Speaking of Restoration... looking for thoughts on wood repair.

[E.vonAschwege]

Hey Guys,
   FINALLY on spring break... I really, REALLY miss my workshop when I'm at school.  Now that I'm off fo a week, I'm spending some time working between a new fowler and a project gun I picked up recently.  The project is an old halfstock English fowler marked "T Smith" on the lock and barrel, with the underside of the damascus barrel marked H Richards.  It's cracked in several places through the lock area, and a half-@$$ repair was done years ago with pins and poorly placed glue.  Going to fill the pin holes with wood, and there's only one small piece that I'll have to fashion myself to match the grain properly, but everything else is there and lines up pretty tight. 
   The wood is a nice piece of walnut, with a rough but intact finish on the lock side.  Unfortunately, whoever tried to glue it together before botched the cheek side by removing all of the finish and patina, right down to the bare wood.  My question is one of ethics...
I'm planning to obviously repair the stock, splice in new matching wood, and attempt to disguise the repair as best I can with a glaze.  I'm wondering what I should do about the buttstock.  The existing finish is flaking off, dirty, and covering up a very pretty piece of wood.  I feel confident I could match the existing finish to some degree... would be a good challenge. 
     OR... since the stock is already half stripped, I continue to remove the cruddy finish and appropriately clean the entire piece.  Not to the extent of the cheek side, but at least so it matches better. 
    A lot of English shotguns and rifles are restored to an "as new" finish these days, something that goes against the "leave it alone" trend we have with Kentucky rifles.  I feel the damascus barrel deserves to be rebrowned to bring out the beautiful pattern once more, and perhaps the stock should get an equally nice finish.  What are your thoughts, both positive and negative.  Thanks!!  Glad to be back, even if for a short time. 
-Eric

[mr. no gold]

It clearly is not beyond saving, Eric. By the way, welcome back; nice to see you on the Forum once more. If it were mine, I would keep the old finish and match any new work to the existing wood and remaining surface. Stripping is never really an option, in my opinion, as long as there is some original finish left. Be sure to check in at the Library here if time permits. Lots of eye candy to behold.
Best-Dick

[jwh1947]

I agree, think like a dentist drilling into a tooth.  You must remove the decay, but you wish to preserve as much vital tissue as possible.  I would shoot for a clean cut.  Do you have the barrel?  If not you are going to end up with a composite.  There's no carving other than the wrist hatching to preserve, so why not put this in a shadow box and buy yourself a nice Jim Chambers kit and spend your time building something that you can shoot and hunt with?  Just a thought.

[Sam Everly]

It is your gun do what you want to it . I would rather have it all together and nice looking, than a pile of $#@* . Take a look at Gunsmithng Tips & Projects. See what John Bivins did to a rifle he restored . It was a very high dollar gun and he did a full restoration. It looks like a new one . I have always went for the idea of fix it like you want, it is yours .I do stay true to what is there no added extras. If it did not have a patch box , don't add one. If i had iron don't make it brass.       
   

[Longknife]

Eric, If that were a high dollar gun, I would say keep it as original as possible. But lets face it, these english half stock percussion fowlers, by little known makers will never bring much money no matter how you restore it. I would opt for a full blown restoration, just like an English master would have done in 1890 or so. You can always "age it slightly" to give it that old lookl. I might also unbreech it and clean  the bore if necessary---Then I'd pop a few birds and squirrels with it!!!!!!!!

[E.vonAschwege]

Thanks for the replies and welcome back.  When at school I do check the forum, but never have time to get sucked in (shux). 

    The gun is all there except for a small piece at the break and the horn nosecap is missing.  Both shouldn't be too difficult to fabricate.  I don't think the barrel is a shooter, but I haven't given it a good scrubbing yet.  The iron parts aren't too bad, a nice smooth patina, and some of the original case color is on the lock and breech plug.  The inside of the lock shows the original polished workings and fire-blued screw heads in excellent shape. 

     I wanted to put it back together as a "practice" piece before working on higher dollar guns.  I've built several new flintlocks from a plank, but haven't done restoration work.  Figure it makes sense to start with something like this.  I'm going to clean up some of the cruddy wax, then apply a glaze finish to the stripped side to try to match the color and patina.  Disguising the old break through the lock section will be the most difficult, as it doesn't mate up perfectly anymore.  The barrel is going to get rebrowned to bring out the damascus figure, but everything else will stay as found.   

I'll post some photos of the progress later.  Thanks again,
-Eric