Jay, some photos are really worth a thousand words. I have in my mind’s eye a Model 12 Pigeon Grade that has some cosmetic wear.  I ve seen a couple of those before and thought they were very worthwhile.  As you know, Pigeon Grades got a lot of extra work on their internal parts, too. 

If this particular gun is priced reasonably — by that, I mean very significantly less than a 95% gun — AND you are not buying it as an investment but rather because you want to own it and use it — AND you understand a professional restoration plus the purchase price may not make it a sound investment,  buy it with eyes open.  Professional restorations by good people I’d guess would cost at least a couple of thousand to accurately refinish steel and wood. 

Having said that, I don’t know how many Pigeon Grade Model 12 20 gauge guns were ever built. I do know small bore Model 12 guns sell at a premium.  You might want to hurriedly look at closed Gunbroker Auctions to see if any Pigeon Grade Model 12s have crossed recently, to get an idea of market price.  

I have a nagging concern finding a 20 gauge Model 12 PG in any condition may not be easy. That would weigh on my decision, too. 

I’m not a fan of unmodified linseed oil, myself. Without a hardener, it never dries, doesn’t resist moisture all that well, and turns gummy and black with age and exposure to Sunlight. 

I’m pretty sure the original finish on that PG was sprayed lacquer, based on how little remains around the circumference of the buttplate. There are other hardening oil finish products than Tru-Oil but that’s what I’m familiar with and have found compatible with old Winchester sprayed lacquer. It is essentially linseed oil with a red-brown tint and a hardening chemical. It can be applied with a rag or a brush and when thoroughlybdry leveled with 4-0 wool or the equivalent, building up with several coats. It can be given a sheen with pumice or rotten stone in an oil slurry on a felt pad. 

If you are uncomfortable with the possibility of messing up the remaining lacquer, a completely reversible alternative is a tinted wax, the only downside to which is the need to refresh it from time to time. Wax slowly evaporates. 

The fact that this gun is a twenty and not a twelve looms larger and larger in my mind, particularly now that I’ve seen the high grade wood. If the rib is soundly attached. If the bore is good and it shucks and shoots, a ridiculous price would be all that would stop me. 

It’s an original survivor as it sits.

Zebulon said
I’m not a fan of unmodified linseed oil, myself. Without a hardener, it never dries, doesn’t resist moisture all that well, and turns gummy and black with age and exposure to Sunlight. 

I’m pretty sure the original finish on that PG was sprayed lacquer, based on how little remains around the circumference of the buttplate. There are other hardening oil finish products than Tru-Oil but that’s what I’m familiar with and have found compatible with old Winchester sprayed lacquer. It is essentially linseed oil with a red-brown tint and a hardening chemical. It can be applied with a rag or a brush and when thoroughlybdry leveled with 4-0 wool or the equivalent, building up with several coats. It can be given a sheen with pumice or rotten stone in an oil slurry on a felt pad. 

If you are uncomfortable with the possibility of messing up the remaining lacquer, a completely reversible alternative is a tinted wax, the only downside to which is the need to refresh it from time to time. Wax slowly evaporates. 

The fact that this gun is a twenty and not a twelve looms larger and larger in my mind, particularly now that I’ve seen the high grade wood. If the rib is soundly attached. If the bore is good and it shucks and shoots, a ridiculous price would be all that would stop me. 

  

Boiled linseed oil will harden.  It has at least 5 added chemicals that I have no idea what they are and I’m not looking them up. Too many 10 letter words.  If you want something easy use it.  Unlike Tru Oil you don’t need to sand between coats.  After the final coat you can polish it for more sheen.  Lacquer is very fragile and will most likely attack the existing finish.  I’m not sure if Winchester used Lacquer or if it was varnish?

I’m working on a Browning 22 that had a chunk knocked out.  You can not tell where the original high gloss finish stops and the Tru Oil and boiled linseed starts.  I have to sand it at least 1 more time to get out some dust particles.  Another issue with the Tru Oil.  It takes a longer time to set up.

Chuck, you’re not using pure linseed oil if it hardens quicker than Tru-Oil, which is linseed oil with a hardening catalyst.

I would never question another craftsman’s method if he gets good results and not being able to tell where the spot refinish starts and stops is as good as it gets. 

I’ve not used sandpaper to knock back between coats but prefer 4-0 wool or one the rubbery molded blocks with an equivalent tooth. 

I know Winchester offered a high gloss oil finish as an extra cost finish but I’m pretty sure it was not umodified oil; that is, it had a varnish component that made the hand-rubbed process commercially feasible. [Back in the day of inside contracting, there was a reason finish formulae were kept secret!]

In any event, I think we can agree that a properly done spot refinish can be made invisible to anybody without a spectrograph, a chisel, and enough rope to hold the gun owner still while samples are being chipped off for analysis..

Zeb, each time I posted I said I use BOILED linseed oil.  Not pure linseed oil. 

This Browning is my latest project.  I just re glued the original piece that broke off.  I did have to do some sanding but on one side the owner took some steel wool to it so there was a lot of sanding.  I use 400 grit wet and dry sandpaper that has been used many times.  As long as it will make a cream it is cutting.

The damage is done and I don’t want to do more than stabilize the broken piece.  The more you sand the worse it will get.  If it was an oiled stock sanding isn’t that much of an issue.  But high gloss varnish is a pain especially if you cut through the original coats.

Better side

Side I”m still sanding

Chuck,

Happy wife, happy life.  [See footnote 1.]  

Tru Oil does take a while to cure out. Maybe wiping the lint covered areas with a naptha-moistened rag would loosen enough of the top layer to let you de-lint without destroying all the layers you’ve built up? 

If you’re inclined to take chances and your wife is not technically astute, this might be the time to explain your need – as a result of her wretched misdeed, of which you’ve already forgiven her — to lay in that nearly new Winchester 21 Grand American you saw on consignment, ajust so you can use its stock as a replacement part.  If you do this, do not bring the replacement through the front door in daylight where it can be closely observed. Ideally it should not show up as a debit on any jointly held account. 

Our washer and dryer, about two years old, are situated by the original builder’s design, in a very small room off the back hall of our 50 year old house, built at a time when washer and dryer machines were considerably smaller. In order for me to get to the dryer connections in the rear, I have to completely disconnect the plumbing and electrical of the washer, remove the hall door from its hinges, and slide out the washer.  Which I have had to do numerous times because of what turned out to be rotted cast iron sewer pipe beneath about half of the slab, at the cost of a pretty nice original Henry.   And termites. And then painters and machine installers.  That room has caused more trouble than any other part of this house. I feel your pain. 

Good luck and let me know your solution to the lint problem; and a pic of the finished Browning.

Best,

Bill 

1. That is the entire sum of everything I learned from having tried [not “settled”] fifty or sixty divorce cases during forty years at the Bar. I would eat a dead rat sandwich before I’d ever do another one, assuming I ever changed my law license from “retired/inactive” back to “active”, which would only happen in a nightmare.