Put a small ball bearing (something like a piece of birdshot) between the 2 pieces of wood. Put the wood together carefully with the barrel and action together and tap lightly on the foreend with a soft mallet. Now you have a indentation on both pieces of the stock that show you exactly where to drill.
Can also add an ink like sharpie to the BB if adding pressure would be too much risk. The fresh ink will transfer. Used to do this to get body post holes aligned on painted lexan RC car bodies before drilling.
Direct Translation using google, it's good enough :) 'Excuse me in Japanese! Thank you very much for repairing the Imperial Japanese Army rifle. I don't have a chance to touch the real thing, but I am grateful to the ancestors and the owners. It's been over 75 years since the end of the war, but we Japanese shouldn't forget. Although it is a distant foreign land, please take good care of it.'
The wood is either Beech, Walnut or a Japanese tree called Katsura, depending on the arsenal and the year made. Some late war, aka "last ditch" rifles used palm wood. To be able to make the most of the tree, the stock is actually made in two pieces, the bottom 1/3 or so of the buttstock is dovetailed on, leading many people to believe the stock is cracked and that the rifles are of inferior quality. The finish is Urushi lacquer, known famously as Japan Lacquer, which is made from a species of poison sumac which lead to the myth that the wood is poisonous due to the allergic reactions when cutting and sanding the stock.
My parents owned their own business and my dad always told new employees, It's ok to make mistakes, everyone does. The trick is don't repeat your mistakes. Great post, Mark, thanks.
I'm a mechanical marine engineer . The way you approach the problems is almost as impressive as the patience you have. Out here you we repop everything no hardware stores at sea. You have really taught me so much that I have used about 6 things out here one saved us from flying 0ut Parts so thank you my friend keep it coming
"As a gunsmith you can do too much." Once, while showing a friend how "gun blueing" isn't actually blue or black itself, but is a chemical reaction, I demonstrated by touching up the holster wear on my wife's pride and joy of a Model 10 S&W. Almost 30 years later and she still hasn't forgiven me. DON'T do any work you haven't been asked to do no matter how obvious it may seem! The customer can always bring it back later if they want it done.
A truly great repair to put this gun back into a state where it can be still shot without further damaging the woodwork Mark. I've been a pro woodworker for 53 years now and that was some of the best wielding of a chisel I've ever seen! Because cutting end grain is the most difficult operation which needs a super sharp chisel to do it well. Nice one Mark!
Success! The repair is solid. The rifle is back together. Next stop the range. If someone buys this rifle from my estate, they can always add their own duffel cut and 'restore' it to its postwar condition. In the mean time I intend to go win some matches with it while my eyesight is still good enough. Thanks again! After over 100 years, the stock is now back in one piece!
Really a pleasure to watch a professional at this kind of level. And a great contrast to the attitude displayed over here, where they treat obvious steps like a trade secret and gunsmiths would probably shun you for telling actual little tricks like the ground-rod-for-cleaning-cleaning-rod-holes.
Arisaka owners...please report if your gun has the vise marks in between the barrel bands. I want to see if it might have been a part of the original weapon fabrication process. Thanks
No such marks on mine; complete rifle with original dust cover, intact mum, AA sights, bi-pod, no duffel cut, no import mark and the center piece of what appears to be an Aleutian sight modification with the two side 'ears' broken off. Pretty sure somebody else monkeyed around with this rifle and clamped it down too tight in a naked vice at some point in its life. Steaming it might get some of the marks to rise back up, but it'd probably mess with the old oil finish on the wood.
Since I started this, mine is a Type 38 carbine, Nagoya arsenal, Series 5. Intact Mum, no import mark. I've owned it for 30+ years (damn I'm getting old)
A competent man performing a task with skill and experience mastered over years of painstaking work is amazing to watch. It actually restores some of the faith I had in humanity. So many of us have become lost in this world of exponential information. Trying to make sense of everything and therefore understanding nothing. It’s good to know that there are people out there that understand a subject thoroughly and manifested their understanding from start to finish with their own hands.
I worked at a McDonald’s in California that had an attic that was used for storage. I found a type 99 up there hidden between really old happy meal toys and boxes of junk from the 90s. It had been hidden away for years and I could never explain how it got there.
Working at a family homestead, there was a thrashed 99 with airplane sights and bipod, missing the dust cover, bolt internals and the emperor's stamp was ground off. Looks like the boys of the family must have used it for play games over the decades.
Dear god I was nervous when you were cleaning up the acriglass... Foot tapping, hand clenching, teeth grinding, eye popping nervous, and every sliver no matter how small hurt to see. But man, it looks beautiful now. Fantastic job I wish I had the stomach to watch without freaking out a little.
You weren’t the only one. Part of the skill on display is the boldness. I especially cringed when he was bouncing the stock after his repair. If I shoved a lump of coal up my butt I’d be rich because I’d be crapping diamonds.
Hi Mark, just a guntube enthusiast/observer here. I laughed for a while when you answered the collective voice in your head screaming at you about changing the barrel harmonics of that vintage rifle as if they were all going to shoot it 1000 yards + with an imagined level of precision. Really!!!
I know that most of my comments are on old episodes as I have only recently found your channel, but I am completely amazed at the quality of your work and the detail of explanations. Doing the research and thinking through the problems is what gunsmithing is all about. Thanks very much for sharing.
My dad must have seen these things shoot. He was in the Phillipines in ww2. First Cav Division out of Fort BLiss, Tx. He also heard the woodpecker fire alot. He and his crew carried a chicken wire to put over the fox holes in order to knock out the grenades that were thrown on top of them. Low card carried the wire. Dad was 19 and had nitemares for years after the war. When i was a kid when my dad told me to do something you needed to be on the way or else. My dad was my hero strong as steel and kind as a nun. His eyes told the strory about the stress he was under in war. His eyes had a stare to them when he told you to do something that was right outta the twilight zone. His heart was so good that heaven had a place in it. He was always a mentor to all the young people and coached alot of baseball games. I wished i had appreciated him more as i was raised by John Wayne. God LOVE MY FATHER as i do.
Ben Lane My former father-in-Law ran across His war trophy type 99 and asked me if I wanted. Of course I did! It was missing the firing pin, spring and safety knob but the mum was intact. He also gave me the bayonet. I was lucky. It was still packed in cosmoline! It had never been issued. The stock didn’t suffer from the oil soaked stock that usually broke at the wrist. I got the needed parts and disassembled the rifle for cleaning. It turned out beautifully. I have dies, brass and bullets for it but after two decades of my having it, it remains unfired. He also had a sword and a Nambu pistol in the clamshell holster, all numbers matching and an extra magazine with matching numbers. He said I could have it when He would pass on and showed me where He kept it but His son got there first and took all of that and His coin collection too. No use crying over spilled milk. I am fortunate to have the rifle. He was a good man!
I just watched a 1 hour video of a guy using hand tools on an old gun. Some might wonder how that is entertaining, they however do not appreciate the art you put into your work.
I have the same exact rifle except mine is way more versatile. It appears it has been used as a boat paddle, door stop, traction device and a fishing sinker and maybe a rifle. I'll keep watching and someday you'll teach me enough to bring it back to life. Thank you for your skills.
Only kind of starting to peak at your channel but your enthusiasm and knowledge is profound and apparent. You remind me a lot of some the old boys my dad would hang out around when I was younger. Bow makers, gunsmiths, hunters. People who who had a lot of years of experience under their belt and calluses on their hands. You look like you could nail a screw in with your palm and I mean that in the best of ways
Yes, go make something. My wife’s church called me, (I’m a dirty atheist but I married a lovely Christian woman who loves me despite my religious failings. Weirdly she’s Liberal and I’m the Conservative, 🤣). In any case one of a neighbouring church, (different denomination), needed some outdoor pews built. So I did the deed, when I came time to pay me I said no, but can I have the leftover wood for a personal project. I then blasted together some tiny pews of the same design for my children’s art station in the dining room. (I’m no angel and the wood wasn’t particularly valuable but everyone was so nice it felt good to just help so I selfishly wanted that to be the reason for my work and not $300. I further suspect I may be future work because of this “good” deed so it was really advertising. But nonetheless get out there and make something even if it’s a few kid sized picnic tables which I have made in the past and littered around in some of my local parks and surprisingly a few of them are still there, although some were probably stolen which was really the point anyways.)
It's so rare to see people bestow Japanese weapons with any amount of respect. Thank you for your mindfulness, and thank you for sharing your knowledge with us in such a well filmed manner.
@@marknovak8255 Mark....I purchased an original PU scope made in 1941 and mount from a man in Siberia a few years ago...do you know someone who is expert and possibly has a jig to drill and tap the receiver of a Mosin to create a Soviet sniper rifle, and do the bolt alteration...my dad had a shop mount a scope on my deer rifle, a British No.4 Mark 1, way back in 1970 when I was 15 years old. The holes were not drilled in alignment to the bore and I could never get the scope zeroed before it was out of adjustment range...I have access to 4 Mosin's for a donor rifle...any way to figure out which one would be best for the donor for best accuracy? I've looked at them all and one made in 1939 appears to be good. What do you estimate the cost of this job? BTW. Excellent job on the MP-18! That will give a man goose bumps getting that thing running!
Man, I was hooked to this for the whole hour. Beautiful repair on an amazing gun. There is something about the wood furniture on these guns, modern weapons just don’t seem to compare.
You said a mouthful in one sentence. @33.35 'a Dremel tool has its place in gunsmithing but it's Not the go to tool'. Great Video! I am a big user of acraglas too. Back in the day, we bedded actions with JB Weld and Johnson's floor wax was the release agent. I still use those products in places. Actually the johnsons wax is what I always use for release agent, even with acraglas. Some of those old finishes can be touched up using a few drops of iodine in a teaspoon of denatured alcohol for stain. I then use the Formby's tung oil finish. It's made for refinishing furniture but Formby's has great line of wood products. I love your work and you do a fine job of relaying the reality of gunsmithing. As you have said before, a gun is only new once. When things happen to a gun, there are tradeoffs in some repairs. Barrel harmonics is a small trade to have the weapon back functioning in one piece. Take Care and be safe, John
Mr. Novak... that was an amazing example of an Arisaka. That it still had all the accoutrements intact was doubly amazing. Seeing what you did to repair the duffle cut... I am speechless. Many thanks to you and Bruno for taking us into your shop for another adventure in gunsmithing.
Thank You for another respectful repair. Several points in the process where a less respectful worker would have done technically correct but disrespectful work. It takes real skill to do only what must be done.
You inspired me to refinish my old beat up Mosin Nagant M44 I bought when I was 18. Stripped the stock completely, sanded and carved out the worst parts, finished with a red-brown stain and tung oil. It came out great.
Mark, I'm a master wood worker her in Hawaii with expertise in Japanese joinery, materials, & tools. The stock wood looks like Zelkova Serrata - or what the Japanese call "Keyaki". Common historic use there in furniture and Taiko drums. Can't be sure without microscopy of end grain. But that's my best guess. The patina is spot on.
My dad brought one of these back from Iwo Jima. Exactly the same features. It had a lot of shrapnel in it. He had to cut it up to hide it in his duffel bag. We donated it to the Nimitz Museum in Fredricksburg, Texas after he died. He also brought back quite a bit of ammo for it.
@@pizzafrenzyman We gave most of the ammo to the Nimitz Museum (National Museum of the War in the Pacific). It was still in the cardboard boxes as issued to Japanese troops. The curator told us that this was the first ammo he had ever seen in the original boxes.
Im not far from Fredericksburg I have a type 30 Arista and a type 99 last ditch some of my favorite collectors pieces one is a brought home piece from a friends grandfather he wanted to sell it so I bought it to keep it safe
As a gift for my lil brother we got him a ariasaka for when he comes home on leave in June. After watch a lifetime of your episodes I will take a part and look at what I know a can fix the rest I won’t mess with since I’m not a gunsmith. An i do not want to mess up the rifle
I watched a British training film that stated the correct action to take when a Messerschmidt or a Stuka comes down at you was to form into ranks and shoot at it with your Enfields. You want to talk about optimistic...
20 soldiers at 30 rounds per minute equals the fire rate of a machine gun at 600 aimed rounds per minute… Optimistic is shooting down a fighter with a 45 caliber pistol (which has also been done - once).
Another wonderful video! I've done a number of amateurish duffel cut repairs and it was fascinating to see a professional undertake the task. Well Done!
And the USN SPs not taken all the bolts away from the boarding servicemen for safety, put them in barrels and handed them back randomly when they got back to USA.
Thank you for sharing your expertise with the world. Every time I watch one of your videos, it reinforces my desire to be a professional gunsmith. I’ll probably be referring back to your channel any time I’m having trouble
The real art is the mastery of repair, without making the repair obvious. Not to hide the fact that a repair was made, but to make right with the item involved, and those that enjoy its use.
Depending on whether or not the Japanese had decided the war had developed not necessarily in their favor, the Arisaka came in Walnut, Beech, and a special type of wood known as Katsura. FYI, the gunstock was probably cured with urushi which is a lacquer made from poison oak sap and not Tung Oil. The Cosmoline was definitely an American GI application.
I can see Mark is going to be restocking an entire gun again at some point, judging by cutting out a stock blank just for a duffle cut spacer. Also great work as always. I've greatly enjoyed every single Anvil episode I've seen, and I think I've seen them all.
Stocks were Beech, Walnut, or Katsura...higher grades were mainly Walnut. Stock finish is Urishi resin, made from poison Sumac, using a Tung oil-type process.
Not to rain on you, but it is spelled urushi for those wanting more info. I tried googling it and it corrected it to be urushi. Anyway, here are craftsmen ( one is prob 70 yrs old now) making some and talking about it: ua-cam.com/video/hPOXpb5RWBw/v-deo.html
I have an Arisaka rifle 100 % complete and original. Purchased it 35 years ago when I was a very young in my 20s and started my collection. Ricky from IBM
One of the first things I was ever warned was, "a firearm is not a car". What was meant by this was that a thirty (hell, twenty at the time) year old car might be total junk, but, properly maintained and stored, a hundred year old firearm is ABSOLUTELY still a lethal weapon. I have handled guns that I was alarmed and astonished to learn the true age of. Holding an early M14 got a nod of familiarity. FIRING that M14 gave me pause, and made me completely reevaluate a lot of cold war history. "Battle rifle" only means so much if you haven't fired one. Early 20th century firearms are the intersection of the beginning of modern mechanical precision with the end of 19th century politics, and they have a very sobering degree of precise and immediate lethality to them that drives home what military service in those wars really threatened you with. There is only so much these guns can teach on the wall. I applaud your work to restore them to operable condition.
Battle rifles are for Soldier Marksmen, but since this fell out of favour for suppression and volume of fire, then the 5.56mm makes sense. I am still staggered by my memories, as a Gunnery Officer in the Royal Navy, when I fired, .303 Enfield, L1A1 SLR, L85A2 each time it felt like a step down in raw power each time, but an increase in magazine. Seeing 1000yards on the SMLE Iron sights was a "Holy cow, this thing is a beast". The SLR was my favourite, but then true marksmen are hard to train and practice.
Just for info: Type 99's wood fixtures pending the year of production were Walnut (which by chance was a proper choice for you to use) and a poison Sumac resin finish-- or Beech, Japanese walnut or Katsura, and finished with cured Urushi resin. Some of that obviously not easy to acquire here in the States per se. This was thoroughly entertaining to watch, pretty darn good repair.
@Heyward Shepherd The value went down when the saw hit it 75 years ago. Besides a "professionally" done restoration or refurbishment doesn't hurt the value that much; just look at the CMP and what they do to one. New barrel, new stocks, new sights and a NEW price too.
Im a Carpenter and if i framed your house with old tyme carpentry you couldnt afford me or the house. Love your channel and your long form videos are awesome
I am an experienced wood worker. If I owned that rifle, I would send it off to someone like you to have it fixed. My palms were sweating just watching the video, ha.
What a nice piece of military memorabilia, the GI with the foresight to bring that souvenir home is owed a debt of gratitude, he unknowingly preserved a very nice piece of Japanese and world history, had the war not been forced to a close by the nuclear weapons released on Japan countless American soldiers would have perished on the Japanese mainland from rounds fired from these rifles, the fighting spirit of the Japanese people is honorable to say the least, their will to die in battle was absolutely astonishing, I'm grateful for their decision to surrender, had the war continued millions of Americans whose fathers and grandfather's were enlisted and who were fighting on the front lines would have never been born. Great work preserving this relic for future generations.
mark so glad i found this channel...have learned so much from you by watching a master at work.please keep up the videos as this is a lost art that is slowly disappearing... by the way i have one of these my uncle brought back from okanawa ,,, it has all the imperial markings intact and is a battlefield pick up other than cleaning .in the same condition as when he got home with it........he is still living 94 yrs. young and still kicking....a hellava lot harder than me at a little more than half his age..he is a marine. with the 1/5 then after okanawa was stationed in china.been my dril srgt. and mentor for 57 yrs. and counting
Back in '74 I purchased a Gewehr 98 dated 1906 for $35.00 at a swap meet. When I took it apart to 'restore' it, I found out that it had a bulged barrel and a duffel cut. I kept it anyway as it was quite interesting. When I moved from Canada to the UK I decided to bring it with me as I had owned it for most of my life and why should I part with it now. The stock ID Disc says 114R (Infatry Regiment). Some Canadian brought it back after WWI for some reason. The rifle looks like it has been through a war and even the trigger guard has been slightly 'crushed'. I think this gun survived an explosion. The dealer who imported my rifles into the UK told me that the British Government didn't recognise German Military Proofmarks. In the UK it is illegal for a dealer to hand over a gun without proofmarks and I could not have the gun proofed because of the bulged barrel. I had 3 choices. Destroy, De-activate or re-barrel. The cost of de-activating was the same as the cost of re-barreling so I chose the latter. I have finally got the rifle back and it has been lovingly blended. The new barrel was rust blued and the old sights were installed on it. From 5 feet away it looks great. I intend to shoot it here at Bisley where the shooting of Historic rifles is making a huge comeback. There are several matches with many different classes with competitions from 25 to 1000 yards. I watched your video about 12 times before I mustered the courage to fix my stock. The key was formulating the strategy. I had to figure out what holes to drill and where. There is not much wood on the Gewehr 98 stock. I chose to enlarge the cleaning rod hole and fit a 7mm thick wall brass tube. I had room for one more hole so I opted for a 10/32 screw with the head cut off. It really is in the details. Determine how tight to make a hole and choosing the correct drill bit. I didn't want to squeeze out all of the epoxy in the screw holes. I waited 4 weeks for Brownells to ship Acraglass. I had to track surgical tubing down on ebay. I stared for quite a while at the rifle. I drilled the holes yesterday and dry fitted eveything. There was a 1/8" saw kerf missing but I decided against a wood spacer and just used acraglass. This morning I tracked down some past wax and put everything together. I decided to put the band on gun to keep the pieces aligned. I will probably regret it. 120 year old wood behaves more like charcoal than wood. Especially after being oil soaked. I will let the epoxy set and take it to the range to start barrel break in on Friday. Thanks for all of your videos. The most important thing you teach is patience how important having a strategy is before you start a job. Could not have done this without you.
Wow, I wasn't planning on watching this but boy am I glad I did! It was like a damn car accident, I just couldn't not watch! Fantastic video and just amazing workmanship! You've given me so many great ideas for future repairs. I read a lot of the comments and got some great ideas there as well. Thanks a million for taking the time to make these videos and share your experience with the layperson!!
Mark, I think a Japanese pull saw would have helped out with this repair. It's less clunky and more manageable when cutting sideways like that. Give it a try, you may like it. Great video.
Well this isn't going to be welcome but here we go. @31:53 we can very clearly see that the top edge of the stock on the right is noticeably higher than that on the left of the join. Mark does not see this. This is the stage where the parts are brought together dry so that they can be fitted correctly. Look closely, it can be seen that the barrel is sitting down hard into the wood on the right but is lifted in the wood on the left as witnessed by a gap between the wood and the metal on the left. This can only be caused by the wood on the right being too high in relation to the mother stock and shows that the hole for the threaded rod is in the wrong position and is causing the joint to be out of line. Having assembled the joint @37:43 we see that the exact same conditions apply and the repair is out of line. Start watching at 38:10 Mark checks the alignment and (look closely) moves the stock even further out of alignment by lifting it higher. Shortly after this he confidently tells us that this is not the sort of gun that you learn on. @40:10 here's the smoking gun! Notice how the wood grain is showing through the glue. It stops showing at the exact line of the join because the barrel was lifted up from the mother stock by the miss aligned stock. All the pressure of the rubber strap could not pull it true because the threaded rod could not allow it to move into line. @42:32 look closely at the visible left hand edge of the glue and it can be seen to have considerable thickness. This is the result of the barrel not sitting down in its cradle in the stock. The thickness of the glue exactly matches the degree of missalignment of the top edge. @45:01 he finally notices the problem with the top edge of the stock and cuts a little wood off. @45:16 Mark starts to explain that wood moves with time and he's right. However no amount of explanation can put this situation right. @47:18 he cuts away wood and tells us that it swelled right here. He demonstrates that he does not understand why the top edges are not in line and level. @49:14 this is the first time that we see the results of the missalignment. Not withstanding any bending of the top stock the gap between the top and bottom on the left of the joint is exactly equal to the degree of error in jigging the two parts of the stock together. Mark's attempts to blend the joint are seen as a freshly cut ramp in the wood. @51:23 Mark is telling us that the front end joint is tight and it is. However he makes no mention of the gap behind the joint which will always be there. @54:20 observe the gap where the top covers the bottom. In spite of any explanations that gap is there because Mark assembled it out of line. I have been a gunsmith for over 40 years and am often called upon to correct poor repairs. I despair at this job and I wonder if the owner will be content with explanations of swelling wood as he holds this rare example. Often I have found that workers who make sure we all know how good they are can produce average work with eloquent and lengthy explanations of how difficult it was and how the average joe would make a hash of it. I expect this comment will be deleted as it will not sit well with Mark Novak. I challenge you to leave it here so that your viewers can respond.
I attempted a very similar repair myself to an original 1777 pattern infantry musket, and I'm pleased to see that I used some of the techniques you display in this video... albeit somewhat sloppy and obviously novice. My main difficulty was that the stock is so thin, there was no material to add a rod for reinforcement, and all I could do was add some pins to prevent rotation and add some sort of anchor point. Overall I think it needs a complete restocking, but I'll never find someone to do that... so at least it's in an operational state!
Really wish my Grandfather's old Arisaka 99 made it's way to my possession.. unfortunately it was lost, likely pilfered by other relatives when he passed away. I'm sure they sold it off years ago and it's probably out in the world somewhere in a collection, hopefully being valued and treasured as much as this one in the video. He was an engineer and electrician in The Pacific during WWII. The Arisaka was likely a capture / bring back. I've always wanted one because of that so videos like this help me to live that dream vicariously. Maybe some day I'll acquire one. Thanks for the info.
As a note, the resin used is an exothermic reaction (makes heat) rather than endothermic reaction (absorbs heat). It still reacts faster when hot (just like the equally exothermic hydration reaction of concrete, which needs to be actively cooled in large slab pours) and thus while lamp is successful in "pushing" it to cure faster, the glass will actually will get warmer than ambient all on its own (especially in larger thicknesses). This is why the release agents ect are all carefully made to be non-flammable, it can theoretically get hot enough to be an ignition risk in large quantities/uses where its insulated... although frankly unlike cheap bulk building epoxies (which I have in person seen hot enough to be smoking) I doubt anybody has actually had an issue with AcraGlass because the couple of kilos reacting in a paint tin type worst case scenario is several hundred dollars of product, rather than the left overs from sealing an entire wall/swimming pool.
What a gorgeous weapon! I love that comment about houses built in the last 30 years having no "carpentry in [them]"! My brother's in-laws had their house built 5 years ago by an Amish house builder and it wasn't any different or any better than houses built by other crews.
That particular Arisaka was taken from the Emperor’s guard armory as a souvenir by a GI during the occupation of Japan. The Arisaka stock is made of either beech, walnut, or katsura. The finish is called Urushi, which is derived from the sap of a kind of Sumac tree; the poison-variety sumac. Try to avoid sanding this finish as you may have a reaction to it, and the airborne dust can give you a poison ivy-like reaction in your throat and lungs.
Some hobby stores, and stores that have livestock supplies, have disposable syringes with long tips that would be perfect for shooting glue into that hole! On line you can get them in 10 packs with needles, flat dull needles, like the ones for lubing Grandfather clocks.
Mark- Know how to solve the type 99 wire bale hook sling puzzle? Some call it QD, literally a bent wire puzzle just to take on and off. Anyone else know what I'm talking about?
Sadly as these guns age and disappear so do the truly talented men able to keep them viable. May you live a 100 years more and pass on this disappearing art.
Is it just me or is it just hipnotic and mesmerizing to watch Mark Novak work?
I can, and HAVE we watched, and listened (optically guided impact delivery device 🤣🤣) to Mark for hours, happily.
Put a small ball bearing (something like a piece of birdshot) between the 2 pieces of wood. Put the wood together carefully with the barrel and action together and tap lightly on the foreend with a soft mallet. Now you have a indentation on both pieces of the stock that show you exactly where to drill.
Great tip. Adding it to my bag. Thanks
I love to have another mind thanks thinks the same as me. God bless you brother
Can also add an ink like sharpie to the BB if adding pressure would be too much risk. The fresh ink will transfer. Used to do this to get body post holes aligned on painted lexan RC car bodies before drilling.
I use clear shoe polish for mould release
Just used this tip for my type 99's duffle cut repair! Huge thanks!
日本語で失礼！
大日本帝国軍の小銃を修理して頂き大変感謝致します。
実物に触れる機会も無いですが、先人の方々に感謝と持ち主の方に感謝致します。戦後75数年経ちますが我々日本人は忘れてはならない事です。
どうぞ遠い異国の地ではありますが大切になさって下さい。
Direct Translation using google, it's good enough :)
'Excuse me in Japanese!
Thank you very much for repairing the Imperial Japanese Army rifle.
I don't have a chance to touch the real thing, but I am grateful to the ancestors and the owners. It's been over 75 years since the end of the war, but we Japanese shouldn't forget.
Although it is a distant foreign land, please take good care of it.'
Perfect timing just finished my 40 hours, time to let your dulcet tones relax me into the weekend.
ua-cam.com/video/x-H1T7ny2Uw/v-deo.html
The wood is either Beech, Walnut or a Japanese tree called Katsura, depending on the arsenal and the year made. Some late war, aka "last ditch" rifles used palm wood. To be able to make the most of the tree, the stock is actually made in two pieces, the bottom 1/3 or so of the buttstock is dovetailed on, leading many people to believe the stock is cracked and that the rifles are of inferior quality. The finish is Urushi lacquer, known famously as Japan Lacquer, which is made from a species of poison sumac which lead to the myth that the wood is poisonous due to the allergic reactions when cutting and sanding the stock.
My parents owned their own business and my dad always told new employees, It's ok to make mistakes, everyone does. The trick is don't repeat your mistakes. Great post, Mark, thanks.
My boss at Nucor steel........"We can't fire him, we just spent 75 grand training him!"
@@marknovak8255 LOL! It's called job security.
I'm a mechanical marine engineer . The way you approach the problems is almost as impressive as the patience you have. Out here you we repop everything no hardware stores at sea. You have really taught me so much that I have used about 6 things out here one saved us from flying 0ut Parts so thank you my friend keep it coming
"As a gunsmith you can do too much." Once, while showing a friend how "gun blueing" isn't actually blue or black itself, but is a chemical reaction, I demonstrated by touching up the holster wear on my wife's pride and joy of a Model 10 S&W. Almost 30 years later and she still hasn't forgiven me. DON'T do any work you haven't been asked to do no matter how obvious it may seem! The customer can always bring it back later if they want it done.
A truly great repair to put this gun back into a state where it can be still shot without further damaging the woodwork Mark. I've been a pro woodworker for 53 years now and that was some of the best wielding of a chisel I've ever seen! Because cutting end grain is the most difficult operation which needs a super sharp chisel to do it well. Nice one Mark!
Success! The repair is solid. The rifle is back together. Next stop the range. If someone buys this rifle from my estate, they can always add their own duffel cut and 'restore' it to its postwar condition. In the mean time I intend to go win some matches with it while my eyesight is still good enough. Thanks again! After over 100 years, the stock is now back in one piece!
Here for the history, but I just love seeing a master craftsman do a careful and sympathetic repair like this. Fantastic. You sir, are a real expert,
Really a pleasure to watch a professional at this kind of level. And a great contrast to the attitude displayed over here, where they treat obvious steps like a trade secret and gunsmiths would probably shun you for telling actual little tricks like the ground-rod-for-cleaning-cleaning-rod-holes.
I can show you everything I know, bit I cannot replace the experience necessary to actually do it. No secrets here.
@@marknovak8255 Exactly how it should be, Sir!
Arisaka owners...please report if your gun has the vise marks in between the barrel bands. I want to see if it might have been a part of the original weapon fabrication process. Thanks
Mark Novak I have an arisaka with all the correct stuff it has no vise teeth mark on the hand guard.
No marks on my 99. It’s an early war production if that also helps.
Mark, I have a Type 99, aircraft sights, bipod, undamaged mum with no vise teeth marks between the barrel bands. Great video!
No such marks on mine; complete rifle with original dust cover, intact mum, AA sights, bi-pod, no duffel cut, no import mark and the center piece of what appears to be an Aleutian sight modification with the two side 'ears' broken off. Pretty sure somebody else monkeyed around with this rifle and clamped it down too tight in a naked vice at some point in its life. Steaming it might get some of the marks to rise back up, but it'd probably mess with the old oil finish on the wood.
Since I started this, mine is a Type 38 carbine, Nagoya arsenal, Series 5. Intact Mum, no import mark. I've owned it for 30+ years (damn I'm getting old)
A competent man performing a task with skill and experience mastered over years of painstaking work is amazing to watch. It actually restores some of the faith I had in humanity. So many of us have become lost in this world of exponential information. Trying to make sense of everything and therefore understanding nothing. It’s good to know that there are people out there that understand a subject thoroughly and manifested their understanding from start to finish with their own hands.
I would have a huge grin on my face just sitting there watching Mark work, talking about what he's doing and why.
Awesome videos
Cannot believe you ruined a pristine pump-action Arisaka.
LOL, good one
😆😂😆😂
LOL, nice one. :)
Finally, a man of culture
I worked at a McDonald’s in California that had an attic that was used for storage. I found a type 99 up there hidden between really old happy meal toys and boxes of junk from the 90s. It had been hidden away for years and I could never explain how it got there.
Did you take it?
Working at a family homestead, there was a thrashed 99 with airplane sights and bipod, missing the dust cover, bolt internals and the emperor's stamp was ground off. Looks like the boys of the family must have used it for play games over the decades.
Thank you how much history have you preserved for future generations? You are an amazing asset,
Dear god I was nervous when you were cleaning up the acriglass... Foot tapping, hand clenching, teeth grinding, eye popping nervous, and every sliver no matter how small hurt to see. But man, it looks beautiful now. Fantastic job I wish I had the stomach to watch without freaking out a little.
You weren’t the only one. Part of the skill on display is the boldness. I especially cringed when he was bouncing the stock after his repair. If I shoved a lump of coal up my butt I’d be rich because I’d be crapping diamonds.
I bet Mark's pucker factor was over 9000.
If you cant bounce test the repair, it probably will not hold up under recoil. Might as well find out while she's still naked, eh?
Mark Novak agreed but the repair was so new and pretty.
Hi Mark, just a guntube enthusiast/observer here.
I laughed for a while when you answered the collective voice in your head screaming at you about changing the barrel harmonics of that vintage rifle as if they were all going to shoot it 1000 yards + with an imagined level of precision.
Really!!!
Mark is the Bob Ross of gunsmithing.
I know that most of my comments are on old episodes as I have only recently found your channel, but I am completely amazed at the quality of your work and the detail of explanations. Doing the research and thinking through the problems is what gunsmithing is all about. Thanks very much for sharing.
they do great informative vids and beautiful work to some old gems
My dad must have seen these things shoot. He was in the Phillipines in ww2. First Cav Division out of Fort BLiss, Tx. He also heard the woodpecker fire alot. He and his crew carried a chicken wire to put over the fox holes in order to knock out the grenades that were thrown on top of them. Low card carried the wire. Dad was 19 and had nitemares for years after the war. When i was a kid when my dad told me to do something you needed to be on the way or else. My dad was my hero strong as steel and kind as a nun. His eyes told the strory about the stress he was under in war. His eyes had a stare to them when he told you to do something that was right outta the twilight zone. His heart was so good that heaven had a place in it. He was always a mentor to all the young people and coached alot of baseball games. I wished i had appreciated him more as i was raised by John Wayne. God LOVE MY FATHER as i do.
69 dislikes: 69 hacks who would’ve cut it up and sporterized a beautiful piece of history.
Ben Lane My former father-in-Law ran across His war trophy type 99 and asked me if I wanted. Of course I did! It was missing the firing pin, spring and safety knob but the mum was intact. He also gave me the bayonet. I was lucky. It was still packed in cosmoline! It had never been issued. The stock didn’t suffer from the oil soaked stock that usually broke at the wrist. I got the needed parts and disassembled the rifle for cleaning. It turned out beautifully. I have dies, brass and bullets for it but after two decades of my having it, it remains unfired. He also had a sword and a Nambu pistol in the clamshell holster, all numbers matching and an extra magazine with matching numbers. He said I could have it when He would pass on and showed me where He kept it but His son got there first and took all of that and His coin collection too. No use crying over spilled milk. I am fortunate to have the rifle. He was a good man!
I just watched a 1 hour video of a guy using hand tools on an old gun. Some might wonder how that is entertaining, they however do not appreciate the art you put into your work.
Copy that!!
Mr. Novak,
Thank you! Wow, what a rifle, and what craftsmanship.
I have the same exact rifle except mine is way more versatile. It appears it has been used as a boat paddle, door stop, traction device and a fishing sinker and maybe a rifle. I'll keep watching and someday you'll teach me enough to bring it back to life. Thank you for your skills.
homer97027 I got one that was used as firewood!
Thanks for coming on board. Hope I do not disappoint!
Only kind of starting to peak at your channel but your enthusiasm and knowledge is profound and apparent. You remind me a lot of some the old boys my dad would hang out around when I was younger. Bow makers, gunsmiths, hunters. People who who had a lot of years of experience under their belt and calluses on their hands. You look like you could nail a screw in with your palm and I mean that in the best of ways
14:53 I caught myself blowing on my phone to get rid of wood shavings.
That just means I need to get back in my workshop and make something.
Yes, go make something. My wife’s church called me, (I’m a dirty atheist but I married a lovely Christian woman who loves me despite my religious failings. Weirdly she’s Liberal and I’m the Conservative, 🤣). In any case one of a neighbouring church, (different denomination), needed some outdoor pews built. So I did the deed, when I came time to pay me I said no, but can I have the leftover wood for a personal project. I then blasted together some tiny pews of the same design for my children’s art station in the dining room.
(I’m no angel and the wood wasn’t particularly valuable but everyone was so nice it felt good to just help so I selfishly wanted that to be the reason for my work and not $300. I further suspect I may be future work because of this “good” deed so it was really advertising. But nonetheless get out there and make something even if it’s a few kid sized picnic tables which I have made in the past and littered around in some of my local parks and surprisingly a few of them are still there, although some were probably stolen which was really the point anyways.)
It's so rare to see people bestow Japanese weapons with any amount of respect. Thank you for your mindfulness, and thank you for sharing your knowledge with us in such a well filmed manner.
Glad you liked it
@@marknovak8255 Mark....I purchased an original PU scope made in 1941 and mount from a man in Siberia a few years ago...do you know someone who is expert and possibly has a jig to drill and tap the receiver of a Mosin to create a Soviet sniper rifle, and do the bolt alteration...my dad had a shop mount a scope on my deer rifle, a British No.4 Mark 1, way back in 1970 when I was 15 years old. The holes were not drilled in alignment to the bore and I could never get the scope zeroed before it was out of adjustment range...I have access to 4 Mosin's for a donor rifle...any way to figure out which one would be best for the donor for best accuracy? I've looked at them all and one made in 1939 appears to be good. What do you estimate the cost of this job? BTW. Excellent job on the MP-18! That will give a man goose bumps getting that thing running!
Thank you for another first class excursion down the rabbit hole. Informative and relaxing... gunsmithing zen.
Man, I was hooked to this for the whole hour. Beautiful repair on an amazing gun. There is something about the wood furniture on these guns, modern weapons just don’t seem to compare.
Yes. I'll never do this but it was a joy to watch.
Wait, that was an hour??
Every anvil video is gift. Mark and Bruno, thank you.
You said a mouthful in one sentence. @33.35 'a Dremel tool has its place in gunsmithing but it's Not the go to tool'.
Great Video! I am a big user of acraglas too. Back in the day, we bedded actions with JB Weld and Johnson's floor wax was the release agent. I still use those products in places. Actually the johnsons wax is what I always use for release agent, even with acraglas.
Some of those old finishes can be touched up using a few drops of iodine in a teaspoon of denatured alcohol for stain. I then use the Formby's tung oil finish. It's made for refinishing furniture but Formby's has great line of wood products.
I love your work and you do a fine job of relaying the reality of gunsmithing. As you have said before, a gun is only new once. When things happen to a gun, there are tradeoffs in some repairs. Barrel harmonics is a small trade to have the weapon back functioning in one piece.
Take Care and be safe, John
Kiwi shoe polish makes for a good release agent too
Mr. Novak... that was an amazing example of an Arisaka. That it still had all the accoutrements intact was doubly amazing. Seeing what you did to repair the duffle cut... I am speechless. Many thanks to you and Bruno for taking us into your shop for another adventure in gunsmithing.
You are welcome. Help spread the word please
Thank You for another respectful repair. Several points in the process where a less respectful worker would have done technically correct but disrespectful work. It takes real skill to do only what must be done.
You inspired me to refinish my old beat up Mosin Nagant M44 I bought when I was 18. Stripped the stock completely, sanded and carved out the worst parts, finished with a red-brown stain and tung oil. It came out great.
OUTSTANDING
Outstanding move
Mark, I'm a master wood worker her in Hawaii with expertise in Japanese joinery, materials, & tools. The stock wood looks like Zelkova Serrata - or what the Japanese call "Keyaki". Common historic use there in furniture and Taiko drums. Can't be sure without microscopy of end grain. But that's my best guess. The patina is spot on.
Thank you for this.
Thanks Mark I have been into repairing firearms for 40 years. Great job and I really enjoyed this video.
Gunsmith takes Dremel to priceless Arisaka. What happens next will shock you!
"Other Gunsmiths HATE him for this Dremel trick!"
@jason nordstrom In this case, they kind of do. I doubt you will be finding many in this configuration around ;)
@@brawndo4213 Acraglas , the "epoxy, for bedding the barrel is detrimental :)
At Osaka equals junk rather have a k98 Mauser or a 303 British
Once again I find myself totally mesmerized . Always a pleasure . Thank You Mark !
My mechanic's heart sees crescent wrenches and quivers in dread of rounded nuts
that's because you use them wrong, never had a thumb finder round any nuts that i wanted to keep
My nuts are a little round, both of them.😁
Could feel your excitement when it all came back together. Awesome job and an amazing piece of history!
My dad brought one of these back from Iwo Jima. Exactly the same features. It had a lot of shrapnel in it. He had to cut it up to hide it in his duffel bag. We donated it to the Nimitz Museum in Fredricksburg, Texas after he died. He also brought back quite a bit of ammo for it.
Ammo is just as rarer than the gun.
@@pizzafrenzyman We gave most of the ammo to the Nimitz Museum (National Museum of the War in the Pacific). It was still in the cardboard boxes as issued to Japanese troops. The curator told us that this was the first ammo he had ever seen in the original boxes.
@@frankgriffin9264 fantastic. They found a good home
Im not far from Fredericksburg I have a type 30 Arista and a type 99 last ditch some of my favorite collectors pieces one is a brought home piece from a friends grandfather he wanted to sell it so I bought it to keep it safe
As a gift for my lil brother we got him a ariasaka for when he comes home on leave in June. After watch a lifetime of your episodes I will take a part and look at what I know a can fix the rest I won’t mess with since I’m not a gunsmith. An i do not want to mess up the rifle
I have to refinish the bluing on my T99 after someone poorly zinc plated it and repair the magazine catch screw. Great repair on this old beauty.
This was my first video of this channel I ever watched, I have been down the rabbit hole ever since
I watched a British training film that stated the correct action to take when a Messerschmidt or a Stuka comes down at you was to form into ranks and shoot at it with your Enfields. You want to talk about optimistic...
20 soldiers at 30 rounds per minute equals the fire rate of a machine gun at 600 aimed rounds per minute…
Optimistic is shooting down a fighter with a 45 caliber pistol (which has also been done - once).
Another wonderful video! I've done a number of amateurish duffel cut repairs and it was fascinating to see a professional undertake the task. Well Done!
If only they issued the GIs with duffel bags about 6 inches longer.
And the USN SPs not taken all the bolts away from the boarding servicemen for safety, put them in barrels and handed them back randomly when they got back to USA.
Thank you for sharing your expertise with the world. Every time I watch one of your videos, it reinforces my desire to be a professional gunsmith. I’ll probably be referring back to your channel any time I’m having trouble
I couldn't look away. fascinating gun and an amazing repair
The real art is the mastery of repair, without making the repair obvious. Not to hide the fact that a repair was made, but to make right with the item involved, and those that enjoy its use.
Depending on whether or not the Japanese had decided the war had developed not necessarily in their favor, the Arisaka came in Walnut, Beech, and a special type of wood known as Katsura. FYI, the gunstock was probably cured with urushi which is a lacquer made from poison oak sap and not Tung Oil. The Cosmoline was definitely an American GI application.
I can see Mark is going to be restocking an entire gun again at some point, judging by cutting out a stock blank just for a duffle cut spacer. Also great work as always. I've greatly enjoyed every single Anvil episode I've seen, and I think I've seen them all.
Stocks were Beech, Walnut, or Katsura...higher grades were mainly Walnut.
Stock finish is Urishi resin, made from poison Sumac, using a Tung oil-type process.
I've heard they will give you a really bad rash if you sand them. That would explain why.
Not to rain on you, but it is spelled urushi for those wanting more info. I tried googling it and it corrected it to be urushi. Anyway, here are craftsmen ( one is prob 70 yrs old now) making some and talking about it: ua-cam.com/video/hPOXpb5RWBw/v-deo.html
I have an Arisaka rifle 100 % complete and original. Purchased it 35 years ago when I was a very young in my 20s and started my collection.
Ricky from IBM
I have seen your other videos on duffle cuts , I am glad to see this one . I have a Type 38 that has been duffle cut that I want to repair
Thanks for taking the time to film this gun stock repair ....l watched it all thanks again....Stay safe my friend...!
One of the first things I was ever warned was, "a firearm is not a car". What was meant by this was that a thirty (hell, twenty at the time) year old car might be total junk, but, properly maintained and stored, a hundred year old firearm is ABSOLUTELY still a lethal weapon. I have handled guns that I was alarmed and astonished to learn the true age of. Holding an early M14 got a nod of familiarity. FIRING that M14 gave me pause, and made me completely reevaluate a lot of cold war history. "Battle rifle" only means so much if you haven't fired one. Early 20th century firearms are the intersection of the beginning of modern mechanical precision with the end of 19th century politics, and they have a very sobering degree of precise and immediate lethality to them that drives home what military service in those wars really threatened you with. There is only so much these guns can teach on the wall. I applaud your work to restore them to operable condition.
Battle rifles are for Soldier Marksmen, but since this fell out of favour for suppression and volume of fire, then the 5.56mm makes sense. I am still staggered by my memories, as a Gunnery Officer in the Royal Navy, when I fired, .303 Enfield, L1A1 SLR, L85A2 each time it felt like a step down in raw power each time, but an increase in magazine. Seeing 1000yards on the SMLE Iron sights was a "Holy cow, this thing is a beast". The SLR was my favourite, but then true marksmen are hard to train and practice.
What a beautifully done repair. Bravissimo!!
Just for info: Type 99's wood fixtures pending the year of production were Walnut (which by chance was a proper choice for you to use) and a poison Sumac resin finish-- or Beech, Japanese walnut or Katsura, and finished with cured Urushi resin. Some of that obviously not easy to acquire here in the States per se. This was thoroughly entertaining to watch, pretty darn good repair.
Mark, you are at a different level, love watching you work and explain what you are doing
Mark Novak is an absolute 💯% AMERICAN LEGEND! The man is a National treasure. He makes it look so easy.
Outstanding job and beautiful rifle. Thanks.
How is it considerably less? It wasn’t shootable or anything before. The handguard literally slid forward from gravity.
@Heyward Shepherd The value went down when the saw hit it 75 years ago. Besides a "professionally" done restoration or refurbishment doesn't hurt the value that much; just look at the CMP and what they do to one. New barrel, new stocks, new sights and a NEW price too.
Mark, that was a spectacular episode. I couldn't take my eyes off this repair. Thank you sincerely!
Saw this in suggested and subscribed right away. Watching the first minutes it's worth it.
Great feedback thanks
Im a Carpenter and if i framed your house with old tyme carpentry you couldnt afford me or the house.
Love your channel and your long form videos are awesome
I am an experienced wood worker. If I owned that rifle, I would send it off to someone like you to have it fixed. My palms were sweating just watching the video, ha.
Me too
Me 3
I have a 1938ish Type 99 with everything BUT the Mum and I’m jealous. These are fabulous shooting weapons.
What a nice piece of military memorabilia, the GI with the foresight to bring that souvenir home is owed a debt of gratitude, he unknowingly preserved a very nice piece of Japanese and world history, had the war not been forced to a close by the nuclear weapons released on Japan countless American soldiers would have perished on the Japanese mainland from rounds fired from these rifles, the fighting spirit of the Japanese people is honorable to say the least, their will to die in battle was absolutely astonishing, I'm grateful for their decision to surrender, had the war continued millions of Americans whose fathers and grandfather's were enlisted and who were fighting on the front lines would have never been born. Great work preserving this relic for future generations.
I love the way you think out loud and teach us what you’re doing and why! Thanks
Unbelievably fine work, well narrated. Perry Pappous
Great to watch a video that will still be useful in a thousand years
I wish I would have found your show earlier awesome gunsmith man.
Please, spread the word. i'm rebuilding the channel from scratch, need to drag the gun community back over here. Thanks
mark so glad i found this channel...have learned so much from you by watching a master at work.please keep up the videos as this is a lost art that is slowly disappearing... by the way i have one of these my uncle brought back from okanawa ,,, it has all the imperial markings intact and is a battlefield pick up other than cleaning .in the same condition as when he got home with it........he is still living 94 yrs. young and still kicking....a hellava lot harder than me at a little more than half his age..he is a marine. with the 1/5 then after okanawa was stationed in china.been my dril srgt. and mentor for 57 yrs. and counting
...and a pleasure to watch you in action sir.
Certainly is a unicorn. Definitely on my want list. Awesome video as always.
Back in '74 I purchased a Gewehr 98 dated 1906 for $35.00 at a swap meet. When I took it apart to 'restore' it, I found out that it had a bulged barrel and a duffel cut. I kept it anyway as it was quite interesting. When I moved from Canada to the UK I decided to bring it with me as I had owned it for most of my life and why should I part with it now. The stock ID Disc says 114R (Infatry Regiment). Some Canadian brought it back after WWI for some reason. The rifle looks like it has been through a war and even the trigger guard has been slightly 'crushed'. I think this gun survived an explosion.
The dealer who imported my rifles into the UK told me that the British Government didn't recognise German Military Proofmarks. In the UK it is illegal for a dealer to hand over a gun without proofmarks and I could not have the gun proofed because of the bulged barrel. I had 3 choices. Destroy, De-activate or re-barrel. The cost of de-activating was the same as the cost of re-barreling so I chose the latter. I have finally got the rifle back and it has been lovingly blended. The new barrel was rust blued and the old sights were installed on it. From 5 feet away it looks great. I intend to shoot it here at Bisley where the shooting of Historic rifles is making a huge comeback. There are several matches with many different classes with competitions from 25 to 1000 yards. I watched your video about 12 times before I mustered the courage to fix my stock. The key was formulating the strategy. I had to figure out what holes to drill and where. There is not much wood on the Gewehr 98 stock. I chose to enlarge the cleaning rod hole and fit a 7mm thick wall brass tube. I had room for one more hole so I opted for a 10/32 screw with the head cut off. It really is in the details. Determine how tight to make a hole and choosing the correct drill bit. I didn't want to squeeze out all of the epoxy in the screw holes. I waited 4 weeks for Brownells to ship Acraglass. I had to track surgical tubing down on ebay. I stared for quite a while at the rifle. I drilled the holes yesterday and dry fitted eveything. There was a 1/8" saw kerf missing but I decided against a wood spacer and just used acraglass. This morning I tracked down some past wax and put everything together. I decided to put the band on gun to keep the pieces aligned. I will probably regret it. 120 year old wood behaves more like charcoal than wood. Especially after being oil soaked. I will let the epoxy set and take it to the range to start barrel break in on Friday. Thanks for all of your videos. The most important thing you teach is patience how important having a strategy is before you start a job. Could not have done this without you.
Wow, I wasn't planning on watching this but boy am I glad I did! It was like a damn car accident, I just couldn't not watch! Fantastic video and just amazing workmanship! You've given me so many great ideas for future repairs. I read a lot of the comments and got some great ideas there as well. Thanks a million for taking the time to make these videos and share your experience with the layperson!!
Mark, I think a Japanese pull saw would have helped out with this repair. It's less clunky and more manageable when cutting sideways like that. Give it a try, you may like it.
Great video.
You're just a genius, man!! Thank you for videoing your work. Know that many, many of us enjoy watching you in action immensely!! Thanks agajn!!
Well this isn't going to be welcome but here we go. @31:53 we can very clearly see that the top edge of the stock on the right is noticeably higher than that on the left of the join. Mark does not see this. This is the stage where the parts are brought together dry so that they can be fitted correctly. Look closely, it can be seen that the barrel is sitting down hard into the wood on the right but is lifted in the wood on the left as witnessed by a gap between the wood and the metal on the left. This can only be caused by the wood on the right being too high in relation to the mother stock and shows that the hole for the threaded rod is in the wrong position and is causing the joint to be out of line.
Having assembled the joint @37:43 we see that the exact same conditions apply and the repair is out of line. Start watching at 38:10 Mark checks the alignment and (look closely) moves the stock even further out of alignment by lifting it higher. Shortly after this he confidently tells us that this is not the sort of gun that you learn on. @40:10 here's the smoking gun! Notice how the wood grain is showing through the glue. It stops showing at the exact line of the join because the barrel was lifted up from the mother stock by the miss aligned stock. All the pressure of the rubber strap could not pull it true because the threaded rod could not allow it to move into line. @42:32 look closely at the visible left hand edge of the glue and it can be seen to have considerable thickness. This is the result of the barrel not sitting down in its cradle in the stock. The thickness of the glue exactly matches the degree of missalignment of the top edge. @45:01 he finally notices the problem with the top edge of the stock and cuts a little wood off. @45:16 Mark starts to explain that wood moves with time and he's right. However no amount of explanation can put this situation right. @47:18 he cuts away wood and tells us that it swelled right here. He demonstrates that he does not understand why the top edges are not in line and level. @49:14 this is the first time that we see the results of the missalignment. Not withstanding any bending of the top stock the gap between the top and bottom on the left of the joint is exactly equal to the degree of error in jigging the two parts of the stock together. Mark's attempts to blend the joint are seen as a freshly cut ramp in the wood. @51:23 Mark is telling us that the front end joint is tight and it is. However he makes no mention of the gap behind the joint which will always be there. @54:20 observe the gap where the top covers the bottom. In spite of any explanations that gap is there because Mark assembled it out of line.
I have been a gunsmith for over 40 years and am often called upon to correct poor repairs. I despair at this job and I wonder if the owner will be content with explanations of swelling wood as he holds this rare example. Often I have found that workers who make sure we all know how good they are can produce average work with eloquent and lengthy explanations of how difficult it was and how the average joe would make a hash of it. I expect this comment will be deleted as it will not sit well with Mark Novak. I challenge you to leave it here so that your viewers can respond.
I attempted a very similar repair myself to an original 1777 pattern infantry musket, and I'm pleased to see that I used some of the techniques you display in this video... albeit somewhat sloppy and obviously novice. My main difficulty was that the stock is so thin, there was no material to add a rod for reinforcement, and all I could do was add some pins to prevent rotation and add some sort of anchor point. Overall I think it needs a complete restocking, but I'll never find someone to do that... so at least it's in an operational state!
At Least Is Right, In That It Can Finally Be Usable Once More.
OUTSTANDING. At least you picked up a tool and did the maintenance!
Really wish my Grandfather's old Arisaka 99 made it's way to my possession.. unfortunately it was lost, likely pilfered by other relatives when he passed away. I'm sure they sold it off years ago and it's probably out in the world somewhere in a collection, hopefully being valued and treasured as much as this one in the video.
He was an engineer and electrician in The Pacific during WWII. The Arisaka was likely a capture / bring back. I've always wanted one because of that so videos like this help me to live that dream vicariously. Maybe some day I'll acquire one. Thanks for the info.
As a note, the resin used is an exothermic reaction (makes heat) rather than endothermic reaction (absorbs heat). It still reacts faster when hot (just like the equally exothermic hydration reaction of concrete, which needs to be actively cooled in large slab pours) and thus while lamp is successful in "pushing" it to cure faster, the glass will actually will get warmer than ambient all on its own (especially in larger thicknesses).
This is why the release agents ect are all carefully made to be non-flammable, it can theoretically get hot enough to be an ignition risk in large quantities/uses where its insulated... although frankly unlike cheap bulk building epoxies (which I have in person seen hot enough to be smoking) I doubt anybody has actually had an issue with AcraGlass because the couple of kilos reacting in a paint tin type worst case scenario is several hundred dollars of product, rather than the left overs from sealing an entire wall/swimming pool.
What a gorgeous weapon! I love that comment about houses built in the last 30 years having no "carpentry in [them]"! My brother's in-laws had their house built 5 years ago by an Amish house builder and it wasn't any different or any better than houses built by other crews.
That particular Arisaka was taken from the Emperor’s guard armory as a souvenir by a GI during the occupation of Japan. The Arisaka stock is made of either beech, walnut, or katsura.
The finish is called Urushi, which is derived from the sap of a kind of Sumac tree; the poison-variety sumac. Try to avoid sanding this finish as you may have a reaction to it, and the airborne dust can give you a poison ivy-like reaction in your throat and lungs.
I love it when my joints got Tegrity. Real talk, this was amazingly informative and a breeze to watch, thanks man!!🍻
Some hobby stores, and stores that have livestock supplies, have disposable syringes with long tips that would be perfect for shooting glue into that hole!
On line you can get them in 10 packs with needles, flat dull needles, like the ones for lubing Grandfather clocks.
One of my favorite trips down the rabbithole to date. Thank you.
Nice work! Loved seeing that unicorn!
Mark- Know how to solve the type 99 wire bale hook sling puzzle? Some call it QD, literally a bent wire puzzle just to take on and off. Anyone else know what I'm talking about?
@@mrfurious93
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@@mrfurious93 you bend it back
A master of his craft. Truly amazing to watch you work, everytime.
I saw the disclaimer alone and subscribed.
The best gun works channel I’ve ever seen! Thank you!
It’s raining like a cow wizzing on a flat rock. Goddam best thing I’ve heard all day.
Try... "Teaching a pig how to fly. It doesn't work, and usually results in a pissed off pig......."
As always, a great functional (and practically invisible) repair that brings a gun back to form. I always enjoy these.
I don’t know if I can watch many of these! My whole body is tense. Nerve racking.
I will say that I am in the exact same boat. This is nerve racking
I hope I can apprentice under a smith like you when I get out of the military! Outstanding work
Sadly as these guns age and disappear so do the truly talented men able to keep them viable. May you live a 100 years more and pass on this disappearing art.
There is a difference between someone who appreciates what you do & someone who understands the theory ,concepts & working application of them