needs since half of it will fall off during drying, cutting and vacumm sealing.



My dehydrator is a home made version that allows me to make up to 30 pounds at one time. The heat comes from two electric hot plates that produce 1000 watts each. It is built of wood and lined with metal (aluminum). In order to move it around I made it in two halves. One half is the heater and fan box. There is a screen (filter) separating the two chambers.



The other half is the dehydrator box with supports for ten drying racks. It is also lined with metal (aluminum).



Then the racks spend the next 8 hours in the dehydrator. I start it out at 140 and slowly raise the temp to 165F.



During the drying process I rotate the racks back to front as well as top to bottom to make sure everything drays evenly.

Fast forward 8 hours and its finished.



The strips are cut to length and vacuum sealed





Im very pleased with the flavor. Its got a late heat that hits the back of the tongue. Now I need to make some smoked summer with crumbled cheese and Jalape?o.

21
If you have read any of my restoration threads you know I do a fair amount of cold bluing. I?ve gotten a few messages asking about the task and which cold blue is best. The thing is I really don?t know how to answer that since it?s hard to define best. Is it the lowest cost blue or the one that is easiest to apply or the one that color matches your gun the closest or is it the one that staves off corrosion the best or is it the one that does not wear off?? I don?t think there is one that meets all those criteria but I am willing to find out.

For most people, it might be the one that their local store carries so that?s all they have tried. At the same time there are questions from capable folks wanting to tackle their gun project but are uneasy about baring the metal and touching up or rebluing an entire gun out of fear (and the cost of a professional job) so they do nothing.

Since we learn by doing and improve by self reflection and because I too can get in a comfort zone with products I use, I decided to get a bunch of cold bluing products that are easy to find (the internet makes all of them easy to find) from local stores such as Gander Mtn and Cabelas and online from Brownells or at gun shows. All the products would be easily obtainable to somebody planning to do some bluing. I bought mostly known name brands (but not all of the brand as I don?t have unlimited time or money) to do an evaluation.

But first, a few things to get out of the way.

1. This is not a test. To call it such would be unfair to every test heretofore conducted. This is an evaluation and a comparison of several cold bluing products, nothing more, nothing less. If the cold bluing nirvana exists and it?s not part of the list of products I bought, then the best I can do is tell you about ones I am about to try.

2. I am not a pro. I am a hobbyist just like you but with some experience with metal, be It making custom knives or gun parts or gun restorations. I have a day job in the medical engineering field and metal and guns and knives are just relaxation. This evaluation is not for the experience bluer with a favorite product and special tricks to get a better blue job. This is for the novice contemplating trying bluing but confused by all the brands/claims available. This is not MY way of using blue but rather the Mfgr's instructions for using their blue.

3. I anticipate complaints and helpful comments about how I should have done this for better results. That is not the point of this evaluation. The average guy wont know special tricks and techniques to get better results and will only follow the instructions so if you have found better results by first coating the barrel in ketchup or lime-away or unicorn pee or only bluing during a full moon, that?s great info and I think folks would like to know your special tricks to achieve improved results (if you can quantify it with substance) but for the purposes of this evaluation it would be unfair to do anything but what the directions instruct.


4. I am not beholding to nor affiliated with any product or company I am about to mention. I?m just curious about cold bluing (and based on messages I have been getting, so are you.) I plan to be completely impartial since I have no reason to try to sway the results since I am hoping to find the best blue to use myself.

Enough prattle. The products I will be evaluating are (in no particular order)



Everything you want to learn about G96 can be found here.

http://www.g96.com/products/gun-blue-creme/#



Everything you want to learn about Oxpho-blue  can be found here.

http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/metal-prep-coloring/metal-bluing/liquid-cold-bluing-chemicals/oxpho-blue-reg--prod1072.aspx



And this will educate you about Dicropan T4

http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/metal-prep-coloring/metal-bluing/liquid-cold-bluing-chemicals/dicropan-t-4--prod1085.aspx



Here is the link to Birchwood Casey Perma blue

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/419877/birchwood-casey-perma-blue-cold-blue-3-oz-liquid?cm_vc=ProductFinding



Birchwood Casey Super blue.

http://www.midwayusa.com/Product/284241/birchwood-casey-super-blue-cold-blue-3-oz-liquid



And Finally Nu-Blu from the Stock Doc. (which appears to only be available online or at gun shows. I bought mine a 2 weeks ago at a gun show from the Stock Doc booth.

http://stockdocusa.com/products.html

I know what you?re thinking. ?Awe man he isn?t trying Brand X or brand Y and that?s what I use or can get my hands on.?

Sorry.

Ive asked my wife to assist me with this evaluation. She is always commenting on how we never spend enough time together. This will be a good bonding experience.

The sample metal sticks were all sheared from the same cold rolled steel sheet into manageable sample sizes



Then all were given a unique alpha identifier stamped into both sides that will be linked to the blue brand. You may have noticed there are more samples than there are bluing compounds. The extra samples will serve as a control since I plan to do a corrosion evaluation after bluing coupled with Birchwood Casey Barricade as well as an abrasion resistance evaluation. More on that later as I need to encourage my wife to work a little faster at the buffing wheel. You know, more work, less talk and make sure to lift with your back and that sort of positive encouragement.



A common theme in messages I have gotten is in regards to metal finish and metal prepping cleaning) and if mirror polishing is needed for a good bluing job. It been my experience that time spent prepping the metal is never wasted and a blue does not hide defects in metal finish, it actually makes them easier to see. So to that end, each sample is polished on one side and the other side gets a 400 grit brushed finish since that is comparable to the finish on many guns and any swinging Dick can buy 400 grit sandpaper and 0000 steel wool and produce that quality of finish on an entire gun or to spot remove rust from a portion of a gun. And because when I told my wife to polish both sides of the samples I had to dig one out of the drywall just to the left of my head. I think she has a little ninja in her.

Polishing was done on a very simple flannel buffing wheel with red rouge. Anybody with a bench grinder or drill press or even a hand held drill that lives near a hardware store can (if they desire)  pick up a buffing wheel and buffing compound. The question is, is the repair you are doing next to metal that has a brushed finish or a polished finish because matching the blue won?t mean a darn thing if you don?t match the metal finish. Polishing a spot while the surrounding metal is brushed won?t match just like a rough finish surrounded by polished metal won?t match and no brand of blue can correct this.

Here are the samples viewing the polished side.



And the 400 grit brushed finish side.



Here is a very brief video of one of the samples so you can wrap your head around how they look prior to bluing. (I won?t win any awards for cinematography and yes I?m wearing Crocks (deal with it)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxEkvMCaFMA

I read a lot of comments about what to clean the metal with prior to bluing. There are all sorts of ideas and ways to do this but simple is better. All you are trying to do is apply blue to clean metal that has no dirt, grease or oil to prevent bluing action. No need to get fancy. Acetone or denatured alcohol is all you need, hell hot soapy water with a rinse will do. You don?t need acids or etching media (because the blue will etch the metal just fine all by itself). None of the makers of bluing instruct users to use vinegar or acid or any other specialty product to etch or srip or clean the metal. While I understand that people are free to take additional steps in cleaning metal if they really think it helpful but I will be sticking to mfgr intructions for a fair evaluation.

All the metal samples for this evaluation were cleaned and degreased in the same manner.  Acetone was used as the final degreaser because clean metal is paramount to a good blue job. Once cleaned, do not touch the metal with bare skin unless you like to see fingerprint spots where the bluing wont take. The chems you use for bluing are caustic poisons. Wear rubber gloves to protect you and the metal. (note. Not all rubber gloves will stand up to acetone)

Follow the instructions. Each bluing product comes with instructions for the best possible results. Follow them. All the blues I am about to evaluate were used according to their instructions. All stated that it should be applied, allowed to work and then rinsed off with water to neutralize the action of the bluing agent or simply wiped off. They all stated to buff/card the area blued with fine steel wool after bluing.  Some but not all stated that additional applications may be needed to achieve a desired color or color match.  Trust me ALL of them will require more than one application especially if you are doing a complete reblue. I will show you how each sample looks after just one application of blue and then I will apply 3 more applications for a total of 4.

**note I have been known to apply as many as 7 applications on guns I have worked on until I got the desired results**

The process will be

clean

blue (applied with cotton)

rinse with water and dry (or wipe dry)

buff with Steel wool

repeat 4 times  with the last application of bluing applied with steel wool

One deviation from this SOP was made for the Stock Doc brand bluing (Nu-Blu) which called for heating the metal before applying the blue. I heated the metal with a propane heat source each time to a temp I could handle without burning my rubber glove covered hands. Again I am keeping with the instructions from the Mfgr to make sure each is getting a fair shot. Nu-Blu was the only blue which instructed me to heat the metal, The only other blue to mention heat was G96 and as you can see from the front label it states ?No heat required?. I know heat affects metal but I would think that if better results could be achieved with heat the Mfgr would instruct you to apply heat. Since Nu-Blu was the only one instructing to heat the metal, That is the only brand in which pre-heating was used.


22
Not every restoration I do is a complete tear down of a hopeless case. This is a good example. I picked up this 1961 Ted Williams model 34 Sears and Roebuck, 22 semi auto at an estate sale for $40. It was a great find with the original sears scope and vintage case and looked like it hadn?t hardly ever been used in its 50+ years on the planet.



The gun has an aluminum receiver and like all aluminum parts, the anodized finish on the high spots or sharp edges has worn through to shiny aluminum. 







If you haven?t tried aluminum black, you should. Like gun bluing, it?s a wipe on, wipe off product that works very well.



Clean the areas with acetone or denatured alcohol and then with a swab, apply the black.



And this is what you end up with after 3 or 4 applications.







As long as I was at it I grabbed a piece of aluminum stock from the shop and gave it a brushed finish to show the coloring.







Like bluing, its good to polish the metal because aluminum black and gun bluing both etch the polished metal making the final finish less than polished when you are done. Since still photos make it hard to see the real effects of this etching, here is a video of how the gloss is etched away and you can compare the surface finish of the metal next to its polished self. The black makes the surface finsh more of a matte finish. When finished, apply paste wax and buff your gun to a shine. (this offers additional protection and makes the gun look great)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qYho4v4H4Q

Lastly since everyone will care about the durability of this finish I took steel wool to the sample and buffed the hell out of it in what would be considered outight abuse to a gun. Here is the result of that abrasion excersise.



Repair those glossed over edges. It couldn?t be easier.

There are a lot of uses for such a product. If your a bowhunter, lots of archery related parts are made of aluminum. Use your imagination. Sometimes the use might simply be "because I can" and thats ok too. Such as aluminum cartridge casings.





If you have aluminum you need to blacken, this product works great and is far better than a sharpie marker since it blends perfectly with anodized parts where as a sharpie leaves a shiny look that is too black and comes off far to easy.


23
This gun is a Remington Speedmaster .22 cal . This one was made in 1963. It is in far worse shape than the old Mossberg I recently restored. It has a lot more rust and the stock is broken. It is also a semi-auto so there are far more pieces to deal with. Like the last gun, this one is also in throw-away condition except that the bore is clean and without rust. the receiver is aluminum and a lot of the finish is gone and there are deep scratches and some deep dents in the metal. This gun is a real disaster. The action does not cycle but I suspect that is just due to crud and dirt. Its been in my shop for a while while I worked on other gun allowing me to order a replacement stock

Here is the announcement (in 1961) for the release of the model 552 in a carbine.



I thought this ad funny and still true today.



Here are some pics of the gun in the condition it arrived at my door.





It has a tubular magazine that is also pretty rusty and the brass rod is gunked up with patina..





Lots of deep scratches and deep dents in the aluminum receiver. Some of the dents are over a 1/16 of an inch deep. This gun was abused.



The stock is broken where it meets the receiver.





As well as having a broken butt plate and missing pieces of wood.



I wonder if this is how Remington built the gun 56 years ago?



This one is going to be a real challenge but it can be saved. Once again the work begins with the wood.

As soon as I took possession of this gun, I did a search for replacement parts for the wooden stock because I knew I couldn't fix what I had. I went online to Remington's website and they had both pieces of wood (without the butt plate) for $180. (3 times as much as this gun cost new) and since I can buy a new .22 for that much, I looked elsewhere. Boyds wanted almost $100 with shipping. The gun sat in my shop until I could find a stock at a better price.

As luck would have it, I found not only both pieces of wood but also the butt plate being sold on EBay with only one day left in the auction. It was listed as a buy it now for $25 so I did. The wood was in good shape except for some scratches and finish missing so I stripped and sanded and found that it was made from hard rock Maple.



The wood will be stained with a dark American walnut stain and be given several coats of spar urethane  (semi gloss). I always start with the wood because of the days of dry time.

Thi gun requires detailed inspection to see if any replacement parts need to be ordered because the action does not cycle.

To be continued??

24
We have all seen it. An old shotgun with a missing bead. I have a very old shotgun with a damaged barrel. The barrel had been cut off by a prior owner who took off about an inch for some unknown reason. This left no bead nor tapped hole where the bead should be. On top of that the barrel has a rather bad bulge about 6 inches from the end. The goal here is to cut down the barrel and add back the missing bead.

While a hacksaw works (and even coined the phrase "sawed off shotgun", a pipe cutter leaves a straighter edge that is easier to clean up.



A little filing and fine sandpaper cleans up the cut nicely. Next the barrel is tapped 3/8 to ? inch from the muzzle.



The bead that I will be making is threaded #4-40 tpi so I tap the barrel accordingly.



To make a bead I start with a #4-40 brass screw. I wrap the threads with tape to protect them. Then I mount the screw in the chuck of a hand drill so I can spin it creating a sort of mini metal lathe.



Using a small file and fine sandpaper I reshape the head of the screw into a ball shape.



Here is a before and after.



The bead can then be threaded into the barrel to mark where it needs to be cut off.



Holding such a small part for the cut-off can be tough unless you have a proper sized nut to thread onto the screw.





The finished bead installed.



Dont let that old shotgun suffer the indignity of being beadless.


25
So you want to be a ?Real Boy??? That was the ad campaign and selling feature over 100 years ago for this unique firearm.

In 1882 Clarence Hamilton, along with other investors, started the Plymouth Iron Windmill Company. Along with a friend, he started producing an all-metal rifle to be given as a bonus to those purchasing an iron windmill. By 1895, more rifles were being produced than windmills. From 1898 to 1945, the Hamilton Rifle Company of Plymouth MI produced the model 27 and 027 These guns were often given as prizes to young entrepreneurs that sold salve, or seeds and was heavily marketed in the back pages of comic books of the time. This was known as a bicycle gun or boys gun.

Retail Company?s who sold products such as magazines, costume Jewelry, etc. door to door would use the Hamilton rifle as a promotion, offering a free rifle to those who made their quota. Feed Companies promoting their products would randomly place a rifle in feed sacks. If you where lucky enough to buy the right sack of feed, you got a free Hamilton rifle hidden indide (kind of like Crackerjacks with the toy premiun inside). They were the happy meal toy of the time and was a brilliant marketing scheme to get these guns into the hands of as many young boys as possible (My how times have changed. Can you imagine a company offering this premium today??) About a half million of these guns were made.

This Hamilton model was made in 2 versions (model  27 and 027) They were the same except the 027 featured real walnut and a sheetmetal butt plate on the stock The difference in price was .25 cents. Here are some ads from the past.






This particular Hamilton model 027 belongs to a co-worker. It was an attic discovery in his Grandfather?s house after the passing of his grandmother. My plan is to fix what needs fixing (and a lot needs fixing), make what is missing and restore the gun for him. There is not a lot of info available on the web in terms of the firearms internals to help me and I cant find a schematic so I will take lots of pics as I disassemble.
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On thing of note about this gun. It made up almost entirely of sheetmetal and the barrel is brass. Not something you would think of when making a rifle but again this was essentially  equivalent to a happy meal prize. If they sold them for a $1.50, you can imagine how much they cost to make (perhaps .20 or .30 cents). The parts were cookie cutter stamped and formed and assembled with pins, screws and rivets (no welding) and there are only a few machined parts.

Clearly they took pride in their name and the guns info. They used up the whole receiver with the stamping.



As you can see, this is a tiny little gun when compared to a regular sized shotgun of the same period. The large thumbscrew allowed for fast disassembly down to 2 easy to pack pieces you could carry on your bicycle to plink squirrels.





If you know anything about rifles you might think this gun is not legal due to its overall size and barrel length but the BATF has exempted this antique as a curio or relic so its short length does not make it illegal to own or use.

Currently this firearm is not in usable condition. It has several issues that need to be corrected if its ever to be fired and shooting this old 22 with his son is the goal of the owner.

First off I cant fit a 22 caliber bullet in the breech. Something is preventing insertion. Even with the extractor moved out of the way, a shell wont go in. I removed the lead and powder from a round and still could not insert it beyond what you see in the picture.



The extractor (when closed) will not allow a shell to be inserted at all. It misformed/bent.



Even if the first two problems are corrected, the firing pin is badly bent and needs attention.



If I correct all the mechanical issues the firearm won?t be able to be accurately fired as its missing the rear sight. I will need to make one since buying one is not an option.



While this is mostly cosmetic, this is the wrong screw. The original had a much shorter screw that did not go through both layers of steel. The hole in the outside was for access for the screwdriver, not the screw. At least this will be an easy fix.



There are several issues related to the wood in terms of cracks, lots of black oil staining, slopped out holes and general ill fitting but again the gun was a very cheaply made product and is over 100 years old.

To top it all off, this guns barrel is lined with a brass tube. I don?t know how many shots these guns could take before the barrel gave out and the rifling disappeared. It was easier (and cheaper) to rifle a brass tube than hard steel so they rifled the brass liner and fit it inside a steel pipe/tube and then wrapped a piece of sheetmetal around it all and blued the sheetmetal.The bore on this gun is very very fouled (which is why I cant load a shell) The old school powder and the brass tube didnt mixt well. It will take a lot of cleaning to see if there is any rifling left in the barrel.



While this is the smallest firearm I have rehabbed (and the fewest parts) its represents some real challenges if its ever going to be fired again and if it is fired again I will strongly suggest that only CB or sub-sonic ammo be the only thing fired and always in conjunction with eye protection.

Like all the firearms I rehab, I start with the wood since there is such a lag time in drying the finish. The only thing holding the foregrip to the firearms is a tiny steel pin. Over time, that hole gets larger and larger until the owner drills it out and runs a bolt and nut through the whole thing. This one was spared that but the hole in the wood is so loose that I could get the pin to fall out by shaking the firearm. How it remained together is a mystery.



I cant put wood back in the hole so I will go up a size in pin but only just enough to make it tight again. Sadly, I don?t have pin material (music wire) in the needed size but I do have hardened steel in just the right diameter  but first I have to use it to drill out the wood. Then I used my Dremmle to cut the back of the drill bit off to convert it into the exact size pin I need.







I epoxied the crack running lengthwise from the nose to the middle of the grip and then addressed the oil staining in the wood. Dirty hands and gun oil really darkened this piece of wood. In order to draw out the oil staining and soften that old school shellac I soaked the wood in acetone.  As soon as it hit the acetone it started leeching out and turning the clear liquid dark. Sadly some of the stains followed the grain so deep there is no way to get all of the stains out and the piece is so small there is no margin for sanding. There is also a chip/nick in the wood that cant be sanded away




I was able to get rid of nearly all the stains but some remain that run all the way through the small piece of wood.



After viewing a lot of 100 year old guns it appears that most have wood that even though is walnut has a reddish hue to it. I don?t know if that was how it looked over 100 years ago or if that is how the shellac aged but I want to restore that reddish color so Im mixing red and brown stain together as the acetone bleached out some of the color in the wood while removing the stains.



The end result is a real improvement. Once the stain has a day to dry I can apply the spar urethane.



Now its time to deal with the butt stock

To be continued??

26
Im beginning the restoration of the first shotgun I ever fired. If memory serves that was when I was 9 or 10 years old. My Dad bought this Winchester model 37,single barrel, break action,shotgun used in 1958. The first owner sold it because it kicked too hard. He sold it to another guy who only briefly owned it and then sold it to my dad in 1958 for $20 because it kicked too hard. These were rugged adult males, farmers/hunters, that didn?t want the 12 Ga because of the recoil so when my dad had me and my 2 brothers shoot the gun as little boys you can imagine the result. My two older brothers (then aged 11 and 12) went first and after just one shot ran into the house crying. The end result was tears and black and blue shoulders. Over the next 56 years that old shotgun sat leaning in the corner of the farm house with very little use as everybody was to intimidated to fire it.

The Winchester model 37 was produced from 1936 to 1963. During that time slightly more than one million were made. During World War II, the National Guard soldier used Winchester Model 37, 12 gauge shotguns. When my dad bought the gun used in 1958, the shotgun sold new for $29.95. Here are some ads from the past. This first ad mentions how the light weight would make it good for women and kids and even mentions the model 37 would be a boys first love. Love? If love means getting knocked on your arse.



I doubt Santa understood the pain and terror he was placing beneath Christmas trees. Look at the words they used to describe the model 37. ?hard shooting? At least this ad was factual. Santa must have fired the 37 as it looks like his right arm doesn?t work and he lost the sight in his left eye from the recoil, it appears (by the droopy mouth) that it caused a stroke and it screwed his back up so badly he cant stand upright.



Winchester did not serialize these guns so the exact date of manufacture is not known but I will assume it was made in the mid to late 1940's. During my last visit to the farm I collected the old model 37 so I could do the restoration. Like a lot of 60 and 70 year old guns, this one is in need of some TLC. The butt stock is broken as is the butt plate. The foregrip is cracked and both stocks finish is missing in some areas. There are many dings and scratches and a few burns (im guessing cigarette). Im not too concerned about the broken heel on the butt stock since Im going to shorten the stock and install a recoil pad (something this shotgun sorely needs) and the cracked wood will be easy to repair. A recoil pad should make this gun tolerable to fire.

Here is the shotgun in the condition I got it in.



The stock it chipped away and the butt plate broken. It looks like either water damage or sun (uv) damage to one side of the stock as the finish is gone and the wood is very grey.



The grip is pretty chewed up as well.



The fore grip is cracked.





And chipped away at the back end.



The metal is a bit rusted and tarnished but only a small amount of pitting. I can see there are a lot of deep oil stains (almost black looking wood) near the receiver. Not sure how to get rid of that.





My dad said a prior owner did some filing on the receiver to keep the hammer from sticking when it came forward. Its a pretty crappy file job.





This one is going to be fun to restore because I have a history with the gun. I'll start with the wood and recoil pad since all the coats of tung oil take so long to dry and I can then work on the metal parts while applying the tung oil.


27
Old Guns, Rifle, Target, Shotgun / The coffee can shotgun restoration
« on: February 27, 2014, 05:28:05 AM »
Time to start another gun rehabillitation project. This old shotgun has been sitting disassembled in a coffee can in the corner of my shop for the last 4 or 5 years. It was given to me be Dan Infalt. It?s a throw away for a variety of reasons but I never threw it away. This long winter has me doing more projects in the warmth of my shop so the coffee can gun gets a 2nd look.

The gun spent some time in a closet with an angry raccoon. What raccoon urine can do to wood and metal is amazing. I contend that in concentrated form could be weaponized. Needless to say, this gun is in terrible shape. I don?t think the barrel can be saved due the rusting.

A bit about the gun. This is a Ithaca Model 66 super single, Buck Buster. This gun was made by Ithaca from 1967 to 1979. Oddly this gun has no serial number anywhere on it but serial numbers were not mandated until 1968. The only info is stamped into the barrel identifying the gun. This particular gun is chambered in 20 ga. It's a lever action only in that the lever opens the breech to load a shotshell rather than a lever behind the hammer. Here is some info from the past.



Compared to other guns it doesn?t have many parts.



Its not a particularly valuable gun.



Back to this coffee can gun. It takes little imagination to understand what raccoon urine can do to steel but I am impressed to how it reacts with aluminum (or pot metal) this anodized metal should not corrode but raccoon urine has created a white almost glass-like patina that etched the aluminum.







The effects on the barrel are devastating.





The pitting is so deep I don?t think there is any hope for the barrel.



There were some lose parts in the coffee can that the exploded schematic help me identify.



The parts inside the gun are likewise in bad shape.





The stock is cracked (visible below the white line) and the front grip is pretty darkened (or it may just be a dark piece of wook that looks different than the butt stock wood) . Both are dinged up and scratched but at least there is something to work with and it still has the original Ithaca plastic butt plate. I will add white and black spacers to the butt plate just because I like how it looks.





I think I can repair the cracked stock but even if I cant, I can easily find a replacement online. Since the stock is in such poor shape I have little to lose by trying my hand at stippling the grip. Its something Ive always wanted to attempt and this is the perfect piece of would to try it on because if I screw it up, Im not out much.

The first step is to get a good look at what Im dealing with in regards to the barrel. I soaked it in naval jelly for 24 hours which is far longer than I have soaked anything to remove rust.



The rust was so bad It made the jelly bubble up while attacking the rust. Ive not seen that before. It could be the raccoon urine. I cant be sure.



After 24 hours I rinsed under running water and then took a wire brush to the barrel.



It looked pretty good at the breech end.



Sadly though from the mid point to the muzzle it is just too pitted to be safe to use. If your reading this and know of a source for a 20 ga buck buster barrel, don?t be shy.



I may end up restoring the gun but then have to wait until I locate a barrel to finish it. At any rate I have a stock to repair and refinish, gun parts in serious need of cleaning and rebluing  and I get to try my hand at stippling so back to work.

28
Old Guns, Rifle, Target, Shotgun / Restoring/rebuilding a very old shotgun
« on: February 08, 2014, 05:24:17 PM »
I like a challenge and to try things I haven?t done before and this project is a real challenge. Many years ago this old shotgun was wrapped in burlap and buried in the ground and remained there for 7 years. As you would expect, when the gun was unearthed the wood was gone and the metal is very corroded. This particular gun then remained in a state of disrepair for many years afterwards.

The shotgun is a Enders Royal Western 16 Ga. Break action. The top of the barrel is stamped with the following.

?Electro Steel Choke Bored gun patented August 12 1913?

Web searches state that the shotgun was made by Crescent Arms Co., which was associated with H & D Folsom Co. until the demise of both in the early 1930's.

The Enders Royal single shot scattergun was manufactured in an era when it was considered an inexpensive farm tool.

Enders Royal was a "Trade" name used by the Crescent-Davis Firearms Company on shotguns made for the Shapleigh Hardware Company of St. Louis, Missouri. Crescent merged with Davis in 1920, and was bought out by the Savage Firearms Company in 1930. This gun was made somewhere in the 1918 - 1929 timeframe.

 I was asked if I could restore the old gun into service. This is not to be a show piece since the original gun was a hardware store ?farmers? tool.  The goal here is to return the shotgun to usable service to be fired and then perhaps hang on a wall in restored condition. It has sentimental value more than anything. Its not meant to be a trap gun or a shotgun that will see a lot of use

I have resorted a few gun in the past but the guns always had a stock or I could at least purchase a replacement stock. That is not the case with this old shotgun. Weeks of searching for a replacement stock online got me nowhere. Emails to custom stock makers were also dead ends. I have never made a stock before but that?s about to change. I have only modest tools and don?t plan to purchase tools for this project.

Here is the shotgun as I received it.
















Below is the spring mechanism that will go into the forearm stock. The forearm grip of a break action shotgun is removable as the first step in taking the gun apart. Once the fore-grip is removed, the barrel can be removed from the receiver.







My search for a replacement stock got me nowhere but I was able to find a picture of the old gun from an online auction site that sold the gun years ago. This is all I have to go by in regards to making a stock. It?s not much but it?s a start.

It appears that the barrel was blued but the receiver and trigger guard were plated in a metallic finish. While I can cold blue I will need to come up with an alternative for the receiver (or just blue it along with all the other metal parts).



I used that screen image to create a full scale sketch of the stock I hoped to make but again I have never made a gun stock. If I can?t make a stock there is no point in restoring all the metal so stock making is where I have to start.



A few years ago my brother cut down a black walnut tree and had it sawn into dimensional lumber. It?s been sitting in his shed for a few years. He gave me a piece that measures 4" x 8" x 7 feet. Somewhere in that twisted, cracked, checked, knotted and bird crap covered piece of wood, there are two pieces of a gun stock.



I will update as I make progess. This one is going to take a while

29
Wanted Misc. / WTB Enders Royal Western
« on: January 28, 2014, 09:18:01 AM »
Im looking for a stock (butt stock and forearm) for a Enders Royal Western 12 ga. Ive seen the old shotguns for sale for between $50 and $75 (it was a plain hardware store shotgun back in the day.) I would be willing to buy the entire gun but am mainly just looking for the two stocks pieces.

30
Outdoor Related Craft Projects / Homemade leather (and fur) chopper mitts
« on: January 24, 2014, 10:50:18 AM »
For year I have been making hard leather items like knife sheaths, holsters, quiver, arm guards but I have always wanted to branch off into soft leather items using buckskin, full grain, upholstery leather and suede?s. 

My late great Uncle Al used to make leather chopper mitts and bring them up north when he would visit. We got a lot of use out of those mitts in cold weather. Here is one of those mitts Al made about 30 years ago.



Al?s mitts were warm and simple and utilitarian and kept my hands warm while hunting all these years. For many years I have wanted to make my own mitts. The recent cold snap and the increase in my sewing projects got me again interested in trying my hand at sewing my own mitts. If there was anything I would change about Al?s mitts it would be the length and the liners. They didn?t go up the arm enough to cover the cuff of a jacket. I plan to make mine a bit longer.  Also Al?s mitts did not have a removable liner. The faux fur he used was sewn into the leather mitt. I plan to make my liners removable so if the liners need drying the liner can be removed to speed drying and to be able to care for the liner separately from the leather since leather doesn?t like the heat I would use to dry the liner. Then when I use the snow blower I wont have cold wrists and forearms. the longer cuff will make them warmer for hunting and ice fishing as well.

I will be using the tanned hide of a deer I killed a few years ago.



As well as fur



The liners will be a dual layer of Polartec fleece closest to the skin as well as wool. The wool comes from a Swiss army surplus blanket.



Before I could any further I needed to make a pattern for the liner and another pattern for the leather mitt. Because I want a longer mitt that fits over the bulky sleeve of a winter jacket I had flare out the longer cuff. I will start with the fleece and wool liner and then make a mitt that fits over the liner. Here is the pattern I came up with. Its 3 pieces with a folding thumb.



Then I cut the pieces from the wool and Polartec fleece.



The two materials are sewn together to keep them from shifting when I join the separate pieces together.



I plan to have fur on both the liner and the leather mitt. Its more for show than warmth.



Before I can sew the fur to the other part of the liner I need to join the two pieces together to form the thumb. The three pictures below show the steps to form the thumb.



Then fur is added to the other half of the liner.



Then the two halves are sewn together.



Should the outside leather get wet all the way through (I?m working to make sure that won?t happen) The wool outside of the liners is given a spray coating of silicone waterproofer.



With the liners finished its time to make the leather outer mitt.  Again I need a pattern. The leather mitt thumb will be a bit different than the thumb in the liner. This will be a bit more difficult to sew but will look far better.



I made a practice thumb to get a feel for sewing it and for a size check. I?m glad I did at the thumb was a bit long so I shortened the pattern (since it was easier than growing my thumb)



Then I cut the halves of the mitt from the deer skin.



The plain deer skin is very light in color and will show dirt and stains pretty easy so I am going to stain the thumb and palm side with a mixture of brown and Ox blood with a little alcohol to thin it out since I don?t want a solid color. Once I oil the leather it will darken considerable from this shade. I have other plans for the back of the hand so Im not staining it.



While I wait for the stain to dry on the leather I have time to embellish the back of the mitt. I sewed on a strip of the same fur and added the Edge protection since the leather edge will curl and wrinkle over time if it not sewn.



Then I saw the cuff as a big blank space needing something to fill it in so I reached for the sharpie marker.



With the dyed leather dry its time to start sewing. I start by sewing the thumb inside out to hide the stitching and to protect it from wear.



Then the thumb is turned right side out and slipped inside the opening in the palm and sewn from the outside. I stitched it twice for added strength.



The two halves are sewn together inside out again to hind and protect the stitching and to tuck in the fur trim edge.



Then the mitt is turned right side out. As you can see the palm was also a blank slate in need of some decoration so I fired up the sharpie marker again.



The liner and the mitt meet for the first time. Everything fits.



Waterproofing the leather is a two step process. It starts with neatsfoot oil. You can see from the sample piece of leather both the stained and natural leather will darken with the oil.



The first oiling makes it dark. Another oiling will make it darker and so will a coating of mink oil.



The mink oil is a paste or cream that looks a bit like Vaseline. I rub it in with a stiff sponge and then use a hot blow dryer to melt it so it soaks into the leather.



The finished pair.



My happy hand model braved the single digit temps for this photo shoot. Her bulky winter jacket sleeves fit nicely into the cuff of the mitt.



For never having made chopper mitts before I am pleased with how they turned out and have plans on how to improve upon the next one. Here is a short video of the mitt being placed under running water. It shows the waterproofing of the neatsfoot and mink oil. Over time another coating of the mink oil will need to be added if the leather shows signs that its getting wet..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAxDjBn-cHg

My hand model has already put in a request for a pair for herself. She wants different colors and symbols on hers.

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