From the firewood pile

I bought an older Sharps replica on an auction a while ago, in very bad condition. I plan to use it in my Zombie film, and turn it into a non shooting movie prop. There was a big crack in the stock, so it will be sawed off Sharps!

The rear end of the stock was junk and actually on the firewood pile. But then, just as I was ready to feed it into the fireplace, I had second thoughts. The grain seemed great for a boardcut.




I sawed a slingshot out of it.



Then I glued on a piece of orange osage, a leftover.



After the filework was done, I had a nice piece. Tested it in the vise, no issues, it is very strong.



I oiled it with linseed, which tinted the wood into the original dark brown it had when it was a stock.

Then I decided to do a poly job on it. In most cases I simply put the poly on carefully, sand the little dust particles off with 1200 grit, and polish it. That makes a nice shine, but it also is a bit uneven. This time, I wanted perfection.

So I sanded the whole polycoat over until it was absolutely even. Then I used 1200 grit and finally car chrome polish. Now the piece is probably my nicest poly job ever. It looks like on of these Japanese laquiring bowls - those are made pretty much the same way.











A very nice piece, and a good shooter too!