Sterlingworth with pointed checkering?

[Dave Furman]

Hello,
There's a thread on the doublegunshop forum regarding lengthening chambers right now--in it, there are photos of a sterlingworth with supposedly original factory checkering that was pointed up. I have never seen a sterlingworth with pointed checkering. Is this plausible? I suppose you can get whatever you want for a price--how rare would this be?

Thanks very much for any insight.

Link to the thread is here:
http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubb ... 1&page=all

[Twice Barrel]

Dave at some point in the 1920' Fox changed it checkering style on the Sterlingworth guns. My oldest is a 1921 vintage with course shallow flat topped checkering. My 1928, 1934 and 1938 vintage all have what appears to be 18 line per inch checkering with somewhat flattened tops that I attribute to wear but the 1928 gun has seen very little use and has nicely pointed up diamonds.

[ASavageFox]

got a gun from 1928 still with the original box with flat top checkering... or I think its 1928... serial is 112,8xx... and another at 122,5xx that is like new as well (the guns are about sisters) with matching flat top checkering...

all that said, I'm no expert... likewise, as I posted in another thread, I saw a factory lettered SW with SP engraving on it over the weekend... so yeah, it would seem you could get whatever you wanted....

here is a pic of the forearm checkering on the gun mentioned with serial 122,xxx

[mike campbell]

That's the first SW I've seen with a true point pattern on the forend. All I've seen have been "double-diamond-shaped" fill patterns. Thanks for sharing.

[jtyler880]

asavage that's the pattern both the forends on mine have, serial 63XXX

[Researcher]

Philadelphia 1928 16-gauge Sterlingworth Ejector -- 1937 12-gauge Fox-Sterlingworth Ejector -- 1936 16-gauge Fox-Sterlingworth Ejector beavertail

[eightbore]

So, ejector Sterlingworths have pointed checkering and extractor Sterlingworths have flat checkering. Excuse me while I go downstairs.

[mike campbell]

How about pre and post 1924-25?

I know Researcher isn't 100% behind the date tables, but going by those alone I've owned 8 SW's pre-1926 with flat-top and also an A20 that the table suggests was 1921. I think, like a lot of other features, there was a blurry transition period from flat to pointed. Would be interesting to see if exceptions exist....a pre-1920 SW with pointed checkering and a post 1930 with flat topped with good prevenance, of course.

[Fin2Feather]

So, ejector Sterlingworths have pointed checkering and extractor Sterlingworths have flat checkering. Excuse me while I go downstairs.

Mine seem to be the opposit; all mid-30's guns, the 16ga ejector appears to be flat, the 20ga and 12ga non-ejectors appear to be pointed. Hmmm...

[Researcher]

That is not what I meant to imply at all. The 1928 Sterlingworth Ejector Field does have flat-topped checkering. I'd suspect any pre-Utica Sterlingworth with pointed up checkering to have been restocked by Savage or to have been pointed up after-market, as I did to two Sterlingworths, before I knew any better. I was a victim of Jack O'Connor's writing about how checkering should be pointed.

[ASavageFox]

That's the first SW I've seen with a true point pattern on the forend. All I've seen have been "double-diamond-shaped" fill patterns. Thanks for sharing.

Mike, what did you mean by this? The forearm that I posted has what I would call the double diamond shaped pattern?

[mike campbell]

That's the first SW I've seen with a true point pattern on the forend. All I've seen have been "double-diamond-shaped" fill patterns. Thanks for sharing.

Mike, what did you mean by this? The forearm that I posted has what I would call the double diamond shaped pattern?

Sorry, that's not very clear is it? I'm more a student of checkering than I am of Foxes. The key words are in red.

In a point pattern, the borders of diamond-shaped portions of the pattern are are defined by full rows of diamonds as I've circled here. When checkering, those big diamond shapes aren't drawn first; they may be roughly located, but the exact shape and location is a result of intersecting lines of diamonds. A curved line in the pattern, such as the top border, is drawn (in my work, with tape) and the chekering stops at the border. Being curved, it cuts across individual diamonds.




A fill pattern consists of a design, often with many curves and no diamond-shaped or "pointed" borders, that is drawn first then "filled in" with checkering. The forward bordr of this grip panel could have been a point border, but the customer chose curved...so the the entire panel is a fill pattern.

On most SW's I've seen, the forend design at first glance appears to be a point pattern. But in reality, it is a "dianmond-shaped" fill pattern like this one. Note that the border line does not parallel the individual checkering lines. It is part and parcel of the low price point the SW occupied. If I were checkering those forearms, it would take me an additional 3 minutes in the layout stage to have that pattern be a true point pattern. But, if I checkered 20 of those a day, it would have cost Ansley an extra hour's wages.