Distressing finnish

[smylee grouch]

When you builders who practice that black art of aging your new builds, do you stain the stock before you distress it or do you beat it up before staining?

[David Rase]

When I distress a gun, and I only mildly distress, I finish the stock as a new gun and then go through the distressing process.  It is my feeling that if you try to age/distress a gun before it is finished it ends up looking like poor workmanship vs. a gun that has aged over the years. 
David   

[smylee grouch]

Thanks for that reply Dave. That sounds logical .  After you do distress it, do you apply any more finish on the wood?

[Turtle]

 Take the finished gun on a long overnight trek in damp weather wearing slippery mocs. Sleep with it next to you on the ground. Oh yea-shoot it first cleaning only the bore.
                                  Merry Christmas, Turtle

[Joe S.]

When I take my guns afield they get plenty distressed soon enough. While I get it,making something look old I'm not one to do it.After many hours of of making a gun look as perfect as possible its hard to justify beating the $#*! out of it on purpose.If the customer wants it that way so be it.

[Eric Kettenburg]

I'd second what Dave noted above.  You have to begin with a *completed* piece, finish and all.  Realize that most old arms have had the finish worn/stripped and reapplied about 100 times by now. The process involves the stereotypical "beating" but the piece must also be constantly rubbed back/finish applied between said beatings.  It's really a fairly involved process and to do it believably can easily take as much time if not more time than the actual construction process.  I like to have a completed piece to be aged for at least 6 mo. to really do it right.  The process must also necessarily involve weather, heat, cold etc. if you want to pull off a believable look.  Let's face it, you're trying to compress 200+ years of genuine use into a short period of time and so you need to get REALLY creative and thoughtful.

[bob in the woods]

Hang it in the tree outside the shop, then it goes in the corner of the hen house for a while....let them roost on it for a bit, then back to the tree etc etc. It takes time and cleaning between hen house occupancy's but it's worth it. 

[oldtravler61]

Erick I believe you truly have it figured out. Your work is very impressive.

[flehto]

When visiting the Williamsburg's gunshop, a newly made LR was on the counter and everyone who came picked it up and  shouldered it. A father gave it to his 8 yr old son and when in the process of shouldering it,  dropped it on the floor. Another youngster tried to cock it and promptly split his thumbnail when the flint came down. A lot of bleeding ensued....much of the blood was on the LR.

Later on when the gunshop was nearly empty, I asked why the newly built LR was on the counter for all to handle. The answer was that it was being aged.. Forgot  which 2 of the gunsmiths were on duty, but  to treat a handmade LR as was being done seemed odd....Fred

[WadePatton]

If you get carried away, or something goes horribly wrong, study old repairs.  Making sure to study both the crappy old repairs and the good old repairs.  Make a good repair.  Then...give it some "distress".

My nearest gun-building pal, tells of the time his RR drill poked a hole in the bottom of the stock for a bespoke gun.  He made a "wear patch" to cover it, and was ready to do a full re-stock for the guy.  HE was distressed over messing up the stock.

The day of reckoning comes. He says the customer loved it, that it was his favorite part of the build.  What's funny is that Mr. Anderson doesn't do "stressed" guns.  Even after that.



Can get really time consuming with you have to convert to caps and then back to flint...

[greybeard]

I can't possibly imagine the response you would get if you went to pick up your new rifle gun from J.P. Beck or Leonard Reedy and asked them to beat up the gun before leaving the shop with it!!
They would be apt to throw you out of the shop me thinks!!
     Bob

[JoeG]

I guess that nobody had anything new 200 years ago. They all went to rendezvous to buy old worn out stuff so they could look like experienced trappers. 

[WKevinD]

Smylee, good questions, started out OK but the "let it be natural" folks  have spoken again.
I love the guns that are "aged" by the masters and I am always surprised at the positive responses by all who see them yet want to stifle the artistic merit associated with a well executed rifle that has been "aged" whenever the questions (wanting to learn) come up. Good on you for trying.  Too bad for the slamers. 

[Turtle]

   A guy brought me a longrifle with a stock broken at the wrist. I tried hard to convince him for me to repair it  and add a rawhide or brass external repair patch. he wouldn't do it, but I saved the stock and plan on doing it myself. I call actual use aging  "Experiential Patina".
                                             Turtle

[flehto]

I like 'em both aged and brand spanking new. If I could do a creditable job of aging a LR, I'd do it w/ some builds if I could muster some fortitude. Some builders though put all the aging on the metal parts which results in an unnatural look and the stock is like new and I can understand this....banging up a new stock to make it look old and used is a hard thing to do....this entails some "guts".  The builders that do age their builds are probably satisfying a customer's desires....so be it.....Fred

[Robert Wolfe]

I am partial to a well done aging job but like them both ways. I also like the fact that not everyone here has the same opinion on this and other facets of our hobby. If we all thought the same it would be pretty boring.

[Thom]

From my perspective Carl Pippert was the Master of aging a longrifle. I also consider Jud Brennan as a Master of aging. Two Master builders IMHO.

Thom

edited

[smylee grouch]

Thanks to every one who has responded so far. I knew when I started this thread that I would probably be opening a can of worms but I couldn't remember if the actual sequence of how people do it had ever been talked about. Opinions differ for sure and IMHO there is no right or wrong when that aspect of building is concerned. Thanks again and Merry Christmas.

[Thom]

" I knew when I started this thread that I would probably be opening a can of worms"
smylee grouch today

I was very hesitant to make the comment that I did. I did not want to open that can either.

[Joe S.]

Smylee, good questions, started out OK but the "let it be natural" folks  have spoken again.
I love the guns that are "aged" by the masters and I am always surprised at the positive responses by all who see them yet want to stifle the artistic merit associated with a well executed rifle that has been "aged" whenever the questions (wanting to learn) come up. Good on you for trying.  Too bad for the slamers. 

Don't take what I said as a slam.I love the distressed look on hard wood flooring an old mantle above a stone fireplace even some new housing with a made to look old fasad. Just prefer to have my shootin irons look new in the beginning. Besides it took two hundred years to give those old ones that character, you start one off that way what do you think it will look like two hundred years from now.I would like to think long after I gone under somebody will carry on with my rifle and so on,just an opinion

[greybeard]

Smylee, good questions, started out OK but the "let it be natural" folks  have spoken again.
I love the guns that are "aged" by the masters and I am always surprised at the positive responses by all who see them yet want to stifle the artistic merit associated with a well executed rifle that has been "aged" whenever the questions (wanting to learn) come up. Good on you for trying.  Too bad for the slamers. 

That was posted as an opinion. Not a slam against anyone.

[Pete G.]

Personally I don't like the aged 200+ years look, but do like the look of what the piece may have looked like after about 10 years of use. The "Used but not abused" look if you will.

[WKevinD]

Smylee, good questions, started out OK but the "let it be natural" folks  have spoken again.
I love the guns that are "aged" by the masters and I am always surprised at the positive responses by all who see them yet want to stifle the artistic merit associated with a well executed rifle that has been "aged" whenever the questions (wanting to learn) come up. Good on you for trying.  Too bad for the slamers. 

That was posted as an opinion. Not a slam against anyone.

No it was not a slam, just a Christmas eggnog lubricated opinion. If I offended anyone, sorry, but I still applaud the quest for knowledge.

[Eric Kettenburg]

I can't possibly imagine the response you would get if you went to pick up your new rifle gun from J.P. Beck or Leonard Reedy and asked them to beat up the gun before leaving the shop with it!!
They would be apt to throw you out of the shop me thinks!!
     Bob

Bob I have heard many people voice this opinion over the years.  Obviously the subject of aging is a very divisive one.  However, while we can not possibly know what 18th century gunmakers may have thought of the current affinity for aged pieces, I would tend to believe the opposite of your opinion.  Just like anyone working at this full-time today, 18th century tradesmen were in business to make money, not starve to death.  I think we tend to view most of these old makers as "artists" first and laborers second, but frankly, I personally doubt very few of them (if any) considered themselves "artists" in the modern sense of the term.  Many of us who build these things for a living have followed a common path, building 'as-new' rifles first and gradually progressing to aged pieces as the market dictates.  There is a HUGE demand for aged pieces, especially among a particular segment of collectors who tend to buy frequently and buy often.  I guess this is a roundabout (and I hope polite) way of disagreeing with you while trying to explain my disagreement:  I suspect someone walking into Beck or Reedy's shops would get anything they wanted, provided they had ready cash and were willing to spend it.

[Mike Brooks]

Personally I don't like the aged 200+ years look, but do like the look of what the piece may have looked like after about 10 years of use. The "Used but not abused" look if you will.

Interesting. Keep in mind a Carolina gun in native hands was expected to last two years.....

I have personally Used a M/L I built so hard that in 8 years it was near wore out, far more aged than what comes out of my shop.

Those original guns we admire so much now probably saw most of their use and abuse in the 1900-1950 era as children's play toys and may have seen little use in their working time period, especially all the fancy guns with lots of carving and elaborate brass boxes. I figure All of those that didn't survive may have been used up in less than 20 years or less if actually put to use.