Renegade Restore

[Sharps40]

On the left, finalizing the undercut of the Drivers side panel. 120g wrapped on a punch smooths it up and alternating wetting to raise the grain, dry sanding, pulls off the whiskers, raises the file marks and they are removed too. Note, the finished groove will be shallower and narrower after bringing the tang and panels down smooth on their flats.

Here on the bottom, the Drivers side panel (now on the right) is also first sanded, then wetted and sanded dry to eliminate whiskers that will raise thru the finish ruining it if not raised and cut off now. Sand all around the circumference of the panel....repeat for the lock or passenger side.

[Broken External Image]:

 

[Sharps40]

The panels are now about 95% shaped both sides. Time to move on to power sanding the stock to remove excess wood in the forend and butt then follow with final detail sandings, whisker raisings and on to the finish. No stain. Its walnut....it never needs stain.

[Broken External Image]:

The panels will stand proud of the stock by about 3/16" on each side, slimming the action and highlighting the lock and the lock retainer bolt and washer on the off side.

A decent shape, it will refine a bit more as final sanding and shaping is done on the large flats.

Once the rest of the wrist is thinned and shaped a bit oval, the rear of the panels will transition nicely into the grip all the way to the nose of the stock.

 

[Sharps40]

Went to Lowes for sandpaper the other day and they had...you guessed it...none for my power sander. So with my one available sheet of 120g just enough to finalize the shape of the wrist.....

A lil bunger there on the action panel, no worries, the panels need thinned slightly, a last step and the booger should disappear in a cloud of walnut dust.

[Broken External Image]:

Smoothed out the left side wrist and panel....

And over to work on the lock side.....straight lines straight, curves graceful, edges sharp....don't want it lookin like the uglyist of modern guns, the lazy polishers Melted 1911 Kimber.

[Broken External Image]:

Top line from tang to nose is established as an arrow shaped flat pointing from tang to nose. Next task is to oval the wrist a bit and blend the sides up and into the centerline so the feel is less Glocky Blocky.

That's it for today, less ya got Velcro backed 100 and 120g for a large size pointy nosed palm sander.

 

[Sharps40]

So, found some sandpaper for the power sanders....off to work removing the last of the excess wood and router marks from the shaper....here's where we left off just prior to the great Central NC Snow Storm of 2014.

Shaping and thinning the forend with 80g on the jitterbug and leaving the wood proud of the metal.

Shaping and contouring the wrist to a smoother oval on top and into the butt to where the wood is almost flush with the steel buttplate....that figured area is harder than the steel....its going to take a lot of finish sanding cause even 220 and 330g marks are going to show....course so will 400 but by then it should blend into the satin finish.....this is the only part of the stock hard enough and figured enough to merit any sanding further than 220g.....Don't waste your time sanding soft wood with super fine grits, its a waste of time since soft wood polishes shut and refuses to take stain or finish evenly if you do.

[Broken External Image]:

After shaping with 80 g on the super portable stock destroyer and gouger I wet it to swell the grain and the sanding scratches and open the pores......It looks pretty good, even at 80g....the figure and colors will refine further with more sanding. As you can see, its walnut....no stain needed....Ever.

And gentle heat to dry the wood, pop the fuzzies, open the pores and prep it for the first power sanding with 120g.

Wetted after the 120g power sanding the figure is becoming clearer and in the shop I can see some golds in the background....over all the grain is becoming less muddy and more the showpiece.

 

[Sharps40]

The other side after additional power sanding (1 time, 80g, 2 times 120g, 1 time 220g wetted/dried each time) and a hand sanding with dull 220g.

Much crisper and showing off her figure....

One of only two finishes I use. This one being the mainstay. And, the total amount of this fantastic goo needed to coat about 1/3 of the stock. Rub it in hard till the hand is hot and the finish is nearly dry. Don't worry about dust, we'll rub it out each coat with steel wool and do a final leveling and polish to satin at the end. I prefer finish in the wood rather than piled on. This ain't boob gloss and it doesn't go on thick and shiny like that Glossiest of Gun Stock Porn Stars, the Browning Rifle. Multiple thin coats, rubbed in and rubbed out.

About 1/3 of the stock sealed with that lil bit. I am sealing and freezing the grain for additional hand sanding before getting to the final rub in of finish coats. Probably 2 or 3 like this sanded and then 2 or 3 more leveled with 0000 steel wool before the final rub out and waxing.

[Broken External Image]:

Rub it in hard, yep, its gonna hurt, lots of angles and pointy parts but ya gotta. If ya got tender girliegirl hands, go do some yardwork to toughen em up first.

No sanding scratches showing anywhere except towards the back where the figure runs counter to the grain and the wood starts to get harder than 100 year old pine wall studs.

Same on the other side. Done for today, I'll let this sit up till tomorrow evening. Gotta go get an auto pack of wet/dry 320 and 400g to work the back half of this wood. No sense hitting it again with 220, it'll just make more work on the aft end.

 

[EMC45]

Looking great!

 

[RamRoddoc]

That piece of walnut has some beautiful grain. Excellent work there sir and thank you for the detailed instructions on your approach to obtaining a truly professional finish.

That wood with a fine old school rust blue will really complement each other.

Thanks for sharing this.

 

[Sharps40]

You bet. Next project is an ol remmie 3006 for the same fella. Seems we need to remagnitize the buttstock for navigation. I'm working on the details, its an art that was lost sometime in the 50s or 60s and we gotta practice preservation of ancient technology so......more to follow when that project gets a rollin.

 

[Sharps40]

Well, it took GoodWife and her lovely new 4wd Jeep to get out of the neighborhood ice slick 30 minutes to get the 10 minutes to work this morning. She called, and doesn't think the old light in the butt John Lee can negotiate the first 2 miles of solid ice bridges and hills for me to go to work so back to the Renegade. Returning to basic skills, grabbing some very worn 220g and cleaning it thoroughly as scuffing and slapping and scraping with fingernails will allow I attack the finish frozen grain at the bottom of the stocks butt. Remembering Dons admonition to always sand with the grain (and this stock the grain changes direction three times from nose to tail) I went down thru the finish to the wood following the dark stripes at the bottom and the primary grain higher up.

Here, the first freeze coat of finish sanded again and polished vigorously with 0000 steel wool. This stock is not bad, doing the same with a crazy fancy piece would be and exercise in frustration. But, better than 90% and under strong angled light, the stock looks very good. I suspect there will be a few light sanding marks to be found in there but my old eyes probably will never see them.

And the other side, post sanding and polishing, awaiting the second thin, thin and hard rubbed coat of TruOil....

Here the second coat rubbed in and resting for at least 3 hours. Next steps will be continued leveling with 0000 steel wool and recoating to completion. Last step will be removal of all the metal parts and sealing inlets and the wood under the buttplate. Then we can get off to the metal. Guess I'll go clean the barrel and lock while this is kicking over.

High gloss at this time, it goes back to matt with each buffing of 0000 wool and the final satin is brought up with Brownells fff stock rubbing compound. Its quite possible this stick will be completed late tonight or tomorrow.

 

[Sharps40]

The lock. Cleaning off all the rust would remove all the case colors, so a light scrubbing with oil and 0000 steel wool. Then a light coat of rig grease. No ham handed sear adjustments with files and stones called for. Its a TC lock, well made. Its a set trigger, no files or stones needed....clean it, oil it, adjust it, use it but don't butcher it.

Remove the bridle, sear, sear spring...don't loose the lil tiny kick off in the tumbler, the arrow shaped bit at 4 oclock.

Remove the mainspring and shaft.

With tumbler and hammer removed, scrub it clean with 0000 wool, clean again to remove the steel wool bits and lightly grease it all over with Rig. A little goes a long way.

Insert the cleaned and lubed tumbler and install the hammer and its retaining screw.

Insert the clean and lubed mainspring and shaft.

Insert the cleaned and lubed sear spring and cup.

[Broken External Image]: