Finish of the Butt of the Original Henry

[Long Johns Wolf]

Howdy folks. I was studying Henry literature lately but cannot find any specific mentioning how the wood of the butt of the standard Henry rifle was finished. Was it varnished with some kind of lac, or was it an oil finish? Any information is appreciated.
Bootsie

[Steel Horse Bailey]

I'm NOT the authority, but in my book by R.L.Wilson, a REAL expert, WINCHESTER, An American Legend,   some kind of varnish, shellac or such is usually present.  Of course, the more 'worn' specimens look like bare wood.  I guess their polyurethane was an inferior grade compared to ours these days.         

Hope this helps.

[Coffinmaker]

Since you asked ............. I'll tell you.  The early gun makers used the same basic finish on gunstocks as the early cabinet makers.  The finish of choice was equal parts boiled linseed oil (dark), turpentine (thinner or evaporative agent) and varnish.  This combination produced a cheap, readily available finish.  It dried fairly dark, and fairly soft.  It did not actually do much of a job protecting the early gunstocks.  Many gun makers around the world also included stains to darken the wood even more than the results of boiled linseed oil.

When you do find guns with quite a bit of the original wood finish remaining, be vary careful.  The finish has not gotten any harder with age.  You can usually remove the surface (shiny part) by scraping a thumb nail across it.

Unfortunately, polyurethane had yet to be discovered.  Some "high end" guns were finished with a type of "rubbing" spar varnish.  Tough stuff but for the day, expensive.

Coffinmaker

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Howdy again

Coffinmaker, I was actually kidding about the polyurethane - but you probably knew that.    Thanks for the explanation, 'tho.  I could only go by the wonderful pictures in the book and I've been curious about the shiny finish myself, because of how nice it looked and knowing that our finishes today are MUCH tougher, I wondered what they used. 

Now this isn't about the finish, per se, but what I'm still curious about is this.  Looking at the President Lincoln Henry rifle on p.15, one can see the ladder sight on the barrel as well as the empty dovetail on the receiver.  Now the movement of the sight was an early improvement, (I think that the Lincoln gun is a one-digit serial number,) but there WERE guns shipped with the receiver sight, probably as requested by the customer - hence possibly 2 dovetails available, and I don't remember if they had an open, empty dovetail on the barrel.  Was this done so the customer could put the sight where he wanted?  That makes sense, except why leave an empty hole?!?  It looks pretty cheesy on a beautifully done rifle like President Lincoln received!  I'm SURE they were clever enough to make some sort of "dovetail blank", perhaps made of brass so the steel wouldn't be deformed by moving the sight to one place or the other.  You'd (at least I'd) think that a world-class beautiful gun presented to The President  (and yeah, perhaps it WAS a sales pitch - which it was - and perhaps Lincoln and the office of the U.S. President wasn't quite as prestigious as today, but still ... a 'hole' on a gorgeous and highly decorated piece like that, well ... It doesn't make sense to me.  But they did it!  And Mr. Lincoln didn't receive the ONLY one; I've seen a few others. 

Oh, well.

Adios!

[St. George]

Finish of the wood was simple - oil, dye and varnish - and was common to arms of the period.

Quoted from 'The Winchester Book' - by Madis - page 601:

"An oiled finish was popular for arms of all models.  Stocks which were to receive the oiled finish were sanded smooth, then were carefully scraped with an especially edged tool which removed any slight "whisker' which remained after sanding.  The scraping also had a burnishing effect, giving a natural gloss or "piano finish' to the wood.  The first coats of linseed oil, mixed with walnut hull oil for coloring, were applied and allowed to be absorbed by the wood.  Final coats of linseed oil were rubbed by hand and were allowed to cure before the stock and fore end were finally assembled to the gun.  If a high gloss finish was desired instead of the more popular satin oiled finish, more coats of oil, mixed with drier, were hand rubbed and carefully built up, resulting in a high gloss "extra finished oiled stock".

Henrys were fitted with fixed rear sights - but adjustable ones proved more popular - and there was even a 'ladder' type that was often seen mounted on the receiver.

The user could move his rear sight to suit.

Also - the receiver dovetail was used with the Malcom scope and mount - 'Malcom: Syracuse N.Y.' was the marking found.

At that time, Winchester had wanted to build their own globe sights and telescopes, but were more than content to furnish those from outside suppliers.

Did Winchester furnish a decorative blank?

No - not a 'decorative' one - but one 'was' available - but in actuality, either wasn't used often and was most likely lost or discarded - given the relative rarity seen on original specimens.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!