Guncase restoration & Gun-Botoxing
...
If your vintage oak & leather guncase is worn and you have no
case-maker at hand - a trade long long ago vanished in Vienna -
but possibly someone from your buddy-entourage is a
DIY-freak, here is a short how-to-do summary.

A. Guncase restoration
1. Relining a case (replacing the cloth inside)
Animal hide/pearl glue has been the one in use with old
guncases.Softly soaking the cloth in the case body and the
cover will allow to loosen it.
The same with the removed compartment boards.
Fill any cracks or imperfections with a woodfiller.
( 2-component Alsibois).
Re replacement cloth:
Velvet - as pretty it may be - is not recemmendable as
according to 2 gunsmiths it will absorb moisture and sooner
or later corrode action/barrels.
Felt is too thick.
Cloth of choice is Loden-cloth, 0,5 mm thick, sheep-wool
based, the one used for the once ubiquitous Loden-coats.
Colours availabe are red,green,blue.
Glue of choice is the cabinet-makers white glue, either
standard or express.
Let it all dry case-open for 2 days.

2. Recovering (Renew/replace outside leather)

Separate the case-body from the cover (hinges).
Remove the leather by soaking - if necessary - it
softly.
Fill any imperfections (splits) of body/cover with
a woodfiller.
Carcase and cover are usually joined by dovetails.
In case the dovetails elements are loose you can tighten
those with small pieces of veneer inserted/glued with
gap filling polyurethane glue.
Leather of choice is 0,5 mm thick.
Cabinet makers glue would be a nuisance to use as you
need to apply pressforms due its long drying-time.
There is available a high-tech glue
"Henkel Pattex Kraftkleber GEL Compact" applied with a
tooth-spatula, open drying time 10+ min, then putting/
pressing together few seconds WITHOUT a pressform.
Recovering the lid/cover:
a. Glue a stripe with the leather-face-side onto the rim
of the case on front and the two sides.
The width is about 2x (10-12) mm above the wooden-side
of the cover.
b. Glue a stripe of 2 mm thick leather onto this first
stripe (a), the width about to be the final width of the
lid, i.e. (10-12 mm) less than a.
Nail this down to the wood with small broad-headed nails
to give it all stability.
c. Glue the leather on the top of the cover with surplus
leather in front,the 2 sides and the back.
d.Bend the surplus leather and glue it flush with the
leather item b on front and the 2 sides.
e. Bend leather item a around b and d and glue it
down on front and the 2 sides
f. Fit the hinges and glue the surplus leather onto
back side.
..
Just in case your gun-case if of noble Indian/Oriental
provenance (Raja,Maharaja, Nawab) and only few croc hide
remnants on it.
Now, the cow is a holy animal in India, not so a croc,
contrary the croc is a holy animal in Europe, not so
a cow.
There are croc-hides on the market.
These are not hides of the monstrous beasts from this
African river , lurking and feeding on migrating gnus.
These are from reared crocs in Latin America, tanned
and coloured in Bella Italia.
All with the obligatory seal of a globe/animal saving NGO.

B. Gun-Botoxing

It is my understanding that guns to go into auction are
given to a gunsmith to embellish/refurbish it for a small
amount of a lumpsum.
This includes reblacking forend iron, trigger-guard,
toplever AND barrels, requeckering wrist and refresh stock.
There is nothing wrong/unethical with it.
I personally call it gun-botoxing.
....
Christies/London sold in march 1984 a Purdey for
4,8 KGBP, provenance late Dr. Zezi, barrel measurements
733 734 29 29,5 .
This gun is now in the next Holt auction with the original
provenance king Farouk of Egypt.
(This is the chap who once said that there will remain
only 5 kings worldwide, the 4 in the cardplay , the
fivth the English king).
The barrel measurements are now 735- 735+ 26 26 .
All together still solid measurements, but a good example
of the effect of gun-embellishment/refurbishing/botoxing.
The barrel enlargement contributes with one thou to
the thinning of the barrels, the further 2 thous from
the blackening of the barrels.
My concern with this botoxing:
- for optical/done-up-for-sale reasons
the barrel wall thickness - the essential tech parameter -
is reduced/thinned.
Similar the thinning of the wrist.
. the grandezza/charm of a well used vintage gun is gone
.....
I have seen more than one gun polished/blacked to death
in the zone where the rib meets the barrel surpace.
......
If you decided for the croc recovering option of your
empty guncase, you do not need to be an Egyptian expat
to complement your case with this noble Egyptian gun.
...
FN

Last edited by felix; 09/02/20 02:20 PM.