doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Stripping a forend with a bone tip

I have always used acetone followed by alcohol to strip stocks and forends. It works really well. However this time I have a forend with a bone tip and I am concerned with damaging the bone tip if I submerse it in these solvents. I testied a small spot on the back of the trigger guard and saw no issue after a short time. Do any of you have experience with soaking bone in either of these chemicals?

I recently refinished an old stock that was virtually black from age. The forend has a horn insert. This stock is 130 years old and the horn inlay was attached with hide glue. it came off easily enough with warm water and a little heat. I felt much better about removing the old finish with the horn removed.

David is right, the horn tip should have been fixed with animal glue. I have soaked these in solvent and they have stayed put but since they are usually easily removed using nothing but patience and warm water, it may be sensible to remove the tip and re-fix afterwards. No need to use animal glue then, epoxy works much better.
The only snag is if someone has re-fixed the tip with PVA (white glue). That could give you a headache! It MIGHT dissolve in the solvent, no way of telling until you try.

refinishing 130 year old wood with patina is a sin...

A sin you have never been involved in?

And what is torching a 100 year old action with acetylene/oxygen?

You hypocrite.

SRH

more nonsense...

just a reminder, i do no gun work of any kind...

nor do i kill song birds...

does anyone here wish to discuss why it is not a good idea to remove the patina from 130 year old wood?

It is an English gun and if it had been used for these past decades, it would have been regularly updated by the maker. But instead it spent a very long time in someone's closet just getting old. The finish on this stock can hardly be called patina. My choice was 1) restock the gun with a nice blank of English walnut that I have waiting around for a project, or 2) refinish the existing stock and see what might be under the "patina." In any case this gun will be a shooter for me and no matter what I do the gun will never be worth what I'll wind up in it. I don't buy guns that I expect to flip. I buy things I want to keep forever. I committed no sin by refinishing this stock. You, however, should take the log out of your own eye, to use Biblical analogies, before accusing anyone of committing a gun sin. The refinished damascus barrels look really beautiful, by the way. The gun has never been anywhere near an acetylene torch though. Now back to the original topic.

well david, my point is that antique wood finishes are worth preserving, especially if they are 130 years old...obviously, you think otherwise...