Here are some more pictures of the .44 smoothbore, with the grips cleaned up.









Later, Mike Priwer

Here are some more pictures of the .44 smoothbore, with the grips cleaned up.









Later, Mike Priwer

Mike,

Very nice clean-up job. Those are truly beautiful grips. Thanks for posting the great pics!

Jerry

Nice work on the grips, Mike, they're spectacular!

__________________
John

Looks like that wiskey worked. Very nice Michael.
Paul

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"NUTS"

Nice Job Mike - they look real nice.
If you don't mind me asking, did you soak them in acetone?

I first tried a bit of whiskey on the bottom (butt) of one side. The rag was picking up
something, but I wasn't sure if it was dirt, or some of the finish. I didn't want to use
full alcohol or acetone in this condo, as they are too volatile, and have a lot of aromatics.

Since moving to the condo here in Portland, I use my nephews glass-blowing shop for any
kind of work related to wood, etc. His shop was one of the host sites to the annual Glass
Arts Society meeting in Portland this past week. Only about 2000 people converged on the
place ! So, I had to wait until it was over, which was Sunday.

I tried straight denatured alcohol, just with a soaked rag, and it was working, but slowly.
So, I switched to a rag soaked in acetone, and that took off almost everything, with just a
few swipes. It looked like the butts were still dark, so I put a layer of paint stripper
on the grips, and wiped it off with the acetone-soaked rag. That took off everything. I
didn't want to have to use any water, as that raises the grain a bit.

The whole exercise was about 20 to 30 minutes. They dried almost instantly from the acetone,
so I let them sit for a few more moments, then put a heavy coat of linseed oil on them, which
got soaked up in a matter of minutes. I finally wiped them as dry as I could get them, and
then over the next two days, applied two more light coats of oil, wiping dry after a few
moments.

What you see is three coats of oil. I'm going to let this sit now for a few weeks or so,
and then put on another coat - after these are fully dry.

Because that dark finish came off so easily with the acetone, and did not appear to have
penetrated the wood, I'm assuming that it was applied directly over the original oil finish.
It just wiped off, once I used the acetone. The same was true for the undersides of the grips.
There was no penetration, whatsoever.

The two closer-up pictures of the grips caused the camera flash to come on, and those are
fairly representative of the coloring of the grips. The further-back pictures of the overall
gun did not invoke the flash, and so the whole picture is generally darker.

Regards, Mike

Thanks Mike

Again.............Beautiful!

Mike, those look great. Did you use raw or boiled linseed oil?

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OFT/NRA LIFE MEMBER

I think it was boiled. Its what is generally available from hardware stores.

Later, Mike

OK, So what's a 44 Smoothbore?

Like the grips.

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Jim

Those are some nice stock's Mike, they look GREAT.

Later - John

In effect, its a short-barrel shotgun. The bore has no rifling, so its
a smooth-bore. The cylinders are also bored through, all the way from
front to rear. It has a choke screwed on to the end of the barrel.
Its set up for .44 shot cartridges.

Later, Mike Priwer