Timber Frame Tools

My son and I were shooting sporting clays the other day and his 20ga Lefever Nitro Special (side by side) suddenly stopped closing correctly.  The forend was loose, and that prevents the gun remaining together when opened.  For safety, we stopped shooting it until we could figure out what was wrong.

Upon taking the forend off, we could see the bottom rib that holds the barrels together had buckled.

The the bottom rib on a side-by-side shotgun has one purpose, to hold the barrels together.  It is not meant to hold the forend lug (the thing that holds the wooden forend on) in place.  The only thing that could have caused this to buckle is if the lug had been pushed toward the muzzle of the gun.  The lug must have moved, even though it did not look like it did.

I tapped on the lug with a metal punch and a small ball peen hammer. The lug moved and revealed a crack at the solder line.

I tried moving the lug by hand, but it felt solid.  However, after tapping on the lug with a small hammer I could see it move ever so slightly. I could also see a crack in the solder expand.  The solder joint between the lug and the barrels had failed.  Looking at my other Lefever Nitro Specials,  I could tell that this one had been repaired, and the other two had not.

I inquired at the small gun shop that is located at our sporting clays range.  The salesperson said they had a gunsmith at their other branch who knew what he was doing and could likely fix it.

Off to see the gunsmith

We ran off to the other location to see the gunsmith.  This “gunsmith” appeared to be in his late 20’s. What ensued, was kind of comical.

Me: I have this old shotgun and the forend lug has come loose.
Gunsmith: You’ll have to call the company to see if they can send you another part.
Me: This gun is 95 years old.  There are no parts at the company. Also, the part is not damaged, it just needs to be soldered back in place.
Gunsmith: You should send it back for warranty.
Me:  It is 95 years old, warranty is no longer an option.
Gunsmith: I don’t have the tools to remake that, you should call GCP Rifle Co, they can make anything.
Me: I don’t think we need to remake anything, just remove the existing part and solder it back where it needs to be.
Gunsmith: I don’t have the tools.
Me: Ok.  Thank you.
As we are walking out, the owner of the shop (a gray haired guy like me) asks if his gunsmith was able to fix it.  I said no.  He looked puzzled and asked what was broken.   I showed him.
Owner:  Oh, that needs a custom part, you should go see GCP Rifle.

I get home and look up GCP Rifle Co. They make $7000 sniper rifles and guns that look like they are straight out of Starship Troopers.  I am sure they are smart and clever smiths, but they did not seem like the ones with the historical experience to work on my gun.  So I turned to the university of YouTube so see what fancy equipment I would need to pull this off.  I found related videos from Mark Novak, Larry Potterfield and a few other gunsmiths who work on old guns.  After watching several of the masters make this kind of repair.  I had my list of equipment that would make this repair possible.

1. a propane torch
2. heat gun – This is useful to warm the barrels and lug before applying the torch.  A propane torch releases water vapor as a result of the reaction.  It can cause flash rust just by applying the initial heat from the torch.  So it is recommended to head the parts with a heat gun first, so that they are hot enough not to have the water from the torch condense on it.
3. soft solder with silver in it – lead solder is likely too soft, so the silver content helps make the solder a little more substantial.  You want to stay below 8% otherwise it melts at too high a temperature.
4. rosin flux (non-acidic) – Most flux is acidic. It works by being acidic enough to clean the metal when you apply it.  The acid creates a clean surface so the solder adheres.  The problem in this case is that flux flows down between the barrels and gets locked away, making it hard to neutralize the acid or wash it away.  So you need to use non-acidic rosin.
5. sandpaper (220 grit) – This is used to remove any grit or debris and smooth the surfaces to be joined.
6. de-greaser (I used naphtha) – Used for removing any grease or oils.  Even oil from your skin can weaken your solder joint.
7. triangular metal scraper -This is the only tool I didn’t already have.  I am so glad I bought this.  It has a triangular hardened steel blade that makes it easy to scrape way old solder, debris and corrosion and get the joints cleaned up.  An inexpensive tool, but very handy.

Disclaimer:  I am not a gunsmith.  This is just sharing what I did, and is not a suggestion of anything you should do.

Barrels secured and ready for work.

I secured the barrels on some blocks on my bench top.  I used some small C-clamps to hold the rib segments in place and keep them from delaminating  further.

I scribed a line on the barrels where the lug should be located when I put it back together. Even at this angle you can see that the lug’s base is a little higher on the right, than on the left.  It should be completely level.

The lines on the barrels indicate where I have to have the lug positioned when I solder it in place.

A propane torch when it burns produces CO2 and water vapor. That water vapor can cause minor flash rusting which can prevent a good solder joint

We need to melt the existing solder in order to remove the lug.  I have learned from Mark Novak that the water vapor that comes off the propane torch can cause very fine rust.  So I used a heat gun to warm the barrel and lug area to get it hot enough where the water vapor from the torch will not condense.  I put wet towels on each side of the area to keep the temperature down everywhere we are not de-soldering.

With the torch we were able to loosen the rib a bit, then slide the lug.

Applying heat with the torch, we were able to move the rib out of the way and slide the lug a bit more.  This helped us see the shape of the lug.

Here we can see that the lug has tabs that secure it below the barrels.

It has tabs on it that stick out 1/2″ beyond the lug.

With a little careful prying, with a small flat blade screw driver, I was able to bend the tabs to make it so I could pull the lug out from between the barrels.

All the crud on the lug tells me, it was likely not clean enough when someone repaired it the first time, get a good solder joint.

The tab on the left bent a little from me prying on it.

This side is a little cleaner, but still pretty bad.

Here you can see my favorite new tool. The three bladed scraper. Note how I used the sandpaper up against the barrel to make sure we don’t change the shape of the lug.

I used the three bladed scraper to remove most of the old solder and crud.  It is important to make the lug fit snugly against both barrels.  Solder is not great for bridging gaps.  So I placed the 220 grit sandpaper against the outside of the barrel.  Then I rubbed the lug against the sandpaper. This took a while.

I used Stay Brite solder and Rosin flux. I did not use the included “Stay Clean” flux as I am pretty sure that is acidic.

It is possible that this solder had too much silver, as it seemed like I had to get the barrels and lug too hot in order to melt the solder.  I can’t say for sure.

I drew with a Sharpie where I did not want the solder to stick, and then Rosined everything else.

Not the cleanest of solder joints, but stronger than it was. The barrel rib broke when I tried to straighten it.

It took several attempts to get this right.  What I learned was that when the solder is molten, it makes the parts very slippery.  On several occasions the lug slid right down the barrel, just from the light touch of the solder in my hand.  The smoke detector in my shop went off a few times, raising my anxiety about the job.  The solder on the lug came out fairly clean.  The same can not be said for the solder on the rib.  I was not able to fully straighten the rib.  It even cracked at the drain hole.  So the solder joint here was pretty bad.

The flux and heat left the barrels looking a bit of a mess.  I managed to clean it up with Naphtha and some bronze wool.  After cleaning and de-greasing the entire thing with Naphtha, I applied several treatments of Brownells Oxpho-blue.  Mostly, the barrels took on a nice even blue.  However there were some sections near the solder area that had some streaks or sections where the fluid would just run off it.  I may have needed to degrease them with something else like brake cleaner or acetone.

Overall the repair looks pretty good. The gloopy stuff on the lug is a little bit of gun grease.

The position turned out perfect as the forearm now attaches firmly and does not move when breaking open the action.

The repair was a success. I tested out the gun at the clays range with a box of shells and the action works fine, locks up tight and seems secure. Did I need expensive equipment? No! Did I need a new part? No! I just needed a bit of patience, and time.