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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Cleaning of gew rifle and Bertheir


Hanniballector

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Nick,

Before you posted this thread you were pleased with the result and that should remain the case. They are your rifles and you enjoy them. I think Chris is right. They will age again and plenty of handling, some BLO and oily hands over the years will age them again.

Do not despair! A friend cleaned his original Birmingham Pals cap badge. Result looked awful but over two years it has regained a patina / tarnish. This will happen to your wood too!

Enjoy them as you should.

Happy Christmas.

TT

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My apologies in that case beer hunter!

Three perfect looking rifles that have clearly been looked after with lots of TLC.

Thank you TT very nice of you and merry Xmas !

Regards

Nick

Edited by Hanniballector
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H ; I did a couple "old" rifles when I was a kid and did not know any better. My advice on wood is to do NOTHING more than apply warmed vaseline and promptly rub off with an old towel or cotton cloth. You will get off a gob of "dirt" and ou will not damage the original aged finish. As with anything except beer don't go overboard.

Hi TT

Just emailed Andy from Arundals and asked him what his thoughts are on it. He said from his point of view it makes little diffrence on the value side, however it dose make them more atractive for sale. Said that wax or boiled Linceed oil can be applied after cleaning. However I've done a bit of looking online and various collectors / museums do clean and draw out of the wood work the oil, greese and dirt and then apply what ever they decide is best to help preserve / protect it . That said I've also read that you should never clean them ! Lol It appears that it shouldn't ever be done so it affects the original finish on the wood work as when it left the factory. Unmm a little bit unhappy now about the whole matter

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Nick,

Before you posted this thread you were pleased with the result and that should remain the case. They are your rifles and you enjoy them. I think Chris is right. They will age again and plenty of handling, some BLO and oily hands over the years will age them again.

Do not despair! A friend cleaned his original Birmingham Pals cap badge. Result looked awful but over two years it has regained a patina / tarnish. This will happen to your wood too!

Enjoy them as you should.

Happy Christmas.

TT

Eh , not so much. When old wood has been scrubbed - and or overly cleaned it will ALWAYS show that. You won't regain a 100 years of aged finish in your lifetime. That's just how it is. The question is "to bubba , or not to bubba"?.

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Hopefully this little bit on the forum can be of some use and guidance to anyone else who may be thinking of making the same mistake as I have !

A warning to others maybe lol ! Yes they lost their aged look a bit but at the same time gained a little bit more character, like the tiger striped butt on the gew98 and the various patterns and marks.

I guess the question is as stated by gew and Chris, to do or not to do .

Listen to the experts, Would be my advise !

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A have added a further coat of linseed oil and did something else to further darken, give aged appearance which I think has worked quite well. How far to go is the other question on my mind ?!40779C90-613E-4169-ADC3-A7BB1FDE9ED8_zps

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I would stop and do nothing further.

Chris

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Agreed. At this point all you can do is get a proper sling and leave it as is now, let time and handling try to do the rest.

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