John Westenberger
01-15-2023, 12:07 AM
Howdy gents,
Picked up an 1861 Springfield with a Whitneyville lock for a measly 400$ recently. The metal was all there, the bore was lightly pitted, and the rifling was strong. The stock needed a little love. It was refinished at some point in it's life, and it hid a lot of the crimes. This is where the problem lies...
I stripped the old finish to see the extent of the old repairs, and to get the poly or shellac off, and put linseed oil on. But what I found showed I needed some repairs first. I initially thought there was a slight repair on the one side stock where the breech meets the stock. I thought this was strong, since I couldn't get it to flex with my hands, I thought it was stable and good to go. I did notice a crack between the ramrod spoon going in the direction of the lock mortise (Pictured first). This was not all the way through. I figured it would be okay with a little acraglas bedding shoved into the crack, and bedding the whole area to take the stress of firing. This would fix every issue this stock seemed to have, and would reinforce previous repairs. This actually caused more issues.
The barrel got removed from the stock when the bedding firmed up, and it removed the top layer of wood with it! Ugh! I thought no biggie, and I'd give it another scuff of sandpaper and go again. But closer inspection revealed more issues (Pictured). The last 2 images are where I'm at now. I don't think there is any coming back from this. I'm thinking find a new stock (Old numrich, dunlap, if someone has one, since they closed, or original), or find a shotgun converted stock, cut my stock with the bad backend off at the first barrel band, cut the cut down stock off at the first barrel band, and join them together to make one good original stock, with a hidden joint under the band.
130581305713056
Picked up an 1861 Springfield with a Whitneyville lock for a measly 400$ recently. The metal was all there, the bore was lightly pitted, and the rifling was strong. The stock needed a little love. It was refinished at some point in it's life, and it hid a lot of the crimes. This is where the problem lies...
I stripped the old finish to see the extent of the old repairs, and to get the poly or shellac off, and put linseed oil on. But what I found showed I needed some repairs first. I initially thought there was a slight repair on the one side stock where the breech meets the stock. I thought this was strong, since I couldn't get it to flex with my hands, I thought it was stable and good to go. I did notice a crack between the ramrod spoon going in the direction of the lock mortise (Pictured first). This was not all the way through. I figured it would be okay with a little acraglas bedding shoved into the crack, and bedding the whole area to take the stress of firing. This would fix every issue this stock seemed to have, and would reinforce previous repairs. This actually caused more issues.
The barrel got removed from the stock when the bedding firmed up, and it removed the top layer of wood with it! Ugh! I thought no biggie, and I'd give it another scuff of sandpaper and go again. But closer inspection revealed more issues (Pictured). The last 2 images are where I'm at now. I don't think there is any coming back from this. I'm thinking find a new stock (Old numrich, dunlap, if someone has one, since they closed, or original), or find a shotgun converted stock, cut my stock with the bad backend off at the first barrel band, cut the cut down stock off at the first barrel band, and join them together to make one good original stock, with a hidden joint under the band.
130581305713056