Faux Forged Guard

[Top Jaw]

Has anyone ever experimented with propane heating and spot hammering on a wax cast steel guard to try to impart a little "psuedo forged" look to it?  Im thinking of trying this on a large early virginia guard, to go with a forged butplate I have.  Just thought I would ask because something tells me at least one guy here has probably already tried it!   

[David Rase]

You may be able to faux the "look" but you will never give it the "feel".  With real hand forged furniture you can feel the life in it that you just don't get from a clunky cast piece of steel furniture.
DMR

[dannybb55]

Blacksmiths tried like crazy to get the forged look out. File File File. The welds, brazing and low spots show though, and the lack of a machine shop. Get some one to forge one, what does your tg look like?

[rich pierce]

The best forged work of the period and now does not show forging marks, whether we are talking about gun furniture or knives, tomahawks, etc.

[G-Man]

As the others have said.  Adding fake hammer marks will not make it look like the real thing.  Also - it is hard telling what some of these wax cast steel castings are made from, and a lot of them are pretty brittle.  So I don't think propane and a hammer would be a good idea. 

What you can do to help the castings is reshaping by filing.  Most of the steel castings sold today are much bulkier than original iron hardware.  A little thinning and reshaping can be done and you would be surprised how much you can alter the look and get it closer to something that looks right.  And at least you will have something that does not look like it came from the same mold as all the other ones running around out there.   Spurs on grip rails can be reshaped, bows can be openened up they have a lot of metal at the front, finials can be narrowed and reshaped - lots of things.

Good luck

Guy

[dannybb55]

The best forged work of the period and now does not show forging marks, whether we are talking about gun furniture or knives, tomahawks, etc.

That is very true but there were a lot of Ford and Chevy blacksmiths then as well as the few, Rolls and Bugatti blacksmiths. There is plenty of fast work evident on extant rifles, plenty of fire scale left on out of sight. Even the whitesmiths had to cut corners as the profit margin was tight before and after King George.
 Maybe someone could forge a T G and you could file her up for your rifle?

[Top Jaw]

Guy

You make some good points.  What I am ultimately after is a guard that doesnt looks like every other off-the-shelf version.  I realize nothing would compare to a real forged version.  However, I can probably achieve a big portion of that by simply filing and altering an existing early guard into something a little sleeker.

[dannybb55]

Forging a Guard is not real hard to do, you just need a pattern. All the real work is in the finish.

[B Shipman]

Basically, bend a little, file a lot  and you can make something different. Or make your own.