Thread: First Restore!

Well its finally finished. This was an ebay find that I took the scales off. I am not sure what they were. Since one was broken off they went. If anyone can tell from the picture I'd appreciate it.
My impatience got the better of me. Since I had to wait until payday to get wood for the scales, a dremel, & higher grit sandpaper & since payday is tomorrow I jumped in with both feet and used what I had.
The scales are mesquite, slabbed off a stick from my woodpile, cut down with a jigsaw with a metal cutting blade, smoothed out with a 12" file and covered with 60 min epoxy.
The rust on the blade was scraped/chipped away with a scapel then sanded with 220, 320, & 400 grit sandpaper. After that I polished with Brasso, lots and lots of Brasso.....big mistake, it polished a little but nothing like the MAAS did. Comparing the work required between Brasso and Mass, go with MAAS. Its a much better job with much less effort.
This is not even in the same ballpark as some of the work I've seen here, but the knowledge gained will make future restores much better. I'd love to here what you think and how to do this better next time.
The first thing will be to order Bill's restore CD.

Bob
BTW The inlaid teardrop is turquoise, first time I ever tried it

Looks good Bob! The original scales look like bone to me.

Nice work.

If you use little washers on the pins, that will make it easier to pin without risking wood damage, and the pin head will no wear the wood with long term use of the razor. You can get them from www.microfasteners.com

How did you take out the wood for the turqoise inlay?
I have tried this with bone, but I could not find a good way to cut out the wood.

"The original scales look like bone to me." I'm not sure since they feel like plastic but have almost a grain structure to them..

I will have to order the washers for next time and the time after that, and the time after that..........
To remove the wood I used a small surgical scalple. It was a pain because that blade does not like going around corners. I think I will look for some sm woodcarving chisles.

Yeah, it's hard to tell from the picture, although the grain I can see near the ends look the same as my bone scales. All my bone scales are much thinner than yours look also.

Originally Posted by CactusBob

"The original scales look like bone to me." I'm not sure since they feel like plastic but have almost a grain structure to them..

I will have to order the washers for next time and the time after that, and the time after that..........
To remove the wood I used a small surgical scalple. It was a pain because that blade does not like going around corners. I think I will look for some sm woodcarving chisles.

Bob:
First off really nice work!!!!!

You might check www.Midwayusa.com and www.Brownells.com for what we rifle smiths use, there are small files and of course small chisels, that we use to inlet rifle stocks, to fit them to the action, that should work perfect for you....

Originally Posted by CactusBob

"The original scales look like bone to me." I'm not sure since they feel like plastic but have almost a grain structure to them..

If they feel like plastic, but have a grain, they are probably ivory. They could be Grained Xylonite (a plastic). You can tell the difference using a hot pin, nail, wire, &c. Xylonite will melt - ivory will not. Be careful, though - Xylonite is nitrocellulose based (like smokeless gunpowder) and burns savagely if it catches light.