finish used on pin gun sw?

[Greg G]

i need to refinish an old sw pingun stock was cracked when i inherited it, has dents and scratches and a crack on the toe from a recoil pad screw. ive refinished guns with tru oil before with good results. the checkering is all there but flat the question is what should i use on this gun ? this is a definate shooter.

[vaturkey]

Tru-oil or Timberluxe. I personally like Timberluxe as its not as shiny as Tru Oil.

[Brian Dudley]

A variety of appearances can be achieved with tru-oil. It is kind of an idiot proof finish to use. It just does not always do much for the color or figure of the wood. Again, it all depends on how it is used. For top coating or just adding to a worn finish, timberluxe is good.

[fox-admin]

It is my belief that Sterlingworths, A grades and B grades were finished with Duco Lacquer sprayed. That is why you encounter many original guns with chipping and flaking finishes. Original oil finish as applied to C grade and above never exhibits flaking and chipping.

[Researcher]

The only mention of the finish on Fox wood I've found is these sentences used in the 1923 to 1930 catalogs --

1923 A.H. Fox Gun Co. catalog pg 12

And in the 1924 to 27 catalogs where it says the HE-Grade Super-Fox stock is oil finished. While all the A.H. Fox Gun Co. catalogs from 1924 to 1929 list the Super-Fox as having an English Walnut stock, the 1923 and the 1925 Super-Fox brochures both state the stock is oil finished American Walnut.

[Silvers]

Spray painting technology wasn’t around prior to the 1920’s. Also, E I DuPont's Duco nitrocellulose-based lacquer wasn't developed until the 1920's and Fox adverts started appearing late in that decade, stating in effect that the new Duco was being used on Sterlingworths. And while high grade Foxes were said to be oil finished as in the inset posted by Dave, I understand that a wiping varnish was used earlier for Sterlingworths into mid grades. I have the formula for the varnish said to have been used by Fox and it's made up of 5 ingredients including an exotic and very hard to find one to help keep the varnish somewhat flexible in cold weather. I make it up in small batches and have used it to do spot restoration on Fox stocks that were goofed up as when some hacker tried to fit a recoil pad and gouged heavily into the stock. Often such stocks are refinished which is a shame and especially so when modern trendy finishes are used, imo. There's a world of difference between those two words. Once I gave some of the varnish to a good stock wood man. He restored two or three Foxes with it and their stocks looked good, but (long story short) he was humble and wouldn't post the pics he sent to me. Lesson learned.

frank

[fox-admin]

Frank your correct the early Sterlingworths and lower grades guns never show the chipping and finish loss versus the 1920's guns. I would guess going to lacquer was a big cost savings unfortunately 90 years later it's limits of durability are showing on many examples. Recently I fitted a pad to a mid 20's 20 gauge Sterlingworth, I protect the stock with painter's tape. The tape pull much of the ancient lacquer of the stock so a refinish was necessary.

[Researcher]

A.H. Fox Gun Co. made some drastic cuts to the price of the Sterlingworth during the early to mid 1920s.

From its introduction the Sterlingworth net selling price was $25.00 though the "List Price" was $35.00. With the inflation brought on by The Great War, for 1916 the net selling price jumped to $30.00 and the A.H. Fox Gun Co. quit the higher list price business. By 1917, the Sterlingworth was up to $37.50. By November 1919, it was $47.75. Then it jumped to $55.00 where it stayed until January 1922, when it was dropped to $48.00. Then in 1926 they dropped the price to $36.50, one dollar less then Ithaca Gun Co.'s new Field Grade NID. I've found no ads touting this lower price for 1926, but from 1927 to the sale to Savage that was the crux of A.H. Fox Gun Co. ads. The ads also include the weatherproof Duco finish and discussions of a new modern factory --

Fur-Fish-Game, September 1927

Fur-Fish-Game, October 1927