Thank you for all the nice compliments and comments.
The Fox SxS is a favorite of mine and I had the wood lying around from another project that didn't go as planned.
The (new) wood was originally a piece that was to be semi inletted for a 12ga Fox frame,,just the frame no other shaping.
The job was so poorly done you could throw your hat through the gaps.
Plus they nicely shaped the butt stock and a forend to unwanted oversized, grotesque P/grip specs.
I nearly tossed that piece out more than a few times and it layed under my bench for almost 20 years.
Then I (Finally) got the bright idea that with all the bulk wood left on it and the extra length that the primo wood technician never cut off, I could maybe save it by using it for the small 16/20ga size Fox or something similar in straight grip form.
That worked, by setting the action back into the wood nearly 1 1/2" to have solid wood to work with again. I still had enough at the other end to have a 14 1/2 LOP so I was all set.
The other plan was to cut it short and use it on a through-bolt gun like a pump or something like that but I had a matching piece cut for the forend so that settled that.
Pistol grips would have been an option I guess, I don't make many of those anymore.
They were supposed to cut the forend for an ejector 12,,but supplied an extractor 12 instead,,more of the ongoing story. But that again worked out as the narrow inlet of the extractor forend iron allowed me to reinlet it for the wider ejector 16 forend here.
I could have saved 10hrs working from a plain blank, but I just hate to waste stuff including this wood,,even though it came close a couple of times!
I bent the tangs,, both upper and lower.
Bent upwards a bit on this one to get a better look to the finished stock. You can stock it to any drop you want with the tangs the way they are.
Sometimes you bend them to avoid funny looking stock lines in the finished product like a very tall comb to wrist 'ski jump' or an overly large or short length butt plate.
When you do this you move the triggers (bottom tang) and the safety (top tang) so you have to watch and make sure the mechanism still functions right.
This one took only a bit of work on the trigger blades to get everything back in order. I'd rather work on them than bend sear arms, but sometimes you do.
The safety didn't work when I got it as the tangs were too close together from over tightening screws over the years. Rebedding during the restock and the very slight bending solved that. They're all not that easy sometimes!
The trigger guard was pistol gip originally. I sub'd a straight grip guard . It was generally done by cut and welding an extension onto the original guard.
I like to save original parts when I can and I have a bunch of these straight grip guards in the rough guards from a Spanish mfg SxS (Arietta?).
Just rough formed w/the spur welded into place. No holes in the tang which is good. The stud is some metric thread but it recuts to #12 size nicely as does the Fox trigger plate.
I make screws to fit for the guard and in this case the heal and toe plate as well.
The plates were a gunshow special for $5 IIRC. They are nice and thick at 1/8" and appear to be punch pressed out. They were flat (probably why they were $5). Some simple forming while at red heat and presto, a nice set of heal and toe plates.
I welded in the original 5 lines to the inch type checkering on the thumb lever, then faced that off and reshaped the lever a bit to get rid of some bulk and the S/W look to it.
The Sterlingworth marking on the sides I welded in and faced off. I free hand polish w/a belt grinder on flat surfaces where I can. It goes fast, but so can things disappear that you don't want too. It takes some experience before you feel confident to place a Parker, Fox or LCS up against a belt grinder. But it's not far from what the factorys used.
The side panels reshaped as well as the top of the frame. That's all file work and hand polishing.
Engraving, I use a Lindsay air tool now cause I can't hold hammer & chisel steady anymore. 45yrs so far, 35 yrs hammer and chisel and I thought I was done at that time. I would have been if it wasn't for Mr Lindsay's fine invention.
The entire pattern is done with one tool ,,a simple V point.
No flats, rounds, different sizes of anything, liners, ect,, just one boring V point. 60+ degree angle on the face.
I did use a couple of small dot punches in the borders here and there,,I cheated I guess. I usually don't use them much, but I guess I wandered way out of my comfort zone on this one.
The figure details are done w/a flat chisel point to make tiny lines. The lines are criss crossed as a pencil artist would do to create light and dark areas. It's punch work more than engraving in the sense of how most all of the lines are created on them.
The grouse is 24k gold. The woodcock just cut into the steel.
The wood is actually quite light in color w/no stain or finish on it.
It's stained with solvent based stain and oil based stain in a combination of steps that I've found that seem to compliment each other.
The finish is my standby Homer Formby Tung Oil Varnish.
People laugh, but there it is and it with stands the weather.
There's a lot to technique in creating a nice finish,,much more so than what you apply to the surface.
Checkering ,,it's 24lpi. Checkering slows me down more than anything else it seems. New work like this can get tedious for me.
Re-cutting old work goes right along it seems. I just finished up recutting a Rem31 Skeet stock and forend in the re-do process.
The wood cut smoothly doing the borders and fluers (what ever they'er called). Some very nice wood can cut very badly.
Small ebony forend tip I made and inletted & shaped after I had started to checker the forend. Seemed like it just needed to be there.
Slow rust blue on the blued parts with a bit of a different pace on the trigger guard top lever, ect so they (hopefully) result is brighter finish than the barrels. I think that succeeded OK.
Most of the originals had charcoal blued trigger guards and small parts. But I didn't feel like dragging that stuff out, and I've gotten the rust blue to the point where I'm satisfied with it for that. It's not a strict restoration.
The frame and trigger plate are french gray or coin finish,,take your pick on terminology. Just don't leave it in the acid too long.
A splinter of tooth of the pachyderm shaped up on the lathe made into a new front sight bead. The battered, plier marked original shiny white metal one needed to go.
A couple of extra pics,,forend mainly. The inside of the f/e iron is engraved as is the frame flat.
No extra super special custom model markings or grade on it.
Just the original Sterlingworth 300,000 series ser# on the action, forend and on the new trigger guard tang. I have a small punch I made w/my initials in a shield that I marked inside in a couple of spots.
I signed the piece in the grouse scene,,just underneath the birds tail. I can't see it w/o my work magnifier on and I couldn't get a picture of it w/my M/Mouse brand camera either. Yes I'm pretty low key.
That's the story about the Fox.
Hope I didn't bore you with the details..
I have to clock that inside screw on the forend don't I..
That is beautiful!
I don't think I ever saw him offer a retort.
