Henry Rifle Forums

I just started on a '51 39A Marlin that I bought from a dealer in Gettysburg that was selling his personal collection. The '51 39A's were often referred to as "Peanut" models. This was due to having a brass peanut shaped insert in the grip cap that you could engrave your initials on if you desired to do so. Mine is not engraved. This was feature that was dropped maybe before the year '51 was over due to the brass was needed for the Korean war. I would not refinish this rifle if it was original but it has been drilled for the Marlin factory scope base so collector value is not there. I bought it for $315 OTD so it was a deal for a shooter grade 39A with the Ballard rifled barrel. I got both pieces stripped yesterday and had a few issues other than just sanding after getting the finish off. It is necessary to not remove any wood from the tang area so sanding there is usually just use scotch brite so the finish will stick well. I had a gouge to take out of the fore arm with some wood missing but I steamed it well to raise the wood to do a minimum amount of sanding. The real issue is the stock had a chip by the grip cap that had been filled with a wood filler and looked bad. I scraped the filler out and filed a flat spot where the chip was and then cut a piece of walnut and sanded it flat. I will Acra-glas the piece in the chipped area then sand it down until I get it contoured to match the grip curve and the cap. On a curve makes it harder to get a good fit. Here is a few pictures so far. You can see the spots that need fixed on both pieces.

Fore arm has the bad area fixed and sanded and one coat of stain. The stock is shown with the piece to be glued in and then sanded to fit the grip shape. This step will take some time especially if I mess up and start again. Doesn't have to be perfect just better than before.

You do take on some challenges and achieve remarkable results. Looking forward to seeing the progress on this one.
I hope to find a 39A in good shape that won't cost me a kidney.

RetiredSeabee wrote:You do take on some challenges and achieve remarkable results. Looking forward to seeing the progress on this one.

X2

RetiredSeabee wrote:You do take on some challenges and achieve remarkable results. Looking forward to seeing the progress on this one.
I hope to find a 39A in good shape that won't cost me a kidney.

The stock will be a challenge because of the location of the chip. I am not sure it will not be noticeable but it sure was before with the wood filler. So I guess if it shows then try again or just say "I gave it my best shot."

The first time working with the chip in the stock was not good. I think I made the piece to acra-glas in the spot I needed to fix to smooth and it failed to hold well. It may have been the high humidity and not waiting long enough before working with it. I may go to plan B and reshape the grip slightly to get rid of the spot I need to fix. I did better with the fore end and got it finished and put it back on. It only took four coats of finish with the very dense piece of wood did not soak the finish in much. I had to struggle a little to get the mag tube back in and get the screws started straight in the fore end cap but I got that much back together. Here is the fore end finished and back on.

You really did a nice job on that fore-end, it looks beautiful. I am sure that you will make the stock look nice with your expertise, may just take a while longer?

You do good....no excellent work Sir.

I decided to use plan B and reshape the pistol grip to get rid of the chip. I got it shaped and it actually feels a little better with the slightly smaller grip. I then block sanded the stock except no sanding in the tang area to not get the wood lower than the metal. Now was a good time to get a perfect fit on the butt plate and the grip cap. The wood before I stripped this stock was a ugly dark brown with no grain showing and it will be lighter now with more grain showing through the finish. I worked on this stock this afternoon until my fingers got sore from sanding and started to get a head ache. Time to quit until tomorrow. This is the stock now.

Keep posting your progress. I bet a lot of people like me don't have anything to say but are following your thread.

Two coats in to the refinish work on the stock. It is going to look a lot better than the factory "mud finish" that was on it. The wood is more open grained than the fore arm and will need a few more coats than it did. No fancy grain here but one side has some slight fiddle back grain in it. I am not sure if I will go to the Tru-oil/Armor All way or not. I will dull it down after final coat dries. Here is a picture of it when I got it with the dark finish on the stock.

This was the damaged side at the pistol grip.

The other side.