Sunny days.

Edwin and Morris enjoying the recent hot weather.

Deer prints

After deer poop a couple of weeks ago now hoof marks.... The plot thickens!

HW80k stock refurbished

As a little project I decided to strip and restrain the stock on my HW80k. I've had the gun since new. I think it was 1988. A gun shop in the centre of York that is no longer there. Needless to say that the original varnish wasn't that appealing. I used Rustin's paint stripper as per the instructions on the tin. Then whipped it down with a rag soaked in white spirit a couple of times. Next over the course of about ten days I applied several applications of household bleach. Strippling it in until a was satisfied the base colour of the stock would take the stain well. I then gave it a rub down with 400grit. I used the back of my pocket knife blade to clean out all the cuttings on the chequered panels. When it had been left a few days to dry properly I applied the first of three costs of Rustin's spirit based wood dye. The colour I used was Dark Teak. My intension was to as closely match the original shade as possible. I allowed each coat about 12 hour or more then the last coat only four or five hours before I applied the first application of boiled linseed oil mixed with a third white spirit. This was put on evenly with a soft cloth. Rubbing in well as so to bring off the excess dye that would be sitting on top of the harder parts of the beech grain. Thus bringing the grain out. Over the following couple of week I applied between 6 and 8 further coats only the first three though been diluted with spirit. Never put too much oil on in one go. It's often good to come back to a coat an hour or two after it's been applied and further rub it in. This avoids poolings and the formation of overly shiny patches. Very pleased with the overall results. Feels and looks so much better now than it did before. More like a piece of wood!