doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Ebony forend tips

The more I use my Dickinson .410 for doves the more I want an ebony inlay forend tip on it. It has much longer than average splinter forend, slender and pretty with its' 30" barrels, and it's just crying for one. Or, I am at least.

My question is for stockers and others who have done this. How hard is it in comparison to the general inletting done when stocking a gun? I need opinions to decide if it's a project I want to tackle myself, or hire out. I'd just like some experienced opinions on the general complexity of the job. I intend to do a total refinish of the wood this winter, doing a sanded in oil finish, so beforehand would seem to be a perfect time for it to be installed.

Thanks, SRH

SRH,
I'm looking forward to seeing the results. I just sent my 410/28 estate off for a leather covered pad. The forend tip may be another tasteful upgrade I'd consider.

Bill

I'd like a leather covered pad for mine too, Bill. I need a little extra LOP. Recoil is, of course, not an issue with it being a .410. Right now I use a leather KickKiller lace-on, for length.

Please post pics when you get it back, or send me some pics by p.m. or email.

Thanks!

Stan, if I get back your way we need to have a .410 day at the range. I like my Rizzini BR550 but want 30" barrels and a bigger foreend.

Stan
I have done several of the ebony inlays over the years, and don’t find them to be particularly problematic to do. I like to make the inlay first, and inlet it just as you would any other part in wood.

There’s thread about fitting ebony for ends over on Accurate reloading, gunsmithing, by Duane Weibe.

Or you could try Buffalo horn?

Stan, I did only one years ago to replace a missing piece on a Lefever forend tip. I'm not sure if the missing piece was originally horn or ebony, but the inlet in the wood was already present. All I had to do was cut and shape a small piece of ebony to fit the inlet, and left it a bit proud of the surface until after the epoxy set. A heavy rubber band was plenty to hold it until the epoxy set up, with masking tape on the surrounding wood. I dyed the epoxy with the black dye that Brownell's has for AccraGlas. Of course, ebony is an oily wood, so you need to clean the ebony surface with lacquer thinner or acetone immediately before gluing. My missing piece was about 1 1/4" long and had an elongated triangular shape that pointed toward the rear.

The ebony wood I used for that little project came from some black keys I took from an old junk player piano that a friend was scrapping. I also took a handful of the real ivory keys, and still have them somewhere. I've seen the nice inletting job you did on your percussion rifle lock, so a project like this should be a piece of cake for you.

Thanks, so much for the replies. I realize I was not clear in exactly what I want, that is a triangular shaped inlay that curls around over the tip of the forend, as per many shotgun forend inlays, whether they be ebony, horn or ivory. The two long sides of the triangle would be curved inwards somewhat. It's the type Keith described.

I'd like to be able to speak with a gunsmith/stocker who has done these about some details I have in mind concerning the shaping and inletting. But, absent that I may decide to go ahead with my own ideas.

One of the things i'm thinking is about undercutting the inlet and sort of dovetailing the ebony piece into the inlet. Kind of hard to put into words, but if done the way I envision it would have to slide forward to ever come out. I wonder if they were ever done that way, originally.(?)

First thing I have to do is look more closely at it to determine if the checkering patterning will allow this type inlay.

I'd very much like that, Jeff. If we can arrange it, I'll use my FAIR Verona O/U with the 30" .410 barrel set. Keep me in the loop, please.

Keith, thanks for the encouragement. Good information.

If you have never done this type of work consider doing it to a surplus forend the 1st time. If you decide to go this route and don’t have something to practice on I probably have something I could send you.

Stan

There is a thread running in the Gunsmith section below on Horn (and Ebony) fore end tips. I believe the style I discuss there would be something that would work for what you want. Instead of an inlay you would cut a vee into the tip of the fore end then dowel/blind pin/glue an ebony tip in and shape. It looks from the bottom like an inlay and would look like it was rolled over the tip, especially if you shaped the front end to look like the finger pull relief of a pull off. Keep the tip short for the look you want.

You could quickly mock up a test with two pieces of wood of different color and a bandsaw. Cut the vees, glue it up then sand and experiment until you get what you are after. Should be easy to duplicate on the gun then.

I’ve done a few ebony caps, I pinned and epoxied them on like others are saying. More recently I’ve been using horn and have gone to keying the horn into the wood rather than pinning. I would also use the keying method with ebony now days.
Bob

I have decided to hire this out. I am currently speaking with a stock man about doing it. I'll update about it as things progress.

Thanks to all for the tips and advice. I've just got too many irons in the fire right now, as far as gun DIY projects go.

IF you hire this work out to one of the guys that advertise on the Parker Site, you might get it done for a Grand or so.

Dirty Harry

Possibly misunderstanding your intent in the quote, but let me toss in my $0.02.

A cabinetmaker friend does a lot of inlay work - repairs, mostly - and some marquetry. From watching him work, talking it through with him and trying a little myself in his shop, the key to getting the tightest joints and no gaps is to not cut the inlay vertically. Rather, one cuts the inlay piece with a slight slope such that the exposed side is a bit larger than the side that will be glued to the substrate. Imagine, if you will, a stopper in a bottle. When you attach the inlay to the substrate, the exposed surface should be just a touch proud. Some careful sanding will bring it even and, because it was wider than the gap, bringing it even will result in there being no gaps at all.

I kinda doubt the ebony pieces were dovetailed into the inlet to keep them from falling out. Too hard to get the cut right and avoid gaps.

Without question, Winchester ebony inlays were definitely dovetailed. Both forearm tips and grip inlays as well.

Stanton,

A few years ago, I was where you are. What I had was perfectly adequate but not what I really wanted. I had some African ebony on hand so I pulled the trigger. Definitely glad that I did. I hope you are, too.

(I will try to post a picture if I can get the new improved IMGUR to cooperate.)

Thanks, FCF. If you can't get them posted send them to me at stanhillis@gmail.com, and I'll be glad to post them for you.

Posted for FallCreeekFan:

My ebony inlay is finished, payment has been made, and it is to be shipped back to me, starting tomorrow morning. From the pictures, I am excited. It appears to be exactly what I wanted.

Will post pictures when it arrives.

That really looks nice.

I'll be checking here for photos every morning!

I may have to get my Dickinson done as well.

Love that idea

I''ve had my stocker do something similar Stan and could not have been happier with the result. Looks very similar to what fallcreek has done. Only difference is I used horn, not ebony. That was more due to the fact that I had the horn laying about and I didn't have any ebony.

As promised a few weeks ago, I am ready to post pics of the forend inlay that I had done on my Dickinson Estate .410. I've had it back for several weeks but wanted to do a refinish on the wood before posting the pic(s).

I cannot express how pleased I am with the job Mark Larson did for me. He was extremely easy to work with and knocked it out of the park, IMHO. I requested ebony and did not specify jet black ebony (Gaboon?). I'm glad now that I didn't, even though I did have black in mind.

There will be "before" forend pics and an after. I drew roughly what I wanted it to be shaped like on the wood itself with a "lead" pencil, but asked him to use his artistic talents to fine tune the size and shape, and of course, symmetry. Being a Libra, I'm pretty anal about symmetry.

I just finished up the refinish on the wood a couple days ago. It consisted of three applications of the 1:1 Tung Oil and Marine Spar Varnish + mineral spirits + Japan drier sanded in with 320 grit wet-and-dry, one application sanded in with 400, and one with 600. Then, four applications of the 2:1 finish itself diluted with mineral spirits, then softly wiped off with a clean, soft flannel cloth. It bears small resemblance to the wood finish it carried when I bought it new.

Before . . .



After the sketch I did . . .



The finished (pun intended) product . . .



And, the buttstock after the refinish . . .

Beautiful work! The inlay works very well, and the refinish is quite the improvement!
Karl

Stan that looks great.

The one Chris Dawe did for me was on a nice little German 16 ga and he made it very long and thin. I love how different it is from the usual insert, like yours.

I’ll get a pic tomorrow and add it to my post.

Stan,

in addition to the ebony inlay it looks like he also reshaped the forend to be more tapered than the original shape and I like the new shape much better. I also really like the color and grain of the inlay.