HomeSmith Trainwreck: The Tetanus Special

[Shotguncoach]

The inline pictures seemed to work ok, but they're big. I'll try dropping the size a bit in this post.....if you prefer the large pictures with lots of detail, send me a postcard or something.

The area above the trigger guard on the left side appeared to be in the worst shape, so I started there. Sandpaper wasn't going to touch those pits. This was file work....in fact it wasn't even draw filing. This was just plain old filing filing. In many ways, the "in process" pictures look worse than when I started. That's normal. The first stages of metal prep always look like hammered dog poop. We'll make it pretty later. The purpose here is to remove the pits while keeping the flat parts flat, the round parts round, and retaining as much of the frame edge as possible.




The file was cleaned roughly every 10 to 15 strokes. When I could no long see the major pits, a piece of 180 grit sandpaper and the sanding block was used to clean up the surface so that I could see.



When things started to look mostly ok with the flat, a round file was chalked up and used to clean up the inside edge of the trigger guard opening. The edges should become more distinct as we block sand the rest of the frame.

 

[Shotguncoach]

Moving on to the left side of the frame, the 180 grit paper wasn't aggressive enough to get the pits out. I suppose it eventually would, but I didn't want to spend all day on this one section.



Dropping down to 80 grit followed by 120 grit did the trick on everything except the one big divot to the left of the logo. The rest of the left side was sanded with 120 also, which helped blend in the area above the trigger guard where the major file work was done.





Here's a close up of that divot. It's almost as deep as the logo, and considering where it is on the frame I'm not certain that I could get it out and blend in the fix with the rest of the frame without losing part of the logo. I think that one is just going to have to stay.

 

[Shotguncoach]

I just checked how the thread looks on my phone, and in truth I think it looks better that way than it does on a laptop. The responsive site auto-resizes everything when viewed on a phone but does not auto-resize when viewed on a laptop. I think the inline pictures tell the story better than a big block of text with pictures attached at the end, so I'm going to keep doing it this way. The new forum software makes it much easier than the old way - no image hosting site required, just ctrl-P and choose the one you want. A big THANK YOU to Handejector and bbqsauce for all the work they've done.

The next area that needed major work was the front outside surface of the trigger guard, with minor work needed all the way around.


To do this area, the flat file and sanding block were set aside and a small round file was chalked up and used for the majority of the work. The file was cleaned frequently and sanding was done by wrapping the paper around my thumb so that I could follow the curve. The same "thumb sanding" method was used later to clean up the inside of the trigger guard.



Whenever something like this is being cleaned up it's important to remember to work on the area, not just the pits. Your work has to blend in with the rest of whatever you're working on. If you only concentrate on the pits and don't do more around the bad part, you're work will show in the form of waves, dips, or other breaks in the form. Think wider, clean your tools frequently, and be bold.






The back side of the trigger guard was not as bad, but it did require similar work. And yes, the sandpaper scratches are still large at this point.....we've only gone to 180 grit so far.

 

[Shotguncoach]

Building on what I learned working on the left side of the frame, the work on the sideplate began with 80 grit paper and the sanding block. 80 grit removes metal fast, so be careful. Notice how the flat head screws and using a sanding block are protecting the edges of the screw holes and keeping them sharp. Also, instead of the usual large sideplate gap that most of us use as a "know at first glance" sign of refinishing, our sideplate gap is actually disappearing as the metal is blended together.



The 80 and 120 grit paper cleaned up the sideplate well, but there was one spot that I just couldn't get to with the sideplate in place on the frame. I would have to take it off to get to this...



Once the sideplate was off, I started alternating the sanding strokes so that I was cutting across the previous sanding lines. The difference in how the bench lights are reflected shows the effect well.





This last picture is after sanding in the long direction with 180 grit and makes it obvious that I need to step back to 120 grit to break up the short direction sanding marks a little more. Note the 90 degree marks around the rear (bottom in the picture) screw hole.

 

[Shotguncoach]

We're still going to rust on Sunday, but at this point I was 4 hours in and needed to do other things.....like go visit my sweetie at the farm. And yes, I did ask her if taking care of chickens meant that she was a chicken tender.

Our frame has only been sanded to 180 grit and there are several places that need to be stepped-back to 120 grit and then have the 180 sanding repeated in order to get the sanding lines all headed back-to-front. There were many, many places that had to be cleaned up....the ones I've shown above were just highlights that seemed interesting to me.

Tomorrow we'll get the 120/180 sanding completed, then work through 220, 320, and 400 grit. At that point I'm going to stop and examine everything to make a decision: do I continue sanding the frame through 2500 like everything else, or do I step-back the other pieces to 400 grit and make it all match. Stay tuned and we'll figure it out together.

Here's a walk around of how the frame looks now, along with a picture of Mrs. Coach with her peacock partner in case anyone doubted the story from earlier.

 

[Protocall_Design]

That's a lot of work, but it's paying off handsomely.

 

[Shotguncoach]

Yeah….about that. I’ve got close to 10 hours in metal prep so far. Is a 10-8 with no personal connection worth that? Or, to put it differently, would someone pay to have this done to this gun? Probably not.

Will I ever be able to sell it and recover a reasonable cost for the labor? Converting it to a 3” .357 will help with that, but again probably not.

Someday I’m hoping that someone will hand me a Registered Magnum and say “fix it”. That’s when all this practice will pay off. For now it’s a fun way to spend the time….

 

[Shotguncoach]

It took about 2 hours of work this morning to go from 180 to 400 grit on the frame. The sideplate with the vertical scratches had to go all the way back to 80 grit to get everything going one direction.



And of course I found two things that I completely missed last night. Breaks and fresh eyes are important....









Once I got to a light 400 grit on the frame, I decided to stay there and went back to the yoke and barrel to bring them down to that finish from where they were. By light I mean starting with moderate pressure to remove the 320 scratches, then reducing the pressure to a very light touch to polish instead of cut.

Zip ties were added to all the parts and the solutions were mixed. I'm going to start with 2 rusts at 100% strength, then do 2 at 50% strength, and 4 to 6 at 25% strength. All the pieces got one pass from a cleaning swab wet with the 100% solution and were hung in the bathroom (with the tub filled with hot water) for a 2 hour rust while I went to get a haircut.

 

[2152hq]

Punch the cylinder stop lug out of the frame on the left side. It's only slightly riveted into place on the inside.
Once out and out of the way it makes polishing that area of the left side of the frame a lot easier.
Rivet it back into the frame when you are done and ready to finish.

As far as grit lines go. Don't be concerned with direction of the grit lines when you are polishing and stepping down from one grit to another finer grit,,and so on down the scale.

Use files in any direction you want to to remove damage and damaged areas.
Don't feel the need to always draw file areas down right from the start. That can be very slow and sometimes the area being worked over doesn't allow handling the file easily in that draw file manner.
Get right at it, cut it down. Then smooth it up.
Use some sharp, med and even coarse cut files at first.
They will of course cut quicker but will also cut much cleaner for you and not clog up and scar the work.
Save the fine cut stuff for the detail work.

It's really a waste of polishing time to get all the grit lines at say 180g all lined up where you want them on the finished product, to then go over the 180g with the next finer grit,,say 220.

Cross polishing the grit lines of the previous grit is very efficient way of polishing. No matter what direction the previous lines are, polish the next grit at least 45* or so to them. That way you are cutting off the tiny ridges that actually form the scratches and removing them. Instead of just following them again if you polish in the same direction.

When you get to what ever final grit polish you want to end up with it doesn't matter what direction those lines are running either.
Once you are satisfied with the final polish,,just go back over the whole gun with the same grit. This final time in the direction on the parts that you want the grit lines to appear.
You can change the direction to anything you want with the same grit.

FWIW, not all, and actually not very many, polishing grit lines when done by the factory polishing run East/West on a firearm.
That is a custom gunsmiths way of polishing. There's nothing wrong with it of course,,but if you are doing a Restoration , it'll be wrong.

Look closely at an orig polish on even a Mod 10. The side plate is polished North/South in a sweep motion to catch the arc of the recoil plate of the frame.
The portion of the frame under the cylinder window and forward of that is East/West direction.
(The latter is generally done first, then the sweeping arc polish stroke is done and blends in with the lower E/W polishing lines.)

Winchester L/A's and Pump shotguns,,the big blank sides of those recv'rs are polished N/S by the factory. The L/A actually have an additional first polishing 'cut' done at the rear edge of the flat to polish the angled rear edge of the feature. Then simple N/S polishing accross the face of the frames.
Most custom work will be E/W polishing on those guns. Again nothing wrong with it. But for a restoration it will be wrong.
The Japanese made Browning repro M12 and M42 pump 'Winchesters' were polished E/W as well IIRC

Even extreme high polish bright blue and even Nickel finish metal, you can still see some polishing grit lines here and there if you look carefully. Wipe away any grease and oil, any finger prints and look for the grit lines under the finish. They will tell you how the piece was held against the power polishing wheels and belts when done.

The top strap is another. Many will polish E/W,,lengthwise with the gun. They are generally done N/S with the polisher turning the frame slightly as the arc of the feature is polished full length in one stroke against a wide width wheel or belt.
That's where those extreme sharp edges come from.
No continuous back and forth hand polishing over the surfaces which rounds the edges no matter how steady you try and hold the part or tight the paper is to a piece of glass you are using as a backer in some instances.
Many hundreds of feet of grit surface come in contact with the gun part in a few seconds of careful hand held polishing against a high speed grit wheel or belt.

If you have a small pit that is too deep to polish out BUT that pit is in a part that is accessable from the back side of it like that on a frame, SOMETIMES,,you can carefully Punch the metal outward from behind and push the pitted area up slightly.
That allows you to then polish it back down again and the pits are gone.

It can't always be done of course. Depends on size, non critical location, accessibility, thickness of the metal, ect.
Sometimes thickness can be overcome by carefully thinning from the back side just a bit with an end mill to allow a punch to do it's job more easily. Metal is generally pretty soft on these guns.

Another way to fix the annoying deep pit is to inlay a piece of steel into the spot and then polish that down. I use it a lot. But you are getting into engraving skills with that.

Just some thoughts..
Keep going, you are doing great!

 

[Shotguncoach]

Thank you Mr. 2152hq. Someday if life permits, I'd like to buy you a steak and a few beverages. I appreciate the time you've spent helping me along....and yes, I have noticed that you don't tell me things until I'm ready to hear them. You've been an excellent long distance mentor as I learn how to do this.

 

[Shotguncoach]

I spent part of the time during the first rust putting a new belt onto my ancient drill press so that I could use the low speed pulley system. If I did the mathing correctly, the speed at the chuck should now be 450 rpm. Previous projects were carded by locking the pieces into the bench vise and using the carding wheel in a variable speed, hand held electric drill motor. This time I'm going to try mounting the carding wheel in the drill press and using a constant speed on the wheel.



The first 20 minute boil produced the normal horrifying results prior to carding, and a decent (though splotchy) finish afterwards. I'll keep an eye on the splotchy parts as we progress through subsequent rustings but for now I'm not going to worry about it.





I scrub the bore and chambers after each boil, and apparently I forgot that when I attached the zip tie to the barrel. A little bit of time scrounging through the pile turned up a frame stub from a deceased Model 64 that worked well as an alternate way to secure the zip tie to the barrel.




The second two-hour rusting was performed using the 100% solution again and provided a good time for lunch and a nap. The results after the second carding were much better, with most of the splotching filled in but still noticeable. Still keeping an eye on that. The new barrel attachment worked great.



The third rust was with the 50% solution (half distilled water, half rusting goop) and really started to bring the color out. I'm really liking the slowed down drill press for carding, even though having the wheel spin on the horizontal plane takes some getting used to. My big dual shaft buffer runs at 1750 rpm and would be way too fast for this. Someday when I have time I'll set something up that hangs off the back of the buffer stand and uses pulleys to reduce the rpm. For now the drill press works.

No matter how the carding wheel is oriented, it still can't get inside the trigger guard or the cylinder window. Those areas have to be done with a hand brush. Here's the frame in it's current state after hand brushing those two areas.





....and the whole mess prior to being hung up in the bathroom again until tomorrow.





The 24 hour pause between cycles with the pieces hanging in the high-humidity area seems to add a bit of slow, natural oxidation that deepens the color. Tomorrow after work we'll do another rust with the 50% solution, and then proceed to rusting with the 25% solution for the rest of the work week. If everything stays on schedule, Saturday will be a soak in the oil bath and Sunday will be the putting-together.