Introduction and authors comments:
This one was a long time in the making.
Because of the nature of the project, many processes required exceptional amounts of time.
For one extreme example, it took me 11 calendar days to remove one screw. Granted, during those 11 days, it was "Squirt some Kroil on the screw, turn the screw 1/8th of a turn, then come back tomorrow and repeat.
One year, 10 months, and 3 days from the first pictures arriving until it was done.
I didn't work on it every day. If I were to add up all the time over that nearly 2 years, it would probably only add up to 6 - 8 weeks.
As an added bonus, those of you that know me, know I travel for my job quite a bit, generally Mon-Fri, and generally 35 - 45 weeks per year, which leaves me the weekends to do stuff like this, along with other domestic duties.
Tracking down and finding parts was a challenge, for certain parts, it took weeks or months to locate them.
In the end, it all came together.
Some compromises had to be made, there are always compromises in a restoration project.
It also challenged me to learn new skills in the process, which you will see in a later post.
Per Rick's (ExBlueLight) request, I am posting this here before even he has seen the final result in person.
Rick, I am sorry it took so long, but I hope you are happy with the result.
History:
In October of 2020, I was contacted by ExBlueLight to see if I was interested in restoring an unknown Civil War rifle that had been in his wife's family for a very long time (presumed since new).
He warned me that it was in rough shape.
Work on an old gun?, yes please and twice again on Sunday!
I asked for and received pictures of the, as then, unidentified rifle.
(Note: This is going to be a long post in several installments. I have lots of photographs to the process, far too many to post them all here, but I will be posting a lot of them, so I apologize in advance for the graphics heavy long load times.)
Original Photos:
It isn't a rifle at all, it is a Sharps Carbine!
By appearance it seemed to be an original 52 caliber paper cartridge model.
Near the end of October/first part of November, ExBlueLight was passing through my area, so we met up and I took possession of the carbine.
It was in rough shape. The hammer was frozen, the trigger was frozen, and many of the screws looked very corroded. This was going to take some time.
Next Post
This one was a long time in the making.
Because of the nature of the project, many processes required exceptional amounts of time.
For one extreme example, it took me 11 calendar days to remove one screw. Granted, during those 11 days, it was "Squirt some Kroil on the screw, turn the screw 1/8th of a turn, then come back tomorrow and repeat.
One year, 10 months, and 3 days from the first pictures arriving until it was done.
I didn't work on it every day. If I were to add up all the time over that nearly 2 years, it would probably only add up to 6 - 8 weeks.
As an added bonus, those of you that know me, know I travel for my job quite a bit, generally Mon-Fri, and generally 35 - 45 weeks per year, which leaves me the weekends to do stuff like this, along with other domestic duties.
Tracking down and finding parts was a challenge, for certain parts, it took weeks or months to locate them.
In the end, it all came together.
Some compromises had to be made, there are always compromises in a restoration project.
It also challenged me to learn new skills in the process, which you will see in a later post.
Per Rick's (ExBlueLight) request, I am posting this here before even he has seen the final result in person.
Rick, I am sorry it took so long, but I hope you are happy with the result.
History:
In October of 2020, I was contacted by ExBlueLight to see if I was interested in restoring an unknown Civil War rifle that had been in his wife's family for a very long time (presumed since new).
He warned me that it was in rough shape.
Work on an old gun?, yes please and twice again on Sunday!
I asked for and received pictures of the, as then, unidentified rifle.
(Note: This is going to be a long post in several installments. I have lots of photographs to the process, far too many to post them all here, but I will be posting a lot of them, so I apologize in advance for the graphics heavy long load times.)
Original Photos:
It isn't a rifle at all, it is a Sharps Carbine!
By appearance it seemed to be an original 52 caliber paper cartridge model.
Near the end of October/first part of November, ExBlueLight was passing through my area, so we met up and I took possession of the carbine.
It was in rough shape. The hammer was frozen, the trigger was frozen, and many of the screws looked very corroded. This was going to take some time.
Next Post