stock finishing

I was browsing through "Steel Canvas", a book about engraved and other fine guns. The colonial time frame guns had a varable finish on then, some looked well sanded, others (with lots of engraving and stock carving) looked like the final sanding was done whih a hatchet. Any one know why?

 

[LRB]

Basically, guns of that time were most often scraped and burnished, rather than sanded, especially in America. Although sand paper was available, I don't know how available, it was seldom used by gun makers, as far as we know at this time. Getting a stock really smooth like todays finish is not easy by this method, and takes a lot of time to even get near. Since the grain is compressed by the burnishing, which is just a hard and thorough rub down with a smooth hard tool such as antler or bone, it is subject to swell and whisker from long term exposure to the elements if the finish is not renewed periodicaly. The most common finish being linseed oil, is not a good moisture sealer. The guns you see that look good yet, may have been finished in a varnish or may not have seen that mjch use in the field. I am no expert and perhaps TG can give you a better answer, but I think I am pretty close.

 

[Zonie]

Wick: I agree with you except to add that some of the tools used to finish the wood were iron or soft steel.
There is a technique of "rolling" the edge on these tools which produces a just feelable sharp ridge (maybe .005 high?) which they could use as a scraper. Using this method, the wood was cut producing tiny little shavings and a very smooth surface.

These tools are fairly easy to make with thin mild steel.
Form the edge to your liking (straight, concave or convex) and file it as smooth as you can get it by draw filing. (A little honing with a good stone is even better).
Clamp the tool in a vise and using a hard piece of steel like a large drill bit shank hold the shank aginst the surface at a slight angle to the edge. Pressing down with hard pressure move the shank along the edge in such a way that it rolls the metal towards the flat surface and it will create a little "burr". The tool is now ready to use by dragging or pulling it along so that the little edge bites into the wood.

 

[djnye]

what wick and zonie are discussing is right on, but i would like to add something. these methods should not be referred to in the past tense to leave open the inference that they either are not used any more or that they are inferior to what we can do with sand paper. there are many wodworkers and carvers who use scraping all the time for final surface preparation. the quality and clarity that can be achieved with scraping in such woods as curly maple will bring out fine grain detail that does not occur with abrading alone. careful shearing(scraping) leaves much less in the way of surface debris than does abrading and in fact often needs very little in the way of 'whiskering' than sanding. as a matter of fact, scraping is an excellent way to finish the whiskering proces.
as zonie mentioned, one can use steel scrapers. also, one can use knife edges, edges of broken glass, even knapped edges of flint. some of the finest surfaces in the world have been produced this way and are being produced this way even today. one of the effects of what i consider the over-use of sand paper has been to promote surfaces with softend edges and features and often a lack of crispness that can be attained with the more traditional ways of preparing the final surface.
actually, i often use abrasion for the rough shaping and contouring along with carving, but i usually try to finish the surface with scraping. this works especially well in curly maple whose irridescence is contained in that much less than .001 th inch of the surface where the less debris to fill the micro-scopic voids is the better.

take care, daniel