Here's a nameless Belgian guild gun I decided to rescue from the scrap heap, due to the fact that it had absolutely flawless German nitro prooved barrels, and wonderful deep relief engraving all over. And it cost next to nothing. Besides that however, the gun was a wreck, with a broken stock, hammers that wouldn't lock back, an upper and lower tang that someone had brazed an extension on to, and a couple other minor issues. I guess I'm a glutton for punishment, but I love challenges, and the learning and experimenting that comes with them:
After fixing the stock with glass and steel rods, and inletting a new piece of wood to replace the tang extension I cut off, and then blending the repair and enhancing the grain to go with the nice tiger stripe wood, fixing the hammers, etc., she turned out nice:
Since the lion is my talisman, I have always wanted to add one to one of my personal guns. Here's what I came up with:
The most challenging aspect with the lion was keeping it somewhat subtle. I'm going to try adding my setter and a bird on to one of my upland guns next and see how it looks. I'll seal it with acraglas and oil finish for durability.