Restoring a 100 year old Hopkins & Allen double barrel

[CJ]

I decided to post this up at the requests of others interested. I received this piece from a forum member last year. The weapon had cosmetic and function damage. Originally the weapon would not charge or release the secondary action, and was missing a few parts. The owner of the weapon wanted it restored for sentimental reasons primarily as a wall hanger with occasional use. Overall I spent the better part of 6 months restoring it. I must admit it proved to be the most challenging so far.


Here is the shotgun as received. One of the top stock horns is broken off and missing. It appears the original owner attempted to glue this piece back on at one point.



It's time shows clearly on both the wood and steel. The chamber seam is quite visible, and the entire weapon shows rust and pitting.


pretty severe damage to the wood just about everywhere - but still salvageable.




Pretty bad knot in the stock - this was very deep.





Now that the damage was assessed I began to process of bringing it back to life.


hot tanked, acid dipped, blasted and polished the barrel.


reblued


And onto the furniture. I concluded the best way to approach this odd damage was to mill the top of the horn off as you can see in this picture.

[CJ]

Here you can see a bottom horn is also broken off the lower portion of the stock.


Here you can see additional damage I had not originally noticed. The stock was cracked in 4 different places from the action colliding with the stock. It very well could have broken into splinters with another firing. My solution was to drill and pin each of the 4 horns using dowels, small screws, and then finally dip the neck into resin to both seal and reinforce it.



Refinishing the knot and expansion crack in the original stock.


One of my biggest challenges was finding a matching piece of black walnut to make a new horn for the repair. Unfortunately the best match was considerably lighter, I attribute this to the stock being made of original old growth lumber, which is quite difficult to find in today's market. I made due with what I had, and would be forced to stain to match.


Initial repair complete. Here you can see a slight variation in wood color and grain. This would be corrected shortly by etching and dying the joint's grains together for a seamless match.

And here is the completed shotgun, colored and finished to the owners specifications:






the knot and crack cleaned up nicely.



In the end the shotgun lives again, and it's ready for another 100 years - hopefully a pampered 100 years. Unfortunately I did have to apologize for the amount of time it took to the original owner. I had to make several internal pieces and screws seeing as parts don't exist for this shotgun any longer. It was a pleasure having an opportunity to work on it.

[fordracing19]

Awesome work CJ

[billybob81]

Looks awesome! I have an old LC Smith shotgun I have thought about having refinished. It was given to me by my grandfather, and I would love to bring it back to life someday.

[krazy kris]

wow very nice

[Mike K]

Wow! just... wow! Great work.

[CJ]

Wow! just... wow! Great work. How many hours did you put into it?

A lot, I don't even care to remember For the amount of time vs. the cost I was making less than a fast food employee, but I enjoy doing it, and I enjoy sharing the results.

[KBScobravert]

That turned out great CJ

[jw33]

That looks great.

[mustang_revival]

Looks awesome, nice work!

[Hunter]

Very nice!

[cobrajet69]

Man, very nice work CJ.
I would have a hard time letting that beauty go back to it's owner.

Congrats man.


David

[Blakeski]

Wow man nice job! You must have really put alot of heart into!

[HarrisonTX]

My God man. That looks beautiful.

[03trubluGT]

I firmly believe that one day you will get your break and make a connection that enables you go get out of your current job and begin a profitable career in gunsmithing.

I know Doug Shilen of Shilen Rifles in Ennis. I will give him a call and pick his brain.

Talent like this should not go to waste.