Calling All Antique Collectors - Help With A School Assignment!
- Thread starter sarahrock
- Start date
Greetings - that's a very interesting choice of vocations!
There is a forum for collectors of the U.S.-made A.H Fox shotguns here: http://www.foxcollectors.com/ah_fox/content/disassembly.html
The only reason I suggest joining and reading their forum is that the members are quite serious about their guns and are especially interested in the subject of restoration. One section of the forum is devoted entirely to that subject. I am sure you will find many ideas there as well as here.
I'll only comment on wood, as I have yet to tackle the metal on mine.
As wood ages, it loses its original oils due to exposure to the elements, gun cleaning fluids and just straight evaporation - a very slow but steady and insidious process. As it loses its oils it 1) shrinks and 2) becomes very brittle.
The shrinkage often causes looseness to develop in the metal to wood fittings. When you disassemble the piece you must be very aware of this and, as mentioned by an earlier poster, you must have a detailed plan of HOW to disassemble it, and you MUST have the correct tools. I can't stress the tools enough. For example, all of the screw heads used on antique firearms are of the 'slot' headed variety, and the slot heads made today (and hence the screwdrivers for them) are NOT necessarily the same size as the old ones. You may or may not know that slot head screws are the MOST prone to damage when used, and a messed up screw head will have a direct negative effect on the value of the piece when re-assembled.
You can purchase gunsmithing tools that will have a perfect fit for various components - including the above example of screwdrivers.
But do check out the Fox Forum, if for no other reason than to be inspired by the beautiful restorations shown there.
Cheers and good luck!
There is a forum for collectors of the U.S.-made A.H Fox shotguns here: http://www.foxcollectors.com/ah_fox/content/disassembly.html
The only reason I suggest joining and reading their forum is that the members are quite serious about their guns and are especially interested in the subject of restoration. One section of the forum is devoted entirely to that subject. I am sure you will find many ideas there as well as here.
I'll only comment on wood, as I have yet to tackle the metal on mine.
As wood ages, it loses its original oils due to exposure to the elements, gun cleaning fluids and just straight evaporation - a very slow but steady and insidious process. As it loses its oils it 1) shrinks and 2) becomes very brittle.
The shrinkage often causes looseness to develop in the metal to wood fittings. When you disassemble the piece you must be very aware of this and, as mentioned by an earlier poster, you must have a detailed plan of HOW to disassemble it, and you MUST have the correct tools. I can't stress the tools enough. For example, all of the screw heads used on antique firearms are of the 'slot' headed variety, and the slot heads made today (and hence the screwdrivers for them) are NOT necessarily the same size as the old ones. You may or may not know that slot head screws are the MOST prone to damage when used, and a messed up screw head will have a direct negative effect on the value of the piece when re-assembled.
You can purchase gunsmithing tools that will have a perfect fit for various components - including the above example of screwdrivers.
But do check out the Fox Forum, if for no other reason than to be inspired by the beautiful restorations shown there.
Cheers and good luck!
Thank You!
I just want to send out a big thank-you to everyone who has helped me with my assignment on the care of antique firearms! My instructor is absolutely delighted with the feedback I've had - I can't thank you all enough!
I hope to be done my paper by the end of next week, for anyone who is interested.
Thank you for all of your help and support,
Sarah
I just want to send out a big thank-you to everyone who has helped me with my assignment on the care of antique firearms! My instructor is absolutely delighted with the feedback I've had - I can't thank you all enough!
I hope to be done my paper by the end of next week, for anyone who is interested.
Thank you for all of your help and support,
Sarah
X2!
^ easy, a fella could be asked to answer all kinds of unwanted questions there... {Officer} "Why are you internet creeping people!?"...{gunnutter} "huh? what!? Hang oooonnnn, I asked if she wanted to shoot my smokepole!? Officer; please appreciate that smokepole in our circles means..."{full explaination}
{joke}
}{joke}
HELLO EVERYONE!
I just wanted to give a HUGE thank you to everyone who helped me out with my firearms paper. Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you all, but I have finally received the marked copy of my paper from my instructor (fixed a few typos) and am now ready to share it with all of you
I pm'd a few of you who had expressed interest in reading my paper. If you are interested, just send me a message with your email address in it and I would be more than happy to forward it along.
As for those of you who asked me specific conservation questions - I will be getting back to you with my answers over the next couple of days. I apologize again for the delay - I wanted my instructor to review my recommendations before I sent them out.
Hope all is well with everyone,
Sarah
I just wanted to give a HUGE thank you to everyone who helped me out with my firearms paper. Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you all, but I have finally received the marked copy of my paper from my instructor (fixed a few typos) and am now ready to share it with all of you
I pm'd a few of you who had expressed interest in reading my paper. If you are interested, just send me a message with your email address in it and I would be more than happy to forward it along.
As for those of you who asked me specific conservation questions - I will be getting back to you with my answers over the next couple of days. I apologize again for the delay - I wanted my instructor to review my recommendations before I sent them out.
Hope all is well with everyone,
Sarah
