Another Project?

Last Saturday I broke, or minimally, damaged my foot. While quite painfull, at least it was colorful. The hues of blue and purple were quite... intriguing.

Wednesday my boss was nice enough to let us off work early. No, I didn't kick back and relax; no time. Given three hours before sundown, taking advantage of the available light, I manage to change the oil in my pickup, do a little electrical diagnostic work and remove and disassemble the front carb from my Suzuki.

I thought it would be a good idea. My foot had other thoughts. Where just that morning, most of the purple and blue was gone, it was back; pain included.

So rather than work on my bike today, which would involve a lot of bending and moving and Ibuprofen, I started another little project... The restoration of a Winchester Model 67 single shot bolt action rifle.

After reading a few websites that discussed gun restoration, and a few purchases at the local sporting goods store, I was ready. First the old finish had to be stripped. That was easy, just a

few squirts of remover, 15 minutes and it came right off. That was the easy part.

Then was the sanding. With a coarse grit sanding foam block, 180 I believe, then with a 360, it was ready for a steel wool scrub down. While my arms got a nice work out, my left foot didn't need to move around much.

After wiping the whole thing down with a dry cloth, it was time to apply the Tru-Oil finish. The instructions said to apply with my fingers? O... K...

Honestly, the first coat went on nicely. This is an old gun, likely from the late 1930's and has a real walnut stock. After some more rubbing down with steel wool and a few more coats, she is going to be pretty!

(Just a note... the dark marks in the stock are stains from the previous owner. Sanding them out might not be a good idea as there is no telling how deep in the wood they go.)