Iver-Johnson 12 ga

[JaDub]

With the shop action slowed down for the Christmas holiday I thought it would be a good time to do a little creative care to one of my latest aquisitions. I picked up a 1924 Iver-Johnson 12 ga sxs a few weeks ago. As is common to all these older Ivers, this one had a pretty badly deteriorated wood finish, especially on the stock. While the gun has always been described as a good high quality field gun, the original wood finish suffered over the years becomming quite `spotty` and `flakey`. This particular gun is the `Hercules Model` with 32" barrels. Having become an `expert` on refinishing ( remember, David inspired me a few months ago ) I proceeded to strip off the finish on both the stock and forearm. I use a product called Strip-eze to remove the original finish. After sanding the remaining bare wood I discovered that the stock was made from a beautifull dark walnut so only one coat of walnut stain was applied. After sanding I began the finish restoration process of several coats of varying mixtures of Eurathane and lacuer thinner with the usuall sanding in between.......... starting with 200 grit and finishing up with 400. I also tried going to 600 grit but found that to be too fine as it filled up with finish TOO fast and became useless. Sorry that I didn`t take pictues of the `before`because the transformation turned out quite remarkable. The barrels are spotless inside and out so this will be added to my collection of early shooters.
 

 


 
 
Hope everyone enjoys a very Merry Christmas !
 
Cheers, JaDub

[branxhunter]

I like it JD! Good job. That stock has lovely simple lines
 
Will we be seeing some four or feathers soon?
 
Marcus

[JaDub]

Thanks Marcus,
 
 
      Sadly I don`t really have a lead on shotgunning here in Colorado.  I`m going to have to find someplace to chase bunnies.  It WOULD be fun to have your rabbit resources!!  
 
  Maybe I can convince Mountain Mafia or Hunterbug that we need to bushwack a few bunnies.
 
 Cheers,  JaDub

[gitano]

Nice job! And I notice that the lever is still a bit to the right. Should be shootable for another 80 years.

Paul

[Hunterbug]

Very nice! It doesn't take a whole lot of arm twisting to get me to chase bunnies.

[JaDub]

It IS a sweetheart alright,  everything feels nice and tight.  It makes me feel pretty good  bringing back to life one of these old sweet hearts.  Because the wood looked so bad the auction price was dirt cheap.........  $150 , but now according to the `blue book` and what I`m seeing on various web-sites it appears it`s worth $400 to $600.  8-)
  I also bought a 1916 vintage Ithica 12 ga  Flues  SxS that I think will turn out to be my favorite lite-load shooter of the bunch.  The comb height, weight and the hand fit is nothing short of perfect.  The wood is very nice and the hardware is very clean as well.  The only thing I`ll probably do to it is to clean out the checkering a bit. It obviously was someone`s favorite because it show lots of use........  but virtuall NO wear.  I`ll post a picture if anyone would like to see it.
 
 Cheer,  JaDub

[JaDub]

I`ll just post `em anyway.........
 
The 1916 Ithica 12 ga Flues SxS
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

[recoil junky]

Like you said Jadub they're sweethearts!!!

RJ

[gitano]

Very nice!

Paul

[buckshot roberts]

Shotgun's like that were the game getters in day and with 32 inch barrels you should take a turkey..........Ron

[Paul Hoskins]

JaDub, both these guns are nice old guns. I've owned both models & loved them. Both had 26 inch barrels. The Hercules was a 20 gauge with extra choke. You couldn't even get a 20 gauge choke gauge started in either barrel. It had fantastic burly walnut wood on it. Wish I still had them now. .....Paul H

[JaDub]

I AM  looking forward to getting the barrels dirty .