Heirloom Model 1894 (circa 1898)

[gsaun039]

Slight color difference on the bottom of the barrels where the fore-end usually is located.



Slight color difference on the bottom of the barrels where the fore-end usually is located (different angle view).

This morning I took the barrel out of my storage area (where I'm keeping it while I'm working on this gun) and thought I'd take a little more time to work on the finer areas of the barrel where I had found that one of the barrels showed visible rust. While my initial efforts were taken to stop and remove the vast majority of the surface rust, I knew that it would take more time to focus in on those areas where the rusting had been most extensive and had left something other than a smooth surface. I have no illusion about being able to remove and pits in the metal, particularly on the right barrel where the vast majority of the rust had been.. So, when I had last worked on the barrels, I left the barrels coated with a thin layer of Kroil to continue any penetrating action that it could provide.

Today, when I set the barrels out on the counter cover I was going to use while working, I noticed the slight color difference on the bottom of the barrels that still was visible after I wiped any remain Kroil off or after I applied to CLP. It is very subtle and I realized that the "lighter" area is where the fore-end normally is located. I hadn't noticed that before. It is very slight and hard to photograph. I assume it just the difference in the exposed metal versus hidden metal under the fore-end. (Note: the barrels are now very clean when I wipe them down with gun oil and a clean cloth).

I'm not concerned. I just hadn't noticed that when I removed the fore-end.


The second thing I noticed was what looks like a wear area on the left barrel. Since most of my attention had been focused on the right barrel, I noticed this slight difference in the barrel coloration of the outside of the left barrel. Again, it is very subtle and difficult to photograph. My first though was "someone took steel wool to this area" and it's possible that happened in the distant past. But a closer look suggests something else to me that gives me some sense of the use of this shotgun. The "wear" appears only in one area on the left barrel immediately in front of where the shells would have been in their chambers. The closer I looked, the more it looked (to me, at least) like where the barrel might have been "held" against close to the body and the old hunting jackets of the past (brown canvas, relatively stiff). If you look carefully, you can see the three-stripe pattern of the Damascus steel barrel. But it also looks like where "wear" might have occurred looking at the pattern.

Again, I'm not really concerned at this time. For a gun that's seen a lot of use, it would make sense. I'm just curious whether those of you with much more experience with these antique shotguns have seen something similar?

[gsaun039]

Another area of exterior clean-up on this shotgun was the wooden stock and fore-end.

The stock has all the sort of scratches and dents of a well-used shotgun. Of course, this gives the shotgun some character. Fortunately, in my assessment of how it looks, the stock appears to be in good shape. It was surprisingly dirty, however, and a careful application of a wood soap with a soft toothbrush and wiping down with damp microfiber cloths removed a significant amount of dirt just from the stock itself. I can't say it made the stock look dramatically lighter than it was before. But some of the dirt in the scratches seemed less visible and the scratches had less contrast compared to the surrounding wood.

The place with the greatest amount of dirt, though, was the knurling of both the half-pistol grip and the knurling on the fore-end. Applying wood soap to the soft-bristled tooth brush and then to the knurling released a surprising amount of dirt (wiping it away as I made progress). I worked on it for about an hour, taking small steps in the application of the soap, following it with a damp toothbrush to help carry away any loosened dirt.

The place with the most obvious buildup of oils and dirt from years of use was the knurling on the fore-end. It was obvious to me that the "surface" wasn't the wood surface of the knurling, but the buildup in the grooves from years of use. Here I was a bit more aggressive.

The wood soap started dissolving the grease, oil, and dirt accumulation. Over several sessions, there was good progress in removing the surface buildup and the knurling under some of the built up dirt started to reappear. But there was an area of persistent buildup that was difficult to "dissolve" to get down to the base wood. During one session, I used a stiffer nylon brush alternating with the tooth brush to get to the deeper, more persistent buildup. I followed up with an alcohol based product to help dissolve and remove the remaining grease and oils that had set so many years ago so that I was looking at the (worn) wood exposed after cleaning.

I'm not surprised to find some of the knurling worn from use and, at the moment, I am not committed to a project to restore the knurling (at least not yet. Maybe after retirement?).

20250823_104412 by gsaun039, on Flickr

20250823_104636 by gsaun039, on Flickr

Note the worn area what would be the left side of the fore-end that would be cradled in the palm of a righthanded shooter. Before cleaning, little of this could be seen or discerned. If I find a clearer photo of the before condition, I will add it.

[dieNusse1]

You might want to check out buying a single line checkering tool to clean-up the checkering. The tool will get to the bottom of the grooves, sharpen the checkering and eliminate the need for water based cleaners.

[gsaun039]

Thank you. It was a gummed up mess, to be sure. I guess it's not surprising. It seems like I caught a glance of this shotgun being used during hunting down on the family property in the Hampton, VA area.

One of the treasure troves of things I didn't know my dad had was many of the pictures and other family historical documents that my grand aunt (my dad's aunt) had. My dad had gathered those after she passed away. My dad was the executor of her estate back in the early 1990's. Anyway, when we were gathering the stuff, it seems I captured a glimpse of hunting pictures.

I thought I had seen something like this checkering tool mentioned before. I just don't remember where.

[Researcher]

Unless one is pretty talented at checkering you'd more likely mess up that nice forearm than improve it. Tracing those fading lines over the curve of that forearm is far from easy. Remember the first rule is "do no harm."

[gsaun039]

Remember the first rule is "do no harm."

Good point. I'm happy to have removed most of the dirt and grease/oils oxidized by years of use and exposure to the air.

It's also given me a chance to reconnect with some of my family history; people I remember as a child or (in some cases) as a young adult. Others that I never knew because they died before I was born or when I was very young and all that I have are the memories shared by friends and family.

And I wonder what it was like to be hunting on our farms in Southeast Virginia those many years ago.