Steel buttplate repair

[E.vonAschwege]

Hey folks,
   Tying up a few loose ends before I head back to Asheville in two weeks.  I have in my shop a mid 1800's sxs percussion 20ga shotgun.  It's in excellent condition except for some recent damage courtesy of Fed-Ex and a poor packaging job.  The toe was hit by a sharp 90* object and dented in, chipping the stock in the process.  The stock repair is straightforward enough, but I'm looking for thoughts on how to proceed on the buttplate. 

While hot, should I try to punch the creased portion back out, then straighten out the curve... should I do it in reverse order, or should I have someone TIG a bead in the crease?  I'd like to make this as invisible as possible, but being in an area of wear, a little remaining crease won't bug me.  What are your suggestions? Thanks in advance. 
-Eric

[Mark Elliott]

I would hammer (re-forge) the plate back to shape hot and then possibly fill the dent with a welder.   In any case you will also have to re-file the area you work.  You are going to have to re-age the plate when you are done.   I think this is a perfect application of my favorite cold blue and iodine.   You will need to let the rusting go a good ways, maybe two days, and then polish back. 

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Hi Eric.  I think I'd take the butt plate off the gun, tap the dent back out cold with a nylon hammer over a wooden form, and live with the axe cut.  It's now part of the history of the gun, whether you make it invisible or not.
What am I seeing in your last photo?

[E.vonAschwege]

Mark, having thought it over this morning, I think I'm going to work it hot, attempt to punch the dent out a little bit, but skip the welding... too much risk of burning a hole through it, especially on such an old piece of metal.  I'm sorry I didn't say Hi at Dixon's, I saw you and I knew you looked familiar.  Only afterwards did it hit me, "oh, that was Mark!". 

Taylor, the last photo is the buttplate from the side, showing the depth of the crease.  Thank you both for your thoughts,
-Eric

[Dphariss]

Hi Eric.  I think I'd take the butt plate off the gun, tap the dent back out cold with a nylon hammer over a wooden form, and live with the axe cut.  It's now part of the history of the gun, whether you make it invisible or not.
What am I seeing in your last photo?

Me too.
It will not go away short of welding anyway. Heating just makes for more work.
Dan

[Acer Saccharum]

Straighten up and fly with it. The ding is deep, you will have to take off too much metal to eliminate it.

After straightening, You might be able to lay it face down on a hard steel anvil, and mush most of the ding flat, hitting from the back side.  But this also risks warping the plate.

[Mark Elliott]

My only concern with working cold is that I think it might crack given that the dent is almost all the way through and the steel is work hardened under the dent.   Just food for thought.

Mark E.

[E.vonAschwege]

My only concern with working cold is that I think it might crack given that the dent is almost all the way through and the steel is work hardened under the dent.   Just food for thought.

Mark E.

Those were my thoughts exactly.  Upon inspection with a jewelers loupe I found there was a small stress crack, so I opted to work it hot.  It meant cleaning up the oxidation afterwards, but I was able to peen it back into shape and minimize the depth of the dent without making the crack worse. 

I'll post a couple pics of the full repair later.  Thanks again,
-Eric

[E.vonAschwege]

Finished the repair on the shotgun.  I worked it hot and first punched the crease out with a cross-peen hammer.  The rest was careful peening back to shape to fit the stock.  I had most the chips from the toe, but a few pieces fell out of the package and needed replacing.  The crease is still visibe, but is very shallow and looks like nothing more than typical use might give.  Here are a few photos of the repair and aging to match.  Thanks for your help,
-Eric

[jerrywh]

EvonAschwege
 You could put an iron inlay in that crease and it will look like original. Yuo don't need a welder for tha tkind of stuff. I do it a lot.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Eric, you've done a masterful job on the restoration.  If it were my gun, I'd leave it at that.  Except for the deep scratch, you'd never suspect there was any other damage. 
Jerry is surely the king of metal inlay.  He's fearless, and generous to a fault.

[Dphariss]

Good fix.

Dan