Duane
Mountaineer
Lethbridge Alberta
Posts: 209
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Post by Duane on Dec 31, 2010 8:27:51 GMT -7
How would the brass furniture on trade rifles be finished,I have been told that it was finished to a fine file finish only any opinions.D
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Post by sean on Dec 31, 2010 8:43:57 GMT -7
Duane,
My feeling from handling a few originals is that they were drawfiled to shape and then often crudely burnished with a steel rod. Its not unusual to see file marks remaining on original pieces. It can be tough to tell what the original treatment was on rifles that have been carried, handled, cleaned, stored, and restored for two centuries. A lot of existing originals have been sort of unfortunately 'cleaned'. I've seen one that someone actually went as far as re-drawfiling the barrel and nearly polishing off the crude engraving scratched onto the patchbox by a period owner.
Sean
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