Marlin 1897

Schattenreiter

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Williamston NC
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Sometime around the first of this year I picked up this Marlin from a member her and I am just now getting around to putting it back into shape. The seller was straight up with me about the condition of the gun. Thanks again @Moylan .

Here is the picture he posted of it in the appraisal section.

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As you can see the forearm is missing. Likewise the butt plate and magazine follower and the screws for the forearm cap. I searched and found those items but had other thing going on at that time so I waited to order. Well as luck would have it the forearm went "out of stock". So I decided to try making one. I have some black walnut on hand(see my threads about "cutting boards". So here is the journey to a forearm made by yours truly.

Pictures to follow.
 
I then set up the router table with a cove point bit and made the inlet for the magazine tube and followed up with a straight bit to match the sides of the octagonal barrel. Unfortunately I didn't have a way to match the angles for the other two angle below the sides and the bottom is removed because of the magazine tube. But none of that is visible from the outside.
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Side note: pay no attention to the time stamp of these posts. That is not how fast the work is going. This has taken place over the last few days.
 
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Glad to see you're practicing Sanitary Woodworking!

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Looking forward to more* in this thread.


______________________________
* Woodworking, not sanitation.
 
Not wanting to clamp this small piece in a vice and not having an effective way to clamp it from the ends I found that a small block plane clamped upside down in the vice and the peice pulled across it was a good way to remove material. 20200318_110544.jpg
 
Still waiting on parts to finish the fitting of the forearm so I pulled the stock off and cleaned the area covered by it. Noticed a crack in the stock I had not seen before. Wedged it open an inserted a tooth pick to hold it open. Stuck the tip of the glue bottle in and force some glue in. Waites till I was sure it filled the crack then clamped.


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Yes I wiped off the excess before it set. The crack is now almost invisible on one side but still shows a little on the other.
 
100, 150, 220, 320, BLO, done.


Currently working on 80. Bob is dug in deep. Tried a little colored wood putty first but that only made Bob stand out like a neon sign.

My CDO is kicking in and I am sure Bob is gonna lose.

BLO won out for the finish. I'm currently sanding in thinned BLO with 400. Will probably do numerous coats this way and then a few full strength before I am done.
 
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Still struggling with what to do with Bob.
Have you tried steaming?

Steaming swells the wood fibres, raising dents (closer) to the surface. While not as effective on scratches, it can still expand some of the fibres, reducing the amount of sanding - and therefore dishing out of the wood.

It's also generally less effective on finished wood, since the finish, by design, inhibits hygroscopy. However, the finish is often compromised by scratches or gouges, so the moisture can get in somewhat, expand fibres, and still... maybe... reduce the amount of Bob you have to remove.

EDIT: Easy steaming method in case it isn't obvious: lay a wet cloth or paper towel over the dent/scratch and touch it with a hot iron. No need to hold the stock over a pot of boiling water or make a steam cabinet! :) FWIW, I've seen dents turn "positive" and protrude from the wood surface, so it's a technique worth adding to your kit.

EDIT II; the Spellering: "fibres" = fibers. I'm not British, maybe a tad dlysexic.
 
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Have you tried steaming?

Steaming swells the wood fibres, raising dents (closer) to the surface. While not as effective on scratches, it can still expand some of the fibres, reducing the amount of sanding - and therefore dishing out of the wood.

It's also generally less effective on finished wood, since the finish, by design, inhibits hygroscopy. However, the finish is often compromised by scratches or gouges, so the moisture can get in somewhat, expand fibres, and still... maybe... reduce the amount of Bob you have to remove.


Yeah I did that first. Plus when I got to the sanding stage I sand a bit then wet the surface and let it dry. Then sand some more. After about 3 times doing that you no longer get the whiskers lifting up and the finish is mirror smooth.
 
Have you tried steaming?

Steaming swells the wood fibres, raising dents (closer) to the surface. While not as effective on scratches, it can still expand some of the fibres, reducing the amount of sanding - and therefore dishing out of the wood.

It's also generally less effective on finished wood, since the finish, by design, inhibits hygroscopy. However, the finish is often compromised by scratches or gouges, so the moisture can get in somewhat, expand fibres, and still... maybe... reduce the amount of Bob you have to remove.

EDIT: Easy steaming method in case it isn't obvious: lay a wet cloth or paper towel over the dent/scratch and touch it with a hot iron. No need to hold the stock over a pot of boiling water or make a steam cabinet! :) FWIW, I've seen dents turn "positive" and protrude from the wood surface, so it's a technique worth adding to your kit.

EDIT II; the Spellering: "fibres" = fibers. I'm not British, maybe a tad dlysexic.


Weird story about that. I have a friend who lost his house in the floods a number of years back. He got out on his boat. Put most of his guns in the attic but missed one. An old Steven pump 20 gauge. I told him to give it to me and I would take care of it. When I got it the stock had swollen to almost twice its original size so I figured I would have to buy a stock and a forearm for it. Being to busy to touch it right away I just left it in the shop and forgot about it. Went to get it and start on it later and from having sat in the shop in the heat for a time it had returned to almost original size. It was really amazing how much it had swollen and then shrank back down. Only thing I had to do was refinish the stock and forearm.
 
Weird story about that. I have a friend who lost his house in the floods a number of years back. He got out on his boat. Put most of his guns in the attic but missed one. An old Steven pump 20 gauge. I told him to give it to me and I would take care of it. When I got it the stock had swollen to almost twice its original size so I figured I would have to buy a stock and a forearm for it. Being to busy to touch it right away I just left it in the shop and forgot about it. Went to get it and start on it later and from having sat in the shop in the heat for a time it had returned to almost original size. It was really amazing how much it had swollen and then shrank back down. Only thing I had to do was refinish the stock and forearm.
I was in a flood in '04, 4' of water. Several guns were completely submerged, but none of them were ruined! Metal can be cleaned & oiled (if you get to it quick enough) and wood can (usually) be restored & refinished.
 
Well Bob has slowly disappeared into the nite.


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Oops Wrong side.

Here is a shot of the forearm and the stock both with two coats of thinned BLO sanded in with 400 grit paper.


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There will be many more coats of the thinned finish sanded in before final coats at full strength. Here is a final look at what is left of Bob. Still slightly visible



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Still working on the stock and forearm. Parts finally arrived Saturday and I got the magazine working had to drill out the pin in the follower and make a new one. Took an old s hook the right size and cut a piece off of it and filed it down to fit. Shot it a couple of time and found it jams pretty bad. Disassembled and found the cartridge carrier rocker spring broken.

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Dug around and found a suitable peice of material. Looks like an electrical contact of some kind.

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A drill bit and a hand drill and some needle files and we have a new spring.

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Does this mean I am now a gunsmith? Ok a gunsmith in training.
 
After getting the spring in the cartridge lifter made I found the lifter had quite a bit of slack in it so with a little more scrounging around I found an electrical connector that had the correct size hole in but was too thick. A hack saw, a file, some sand paper and a stone and I have a shim for it.


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The tip of my index finger has a nice blister on it from getting this thing down from 40 thds to around 18 thds but it fits perfect and takes up a lot of slack. Fired a few rounds and it is slowly becoming a shooter again. Keeps wanting to stick a shell in the chamber so a little polishing and that seems to work better. But I think it is time to admit that the barrel is shot out. Going to have to look into what it will take to reline the barrel. Would like to know if anyone has done it before or has had it done.
 
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Lovin' the scrounge mods! Not a gunsmith... in this iteration of soyciety. But after SHTF, yer gonna have to get one of those "take a number" machines! :)

Kinda miss Bob, though. I feel like he's somehow still near, lingering just below the threshold of perception.
 
Lovin' the scrounge mods! Not a gunsmith... in this iteration of soyciety. But after SHTF, yer gonna have to get one of those "take a number" machines! :)

Kinda miss Bob, though. I feel like he's somehow still near, lingering just below the threshold of perception.


Bob is still with us. Look at post #26 above. Bottom picture. See the mallet at the top of the screen then come straight down to the stock just past the end of the forearm laying just above it. That vertical mark slightly right of vertical center and slightly above horizontal center of the stock is the last remnants of good ole Bob.
 
Thanks for the distraction! Here's a decent video showing what's involved:



Good ole Larry. He makes everything look easy. Not sure about inexpensive though. I looked into a drill bit for this and a long one is over $100 and the liner is close to $40. Then you still have to have a chamber reamer and that is over $75. My bank account says no right now. Thanks for the video.
 
Final fitting the forearm is done and it is mounted with the new screws I had to order. There is still room for improvement but not to shabby for a first attempt.


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Working on mounting the butt plate to the stock. Doesn't fit so well so it will have to be modified.


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Well this will be it for now until my finances allow me to get the stuff needed to reline the barrel. Might be a while before that happens but this has been a fun project. I made the forarm and repaired the magazine follower and even made a shim to tighten the action. Here is what she looks like now.


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As always comments welcomed. Both positive and negative.
 
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