Splitear Posted February 19, 2023 Share Posted February 19, 2023 (edited) A winter project that I’ve been wanting to get to is refinishing my Thompson Center Hawken. I bought this gun as a .45 caliber. Since then, I have swapped the barrel for a .50, browned with buckhorn sights. My goal is to strip the factory finish, stain to a dark walnut (unless I like the color after the finish is removed), steam out as many indents as I can, finish the stock with Tung Oil and beeswax, and the further patina the brass with some fouled patches. I’m also planning on sanding and reshaping the cheek piece a little. Today I removed all of the hardware, applied the citrus varnish remover and sanded the bluing off of the tang. I’ll see where it’s at in another 24 hours and determine if I need another coat of remover. It will hopefully turn out as nice as I’m envisioning. Edited February 19, 2023 by Splitear Rusty, Dogman, paula and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbuff Posted February 19, 2023 Share Posted February 19, 2023 (edited) Looks good ,I've wanted to do that to a hawken myself by adding a tiger stripe by using a cannon fuse and lighting it Edited February 19, 2023 by sbuff Splitear 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nywaw Posted February 19, 2023 Share Posted February 19, 2023 Looks great! Nicely done! Will follow for the updates Splitear 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grampy Posted February 19, 2023 Share Posted February 19, 2023 Beautiful gun!! Can't wait to see the results when finished! Please post a before and after picture. Splitear 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cabin Fever Posted February 19, 2023 Share Posted February 19, 2023 Looks like a sweet gun and project! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Splitear Posted February 19, 2023 Author Share Posted February 19, 2023 (edited) So, finish is stripped, and I decided to leave the battle scars, I like the character. Sanded it lightly to remove any rough spots. I did a light stain with “dark walnut”. Now it’s got a couple of coats of tung oil. Will get a light sanding and a coat of tung oil over the next 3-4 days. Then I’ll do a coat of beeswax paste. I’m pretty happy with it so far. I wanted an “antique” look, and it’s going on that direction. I’m just glad the shine is off of it. Edited February 19, 2023 by Splitear grampy, Rusty, Bucksnbows and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mowin Posted February 20, 2023 Share Posted February 20, 2023 Looks great. Do you plan on hunting with it? Splitear 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Splitear Posted February 20, 2023 Author Share Posted February 20, 2023 (edited) So, after messing with it, I was actually pretty happy with the color. I slapped a couple of coats of beeswax on it and put it back together. I’m very happy. I might have liked it to be a little darker, but I feel like it’s more of a deep red now vs the orange that it was before. Additionally, I like the low sheen matte finish, and it feels really nice to hold. Now I’m just waiting on the browning solution for the tang. Here are some before and after photos. Edited February 20, 2023 by Splitear Bucksnbows, OldBrian, grampy and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bionic Posted February 20, 2023 Share Posted February 20, 2023 Very nice Splitear 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Splitear Posted February 20, 2023 Author Share Posted February 20, 2023 10 minutes ago, mowin said: Looks great. Do you plan on hunting with it? Yes. I’ll probably swap between it and my New Englander next year. Both of them shoot very well. mowin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bucndoe Posted February 20, 2023 Share Posted February 20, 2023 I can hit the hair on a fly's ass with my open sight Hawken shooting a patch and ball Splitear 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Posted February 20, 2023 Share Posted February 20, 2023 I like the low sheen look too! Well done! Splitear and Bionic 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grampy Posted February 20, 2023 Share Posted February 20, 2023 Great job!!! What a beautiful gun. I really like the new stain and matte finish. Splitear 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbHunterNY Posted February 20, 2023 Share Posted February 20, 2023 nice! Splitear 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldBrian Posted February 20, 2023 Share Posted February 20, 2023 Nice job. Looks Great! Splitear 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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