Hi, my name is Mick Crowder, owner of Classic Firearms Restorations LLC. I refinish firearms that have a history, a story to tell. They may have lain in a basement for years or a forgotten part of an attic but my aim is to bring them back to life both figuratively and literally. To that end my primary focus has been long guns (rifles, shotguns, muskets). Rusted, pitted, dirty, missing parts, you name it. I like to take that piece of history and restore it as closely as possible to its original state. Sometimes its not possible as the damage is simply too great. In that case we can discuss other possibilities.
I take the piece into our shop and the process more or less follows as below:
1-my gunsmith and I thoroughly inspect and itemize all issues discovered.
2-provide the owner with a detailed estimation of what I can do, how long it should take and at what cost
3-on owner approval of what my findings show, I photograph the piece end to end and highlight every issue discovered
4-the piece is completely disassembled where possible. In some cases rust or damage prohibits safe removal of screws of other parts.
Once disassembled a second inspection is performed to determine the level of functionality of all moving parts.
This generates some discussion with the owner for how ‘far’ to go to disassemble it.
5-the steps that follow include Degreasing, Rust Removal (chemically*, draw filing, steel wool), Bluing, Browning or Cera-Kote applications, thorough Cleaning, Oiling, Reassembly.
6-the piece is photographed at every step and submitted to the owner as a sort of ‘progress report’ and showing exactly what was done to the piece.
7-my gunsmith performs a final inspection
8-A complete research/report is provided to the owner detailing the ‘history’ of the piece. This research is available as a standalone option if the owner chooses.
*I use a metal-safe, environmentally responsible solution for initial rust removal used by automotive techs.
It converts the ‘red’ rust (ferrous oxide) to loose ‘black’ rust (ferric oxide) which can be scrubbed off with soap and water (I use Simple Green).
The photo below is of two 1871 Remington 45-70 caliber, rolling block rifles. They were carried by a soldier in World War 1 across Europe and back. The past many years they had rested in the corner of a dirt-floor basement, forgotten and slowly rusting. A local gentleman approached me and asked my assistance in refinishing them to be mantle-pieces to remind him of his grandfather. What you see is the result of many hours processing them as outlined above. One of the stocks has what appears to be a bullet furrow, grazing the wood and sparing the weapon’s bearer. The goal here was not to refinish them to factory new condition but to bring them to a state similar to how the soldier last saw them.
