Gun Stock Restoration

AYA No1 Re-stock – or how to keep a book matched pair

 

No two jobs I take on are the same, but some present more of a challenge than others. Now this was one of those jobs… An interesting project concerning an AYA No1 shotgun pair and some creative thinking!

Book matched pair

This was a lovely set of guns, and when the client brought them in to me he wanted a restock on one. Usually that’s a straightforward enough job. You simply find a blank that matches well enough to its partner and work with that.

But these were a book matched pair. For those not in the trade, a “book matched pair” means the two gun stocks were cut from the same blank and so were mirror images when laid side by side. The effect is rather attractive and of course results in a perfectly matching pair of stocks… The downside is that if happens to one half of the pair you need to get them both restocked with another book matched blank, or just get one done and then forget about having a perfect match (it can be very close, sure, but not perfect). Initially the latter seemed the solution here.

The curse of perfectionism

So he wanted a re-stock on one – so far so normal. We went through my library together and came up with a piece that was pretty good… but it wasn’t perfect. I mean, just think how low the chances of finding a decent match to another grain is ordinarily. Most of the time you have to find something that’s just about right and will suit the direction and striping without being too noticeably different. I pride myself on finding great matches but again, this time a perfect match would have been impossible.

That bothered me, as anyone who knows my work will know I’m a bit of a perfectionist. In fact, I laid awake in bed that night thinking about how I could solve what seemed an unsolvable problem. Eventually, after a bit of tossing and turning and some mental gymnastics, I came up with a potential solution. I called the client the next day to tell him about my plan and he gave me the go ahead.

A re-stock but not

You can see my solution in the pictures below. I headed up the action and grafted it on to the original piece, fixings under the trigger guard. To make it completely seamless, the joint was hidden on a checkering line. That way we could retain most of the original stock and keep that book matched appearance. A re-stock but not – as it were!

The conversation on the phone had also revealed that the pair didn’t fit him exactly, so I had the chance of casting it a bit more for him at the same time.

As it turned out he’d been given a quote for a double restock by someone else – for vast amounts of money. With this solution he kept his original wood and a book matched pair, and at a fraction of the cost.

I like happy customers!

 

Whether you’ve got a gun that needs a re-stock, or simply needs some TLC, feel free to send me a message via the contact form below. For more info on prices please click here.

You can also call me on 07979 606175 or send an email to greg@gunstockrestoration.co.uk