Seeing light at the end of the tunnel

[bandit1250]

I am near the end of the refinish of the Marlin 39A "Squirrel Rifle." I will be so glad to get this rifle done and not have to work on it any longer. Off and on project for 10 months. I wouldn't take on another job again that had to have all the checkering recut and the wood refinished. Way to much time and aggravation to complete all the work and have to leave my own projects wait. I will untape the checkering maybe tomorrow and go around the borders one more time with the tool to clean up the borders in case any finish crept under the taped edges. It looks good if I do say so myself and is superior to the original finish that Marlin used and this really brought the wood grain out. The factory checkering was poorly done on the '50's and '60's Marlin deluxe models. Looked like they were scared any time they got near the borders with their lines and left them unfinished. Another hold up was getting it to have the low sheen finish look he wanted and to look even. I had a beautiful gloss finish on it and then he wanted it satin. The gloss finish made the wood grain outstanding on this stock. I liked it so well I am going to do a gloss finish on one of mine before winter is over. I will need to find a rear swivel with the loop from the 60's rifles to complete the project. How many hours work? I quit keeping track when it got to where I wasn't happy with the time I had in it. Here it is with the tape still on. The finish will need some curing time to lay down more. Other pictures after I take the tape off will be coming soon.

[North Country Gal]

Looking good, there. Love the wood on it.

[markiver54]

Looks to me like your work and time will pay off! Beautiful...definitely some work to be proud of !!

[dddrees]

Very, nice. Can't wait to see the finished product.

[roddy]

That looks great. Nice wood, and good job.

[JEBar]

beautiful work .... I can see how it has to require considerable time and effort

[deano5150]

Beautiful!

[Mags]

Gorgeous!

[bandit1250]

I know it probably sounds like I have been a very long time on this project. Stripping the finish off and sanding the wood to a very smooth glass like finish takes time. Then a lot of time being spent on the cutting of the lines on the checkering with a single line cutter doing a line at a time over several passes to get the right depth to point up the checkering and make it uniform. Not all cutters with double cutters will be a perfect match to the checkering even though the lines to the inch may be the same it may not come out just right for the lines already there. So single line cutting is the only way. The borders on the checkering can be real pain to do. Then all the taping up to protect the checkering from filling with finish. I could finish the stock first but risk scratching it with all the handling I will be doing when checkering or over run a border then have to fix that and blend in the finish. So it is a pick your own poison on which way to go. The making of the new white lines and fitting an after market butt plate took time to get a perfect fit. The squirrel in the stock was a real pain to tape it up with the irregular edges along the bottom. It has to also be allowed to have time for the finish to cure and have the time for shrinkage of the finish so it doesn't have open pores later. Applying the next coat of finish to soon can ruin a nice job. I will be so happy to have this finished and I won't do another one with the squirrel in the stock. Here is the squirrel I had to tape up and taping the bottom edge was a pain. On the picture the bottom edge is on the right side. Each one of the little leaf looking pieces under the squirrel had to be taped then cut perfect with a razor knife.

[markiver54]

I love woodworking and therefore, highly praise your work. I'm no pro, but I know what your patience allowed you to do. Very nice!