A hint into 17th & 18th Century Stock finishes

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
Not to step on any of the great modern stock finishers:
I would like to give you iInformation I have gleaned over the almost 40 Years That I have been working on building 17th & 18th century Firelock facsimiles .
A good part of that time was working on original "Gonnes" from the 1600 and 1700 time periods...In restoration and conservation of these historic weapons!
First off I must say that these weapons I were to worked on were built by famous gun builders of those time periods....The quality of the stock finish was amazingly preserved!
There was never any crazing or cracking in the finish. They knew how to treat the stock which was a somewhat living entity ...Based on contraction and expansion based on the time of year and the humidity present!
I will select just one of a few I have worked on: If you are familiar with Pennsylvania 18th century gun Builders J.P. Beck would be the one that stands out!
Probably one of the most prolific and excellent builders in that time period of flintlock building right up until his death in the 19th century when he was converting rifles right up to the new percussion system!
When I Got this rifle into my shop for conservation & restoration it took me 9 months to get the nerve to work on It ! He is one of the "great" gun builders!
One of these days I may post the work I did on it.....but I want you to to know that besides the damage to the wood the finish was impeccable!
Why...
Well in the 18th Century they treated linseed oil with high concentrations of "Lead salts" Yes lead oxide and lead acetate! This was all removed from boiled linseed oil in the 1940 and "Japan driers" took their place
I still make the traditional Boiled linseed oil with lead acetate! It is illegal in the US! This is a linseed oil that dries but is flexible!
But the real secret Is that once the stock was wet and whiskered ( they used metal scrapers here not sand paper!) The raw wood was treated with a wash of button shellac dissolved in alcohol.
Shellac has unique properties in that it is hydroscopic! If the humidity goes up it expands and seals the pores of the wood...If it is dry it lets the wood contract! That takes care of the seasons the gun is subject to! Now the top finish being slow applied "real" boiled linseed oil with lead additives as driers accounts for a great mobile finish to preserve 17th & 18th Century Guns!
Just want to pass along the Ancient Technology...that we have lost!
Jim
 
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JWFilips

Well-Known Member
We all think we are now superior:
the knowledge of using in 4 different woods in a an 18th century chair Baffle Us!
 
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Ian

Notorious member
It would be valuable to many if you wrote a book, or at least some rambling articles for the site. What took you a lifetime of experience and research and unique personal experience to gain is priceless.
 

RicinYakima

High Steppes of Eastern Washington
If you don't want to wait for JW to write it, consider reading "The Gunsmith of Grandville County".
 
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fiver

Well-Known Member
yes.

that post reminded me about something i have always wondered.
i remember reading some of lewis and clark's travels and the notes they took along the way in the daily journal.
the one thing that struck me was them talking about their chests shrinking and cracking once they got over my direction.
i even seen a picture [or drawing] of one of the chests that split longitudinally in several places.

they however, never one single time, mentioned a problem with the furniture on any of their rifles.
 

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
I have a Whole Treatise on stock finishing in the 17th & 18th Century at my Finger tips!
It was originally produced by Bill Knight! He gave it to me in 1984 at Dixon's Gun Makers Fair! between him and Kit Ravensher I absorbed a lot of 17th and 18th century Knowledge!
I'm willing to share this all...
 

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
"The Gunsmith of Grandville County".
The Gunsmith of Grenville County: Read it.... why I have that set to memory!
Pete Alexander was a good friend of mine when I was activly building in the 1980's 90's and first decade of the 2000's
 

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
fiver,
The reason the chests split is because once they went out west it completely dried out! In the east we always live with humidity!
 

RicinYakima

High Steppes of Eastern Washington
The first new gun I ever bought was a Browning T-bolt grade 2 22LR in 1970 in Ohio. When I moved west in 1973, within a year the wood shrank so much the Browning finish cracked and let the salt out and rusted everything the wood touched. Still have the rifle and it still shoots well, but I never take it out of the stock now after I soaked all the salt out of the wood.
 

462

California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
During the Westward migration, wheel spokes became loose in their hubs and rims, and needed refitting.
 
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