I have carefully deburred all the slots in the compression tube. I was shocked at how hard the steel was on the tube. I spent many years as a tool and die maker so I have a good idea about how hard a piece of steel is just by running a quality file across it.
I have also cleaned up the cocking arms and "shoe". The arms were beginning to gall as you can see in the pictures of the arms and the main tube underside. The cocking shoe portion of the arms was rather burred up.
I also have cleaned up the slot of the piston. I set the piston in the lathe just to knock off any high spots. I was very nicely surprised that the rod in the piston only runs out about .004" to the body. Considering the awful looking braze inside the piston, that is pretty darn straight. The piston actually is "waisted" front and rear and fits the main tube very well. I do not think buttoning th piston would gain anything since they are within .008" of each other already. Am I wrong?
The main spring measures 9.200" long, with 29 coils. The spring wire is .126" diameter. The OD of the spring is .830" and the ID of the spring is .560" . The stem of the spring guide only measures .510" in diameter so there is about .050" slop between it and the ID of the main spring. How should I address that? Shrink tubing?
The main spring was a little loose in the ID of the piston. I took some .004" stainless shim stock and cut a liner for the piston to size. It is full length of the piston and about .100" narrower than the cocking slot so it won't interfere with the shoe of the cocking arm. Now the spring is a nice snug fit in the piston. Is this OK?
Please tell me what you think so far.
The stock is currently all lathered up in a thick coat of Howard's Feed and Wax. Old wood really soaks this stuff up and it gives wood such a beautiful warm glow. I plan to let the stock soak up as much as it will and then follow that with good old Johnson's Paste Floor Wax. The stock is walnut and in very nice shape.
Regards, Brad
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