Brown on wood?

[tenngun]

I’m reworking my SMR cleaning up some of the mistakes I made when I built it. I added a entry thimble, reshaped cheek plate, added toe plate, and putting a nose cap on so I can have a guide for shaping the forestock down to a reasonable size instead of the ax handle it is now.
I decided to brown this gun when done....
So, the nose cape is iron and will be riveted to the wood. I won’t be able to remove to brown.
Would masking tape be enough to protect the wood from spillage when applying the solution? Also I was thinking of wax.
Should wood be finished before I brown or after
(Cold brown and oil finish)

 

[Ames]

Don't rivet the nose cap. Remove the barrel and drill two pilot holes from the barrel channel down through the nose cap. Tap for very small screws, and countersink.
After screwing the nose cap from the inside, cut off the excess with a jewlers saw and file flush.
Now you can brown the cap and the ends of the screws off the gun, then screw them back on and not worry about wood.

 

[Spikebuck]

I only use one screw on the nosecap centered lengthwise. With the back end of the cap being butted 100% to stock wood and the front end wrapped around the bottom of the barrel, and the screw not being able to back out because the barrel is sitting right on top of it, I haven't had any problems with just one screw keeping it tightly in place. Also, I drill the screw hole in the cap just a hair forward of the hole position in the stock wood. When the screw is inserted and tightened it exerts backward pressure on the cap against the stock wood for a nice tight fit, just like you inlet it. Works like a charm and you can take it off any time it might be needed.

But, if you are determined to rivet, why not just have the nosecap fitted, remove and brown....do your stock finishing, and then rivet it? Why rivet and then do finishing? If you want it in place while you work the forestock wood where the two join, can you just hold it in place with a small clamp from the front and/or use a hot-melt glue?

 

[Col. Batguano]

All the above are great suggestions and ideas. It somewhat depends on how thick your web is, as well as how thinly you work the metal of the MC down to. If it is thinned down a whole lot, YOU may with to go to a finer thread pitch than 32 however. if going the screw route.

 

[tenngun]

Mines pretty thin, haven’t worked it out yet.

 

[Spikebuck]

I believe 5-48 is the screw diameter/TPI I have used on mine.

 

[Dphar1950]

Drill the rivet. If the cap is thin solder a plate to the inside to thicken it a little and then install a screw. File everything smooth, remove then brown and reinstall.

 

[Dphar1950]

Should add CAREFULLY drill rivet with a smaller diameter bit then enlarge till it can be removed. Some forend caps are held on with a screw into the bottom of the barrel if the rivet hole in the cap is too large to thread. Use a 5-40 or 6-40 if they will work in the rivet. hole.

 

[Eric Krewson]

If you go with the screw and countersink soak the wood in and around your countersink with superglue. The glue will soak in and turn the woods as hard a concrete even if it is a little thin. This is a 13/16 barrel so the screw looks huge but it is actually very small.

When I was browning my parts the nose cap somehow got lost between carding sessions, it over browned a bit before I located it.

 

[Spikebuck]

If you go with the screw and countersink soak the wood in and around your countersink with superglue. The glue will soak in and turn the woods as hard a concrete even if it is a little thin.

Good tip, Eric. I have not done that before, but it sounds like a good idea.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I also cut the screw slot a bit deeper before I filed the head off a little to get it flush with the barrel channel. I will probably never remove the nose cap but left a deeper screw slot just incase.