Joel Ferree, a resurrection.

[JTR]

Thank you very much, Brad.
I very much enjoyed working on this gun. Ferree has always been a favorite maker of mine, so this was really icing on the cake for me!
The owner, Brian, was really great to work with, with many emails back and forth as things progressed, and pictures showing him what had been done.
There's also several other guys in the background, mostly KRA guys, that I talked to regarding this and that on the rifle, to try to make my work as period correct as possible.
So thank you, again, and all the other guys that have replied here as well.
John   

[120RIR]

I do believe there is a fine line between being involved and being a pest. I'm pretty sure I crossed that line into "pest" territory any number of times, but John was a real gentleman about it!     For me, the learning and knowledge/experience exchange is half the fun and John's been a real inspiration.  I now have my first restoration project in the shop/garage and if I can do half as good a job with it as he would I'll consider it a real triumph.  That being said, I'm more than happy to provide detail photos, measurements, etc. of the Ferree rifle to interested parties.  However, John can provide insight into the technical hows and whys of the resurrection effort much more so than I can.

[JTR]

Jeff,
PM sent.
John

Okay Jeff, and others that expressed an interest, the owner says to go ahead and post up the pictures!
Now, I've never done this before so I didn't take pictures with posting every step of the work in mind. I do have enough to show the general work progression though.
When looking at them, please keep in mind that these are pictures of work in progress! If things don't look exactly as they do in the finished picture don't worry about it, as the pictures are work in progress.
All together, for the tang area repair, I have 16 pictures, so will lay them out four at a time. I do show a finished picture at the end.

To start, here's pics showing what there was to start with. The last picture shows the broken out raised carving along side the tang.
 
         

[JTR]

This next set shows the wood replacement for the piece along side the tang. I know the piece to be added in, looks really big. I actually like doing it that way as it makes it easier to get it into place with the glue, then do the modeling once the glue is set.
These three pictures show the progression from start to basically complete. Complete, but not completely finished! Still a work in progress.

[JTR]

This next set is the start to replace the wood missing on the lock side. To start, I picked the best angle to include as much of the area as possible to sand flat. Yes, I guess you could try to precisely inlet the new wood to all the splintered busted up area on the stock, but if I did, I would no doubt still be working on that area! To me, sanding it flat results in the smallest glue line and that's what I try for.
As you can see in the first picture, once sanded flat, I score the old wood to give the glue a good adhesion surface. And I do the same on the new wood.

On the second picture I've glued in a short bit of wood. A piece of wood was broken out under the area where the tang sits, so this small piece is to repair that area.
The third picture is the Chunk to be glued on the restore the missing wood between the lock and the tang area. When doing big areas like this, it's important to match the new woods grain direction and strip orientation to the original wood!
The 4th picture shows the Chunk glued in place and trimmed down a bit.

 

[JTR]

The first picture in this one shows the initial fit of the lock to the new wood. Still a lot of wood to remove in this pic, but getting there.   
The next picture shows the new wood mostly shaped and fitted to the original wood. Adding the new wood to the old is touchy; you need to get the level and contour of the new wood pretty much exact as the old, but don't want to touch the old wood/finish with your tools any more than possible. This picture also shows the start of the carving.
The third pic shows the initial carving pretty well started and defined.
The fourth picture is with the lock in place. Again, a picture in progress and not the final result!

 

 

[JTR]

And finally, Finished!
Keep in mind everything I did on this rifle was done in a way to try to match the existing original work as best as possible. For instance, Ferrees' carving wasn't exact and perfect in this area, plus its worn and beat up. I tried to match mine to his a best as possible.

If you have any questions or comments, I'm happy to answer.
If you'd like to see more of the work I did on this rifle, the owner says go for it and post them up.

John

                                                         

[WESTbury]

John,

I am truly amazed. Thanks to the owner for letting us see these photos and to you for your skill. You aren't descended from Merlin, are you?

There is always one guy who wants to see more, and that guy is me. Do you have a photo of the bottom of the barrel near the breech? What I am particularly interested in seeing is the clearance cut. if any, for the front lock bolt.

Kent

[Robert Wolfe]

John - thanks for posting these new pics. Very interesting. Would love to see any more that your have.

[backsplash75]

LOVED seeing the process pictures, thanks!

[J. Talbert]

John,
Thanks so much for your extra efforts on our behalf, reaching out to the owner, and to the owner himself for giving us a peek behind the curtain.

Fascinating… and great results!

Jeff

[JTR]

Thank you guys for looking, and the kind comments!
Kent, there isn't a cutout for the front screw on this barrel. Having one is very common, but not always.

[WESTbury]

Thanks John appreciate your observations as always.

Kent