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http://forum.lugerforum.com/showpost...8&postcount=19
Well, it's been over a year since I 'finished' my 13" barreled Gonzo Luger carbine. I've shown it to a few people and gotten some comments. About the only unfavorable comment that I received was that it was not a faithful reproduction/recreation of an original carbine. Particularly the lack of checkering. I like the way the wood grain showed up under the BLO. It was even noted that my buttstock has a bit of 'fiddleback' in the comb. (I don't think it shows up in the pics - you have to turn it in the light to see it).
But checkering is a staple of Luger carbines, so I finally turned to Jim Solomon to checker the Gonzo Carbine. As a side note, I would prefer to do all the work required on my projects myself. But I'm turning 68 in a couple weeks and I don't have the patience to learn new trades at this point in my life, much less perfect them. So I've turned to Charles Danner for my blueing and strawing needs; to Gerry Tomek for my magazine bottoms; to Remington for my 30 cal barrel blanks/pulls; to Macon Gunstocks for my buttstock blank; and Jim Solomon for the checkering. These artists have all perfected their techniques, leaving me with only the simplest of work to finish the projects up.
Here, then, is a commentary of Jim's conversion of my slickside carbine buttstock and forearm into a checkered set reminiscent of the Luger carbines of the 20's.
After contacting Jim and emailing him several pictures of Simpson, Salter, and Bruning carbine furniture, Jim sent me back sketches of his proposed work. Jim included pics of my wood with the outlines of the checkered borders done in white pencil.
Jim sent pics of the semi-complete checkering. It looked good!
The wood was returned to me for final finishing. Jim does finishing of the wood as well as checkering, but I wanted to save some money and also have the satisfaction of doing some of the work myself so I had Jim leave the final finishing (BLO in my case) for me. I had already applied several coats of BLO to the slickside furniture and liked the way it looked and intended to do the same after checkering. If anyone is considering having Jim do any woodworking, I suggest you let Jim do the final finishing himself. It'll save a lot of grief.
So...After three coats of BLO, hand rubbed between coats, here is the finished buttstock and forearm, checkered and buffed to a semi-gloss finish.
Some closeups of the checkering - The rubbing/buffing was done with soft, clean old rags {white T-shirts) which left some fabric/lint in the checkering. I only noticed it in the blown-up pics. A brush removed most of it. Eventually.
Shameless plug for Jim's services
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