No part two to this, unfortunately. The job was cut off as soon as the TRUE condition of the bore was known. The wood was something I wanted to explore on video, and an entire episode on nothing but wood is next. This unit went home in a bag, essentially. We just wanted to show what was possible, at the very edge of salvation. Wasn't "winging" this as much as you might think. The first and most important thing is to get a look at the bore. IF the bore is still good, everything else happens next, so the wood gets done while the metal parts are being converted. Many other problems ganged up to say that it was ruined as an item that the owner was willing to put money into, so he cut it off, and it is barely a shooter. There is a rhyme to the reason......
I'm a train mechanic. Everything I work with is big and heavy and ugly. Never layed hands on a gun but alot of what you teach transfers across many areas and I love watching your videos. You have taught me a thing or two and for that I'm grateful. Keep it up Mr Novak. All the best from sunny Ireland.
I don't care what these comments say. You are a walking book of knowledge. I'm currently taking classes for gunsmithing and your videos or teaching me alot. The gunsmithing classes teaches function operations design you are teaching so much more. THANK YOU SO MUCH
@@farengarsecret-fire9597 I would say it probably depends on when it was made. If it was made before the invasion then it probably is. I don't know if the Poles made guns for the Germans.
@@ArmoredAaron2693 it is marked 1928. And the best i can find is that the Pollock's were copying other countries firearms. And apparently there were only 286,000 of them made.
Mark, my dad was a gunsmith , I enjoy watching you. He taught me a lot. He really hated it when someone would bring a gun in after they took regular tools and tried to fix it. He called them " the hammer and tongs guys ". It takes a lot of patience to be a gunsmith. Thanks
It is rare that I can sit through videos of this length, mostly because the typical content creator has a tendency to spend too much time with empty talking or getting into something that is irrelevant or not interesting. This video was fantastic and easily stayed engaged. Personally, I was engaged by the various pearls of wisdom dropped here and there and the "tutelage" feel of showing the viewer what to look for regarding various aspects of breakdown and fixing.
This video has taken me to younger times when I would visit my armourer under any excuse and then sit for hours watching him do his trade an explaining every step; honestly I would love to get a big pot of tea and sit across from Mister Novak to get advantage of his great knowledge while trying to learn something new. Beautiful video, thank you for the memories you brought back. Excellent job. God bless you.
My Grandfater hide a K98 he found in field in the last days of war,in a space under the stairs. (He was 10 years old at this time) later in the late 60s after he went for a hunting licence he dug it up and got it officially registered.He later gave it to my uncel after he had passed his hunting licence, too. He still use it for driven hunts in it orginal setup.
@@blackegret666 I saw him shoot it once during hunting . But because german gun laws most people dont get to shoot a gun in their live. You need to be in a shooting club or have a hunting licence to own guns. My uncel let me shoot once on a private range when I was 16 (8 years ago) but not this gun. My mother didnt like that so i didnt went with him again. Guns and gunowners have a bad reputation in germany. Now I am in work and dont have much time but if I am ever can spare 3000€ I will go for a hunting licence.
Really enjoying this. This is reminiscent of fixing my father's reproduction colt 1860 army black powder revolver. Apparently my parents had gone shooting 10 plus years ago and never cleaned it. His response to seeing was "if you can fix it it's yours." Worked on it off and on for a few years. Only had to replace the cylinder and a leaf spring. Thanks for bring back good memories.
Please ..please..put up the rest of this video ....I love what you are doing ..Mark you are a true professional...your experience shows ..thank you for sharing your knowledge..
I find the comments about his talking too much annoying as hell. The man has a tremendous knowledge base. Shut up and listen and you may learn something if you are capable.
Dude, I watched this for 8 minutes before heading to comments to comment on just what seemed to annoy you. This guy is intolerably boring and talks way too much...I'm out.
@Kasey Turchin thank you for your definite conclusion based on your oun limited knowledge/information. You might have extreme patience or maybe a "special" learning curve.
@Kasey Turchin Lol. If your brain works that slow please continue to indulge the slow unfolding of this mans thought. I'm sure he possesses a wealth of knowledge that could only be obtained through years of experience that his books could never bring; I salute that. I didn't have time for any long winded boring professors either and came to the same early conclusion. Thank you.
Wow - If I had seen that 98 at a gun show I would have said " might have some salvageable parts " But WOW ! ..You brought it back back from the brink ! Thank you for showing this
Thank you Mark and Bruno for all your hard work in sharing your work with us. I have an old Dutch Beaumont 1871/88 that I am about to conserve thanks to your help.
When you pulled that handguard off, I said "what the actual F**k!" It has been wet for quite a while. The rust scaling on it is just horrendous. Doing Gods work Mark.
When my uncle was a boy in Cologne German soldiers dumped weapons in the canals. He fished them out to trade to the American Army. Looks like he missed one.
Really good video. I'm not doing gunsmithing at all, but I do sometimes repair or refurbish old toys, tools, kitchen utensils etc. I learn a lot. Getting some confidence it can be done.
Just a short little list for those out in restoration land of what was left IN THE WHITE with K98's: 1. bolt disassembly disks (always, no exceptions) - the disks both sides of the butt 2. buttplates (always, zero exceptions) - note: the inner face of buttplates were painted with red oxide primer 3. EARLY bayonet lugs (up to 1943, when blueing was done on this part) 4. firing pins 5. sears 6. rear sight leaf tops (the scale) were linished back to white after the unit was blued 7. stock recoil/cross bolts Everything else was RUST BLUED up till 1939, and thereafter CAUSTIC (hot) blued (Mauser invented caustic bluing). Bolts were NEVER in the white on K98's - disregard EVERYTHING "Mitchell Mausers" has ever and will ever do! Entirely blued bolts (except the firing pin) up to late 1944, when many were phosphated (not parkerised, as the manganese dioxide was not in the mix) Incidentally Mark, the rifle you show is a Sauer made rifle.
Good to know information. I'm not a historian, so I typically blue everything, and let the customer decide what to take it off of. Much easier to remove blue than to put it on. I will now say that the red inside the butt was the paint you talked about. And even here, paint could be reapplied over the blue. The sick part about this whole thing was the gun was pristine and this much damage took only about 6 months to happen. We stopped right here, and cut the money off, because it would never be even remotely correct again.
that scotch brite tip was the best info I've gotten. I had a Mosin M44 with a bolt as brown as the stock, Scotch brite and elbow grease polished back to clear silver. Even found a few hidden factory marks underneath the grime
Mark. I am a structural engineer and my life has changed with the discovery of PL Premium MAX... it is also a loctite Premium MAX. It is black and cures to 1275 PSI. I have been speccing it for repairs to wood trusses... the force it will take is epic. I wonder if that stuff transferred to a syringe might be better and blacker than gorilla.
Will bond anything, but I think you have problems trying to use it in a syringe.Have some Weller 14 gauge syringe blunt needles here,used with Syringe Glue Applicator, (never tried filling with Premuim Max),there might be larger gauge needles available.
Looking this up now, will advise for action. Note that in gun repair, glue strength is rarely the limiting component. It's the integrity of the entire stick of wood. The glue holds, but the fault just moves over to another grain boundary, and fails there. Great tip however, I'll get some and let everyone know. Thanks
Flood Damage? That K98 was sitting in one of those old sheds out back. The one where the roof fell in 40 years ago or so. It's amazing that you turned that pile of rust and rot back into a usable firearm once again. I can tell that your expertise does not come from reverse engineering a UFO or two. My Hero!!!!! I can remember when one could buy a pair of 19 cent brushes for your cars generator and have a solid electrical system in your auto. Today the "alternator" dies and it's off to the parts store for a $438.00 alternator. Your work may not be quite as expensive as you think.
So rare an honour to watch and maybe just learn from a truly genuine masters many skills repairing to us broken objects to their full and previous near perfection,, an enjoyable time had , thank you so much.
Subscribed after the first minute and 15 seconds when he saig "pre-breathe your helium... down the rabbit hole and it's flooded." I like the cut of this guy's jib.
Thank you so, so much Mark, I nearly made a gigantic goof saving the stock of my Spanish Mauser ( converted to 308). About 20 yrs. ago i stoped the decay and used Danish Oil & finished with spar urethane. since then I have rescued 12 rifles.
As an amature pistolsmith in Canada love your videos this type of information is just not available. Thank you for the time and effort it is greatly appreciated. Oh and Merry Christmas
Borax & water kills mold, then I use isopropyl alcohol to drive out the water. A 90+ year old clock maker turned me on to using Go Jo waterless hand cleaner to remove metal corrosion from hardwoods, and by God, it works GREAT!
Mark, you have certainly rekindled my long lost appreciation of history (never thought guns would do that). I have literally found myself watching videos of firearms I didn’t know, or care, existed just to watch you work. And In doing so I have found myself duckduckgo’ing (I refuse to use google anymore) the historical relics you work on. That eventually lead to me re-reading some things I read as a child. And those are good memories. I’d like to thank you.
History (and a keen interest in it) can do that. Anytime who has a physical object of a past era (like a book/watch/instrument/firearm) can have an intimate connection with the past and those that used such items in good and bad times.
Mr. Novak, Thank you for showing some bad chips, cuts, mold and dents being repaired on the stock. I mainly so wood refinishing and have always underestimated scrapers and scotch brite pads. This information is very useful to me as I have some old stocks I have been worried about working on.
Oof. As someone who saw how quickly the fungus of dry rot can bite in a wood hull sailboat, I applaud your use of alcohol, but I am by no means certain that is enough. With some trepidation, I am showing my age here,and my local pharmacy of many years ago used to sell Formalin bottles to the microbiology students at university. Formaldehyde, either painted on or simply in a fume cupboard,was the recommended method of stopping fungus in its tracks. That was then,this is now. As long as that wood remains dry,shouldn't be a problem,but who knows what further use succeeding owners will make of that old girl. The rifle has presumably been completed and returned to the owner,so any comments here are after the barn door closed. But formaldehyde is a whole lot more capable of dealing with what is after all critters that come from the soil and return dead tree carcasses to the soil. And are very long lasting critters. Hey I could be wrong and the alcohol is plenty good enough. Hoping so anyway. I doubt college kids nowadays have their hands in Formalin solution like we did. And a good thing too.
I concur sir. I have used it myself for the very same purpose. Living in England and not needing gallons of the stuff, the easiest way to source the formalin was from a local chemist - it always took a few minutes to disabuse a nervous pharmacist from the notion that I was inhaling or gargling with it, or - the most frequent assumption - that I might be a serial killer gathering preservation supplies. However, once or twice, provoked beyond endurance, I did play the role...
Beautiful refinishing on that beat up wood, Mark. I learned the secret to boiled linseed oil finishes...patience. What I do is time the coats to the same beat I get laid. About 6 coats a year will allow ample dry time and a durable finish.
The before shot looks like something straight out of the classic firearms or RTI catalog., I can imagine the description."NRA GOOD/VERY GOOD CONDITION *CRACKED STOCK*, RARE KRIEGSMARINE K98K SALVAGED FROM THE BISMARK, LIGHT SURFACE RUST, $1800 ONE OF A KIND."
Though sad to see it in rough shape, at least we can say it wasn’t neglect or error that did this. And that it was at least salvageable. Nice work as always.
I restore cars but have still learned a bunch of good shit watching your videos. Truly excellent videos, explanations, camera work, audio I mean, everything is spot on down to the cigars. Thanks for the content
Thank you Mrr Novak, although you have a non tutorial disclaimer at the start of your videos I always take away knowledge from what you share with us. Always a pleasure always good times . Keep diving !
I watched the whole video before I checked comments , was hoping to see the part two of the metal . If the customer don't want to pay for a new barrel then not much you can do . Great informative videos I love them
Jerry Kuhnhausen's manuals are worth their weight in gold. It has helped me numerous times in the shop. The man I swear was a madman, some of his diagrams are so detailed It's insane. His books have been a godsend on multiple occasions, I cannot recommend them enough.
Just a bloody shame. I have a k98 custom sporter. Beautiful walnut with roll over comb and set triggers. I hold this little unicorn close to my heart. I bought when I was 17 it made me w ince when you said no sandpaper. I know this for a fact. I washed out a bit of checkering. Someday I will attempt to bring it back. Happy, you made me cry about it again
Just a word of advice from a woodworker get some (Titebond 3 wood glue) and get some wood sawdust, be sure to get real fine sawdust ... Mix the sawdust and glue and mix it making a wood putty that is very tacky... Step 1 drill out the crack from end to end and lightly run a chisel to clean up the split. Once you have a lil valley in the wood paint the inside of the opened crack with the Titebond 3 wood glue. Step 2 make the putty and pack it in the opened up crack use something(Note: make sure to pack the wood putty in while the painted glue is still wet) to pack the Titebond 3 homemade wood putty in the crack very good, let it sit overnight the fixed wood putty aria and joints will actually be stronger than the rest of the actual wood. You can sand it stain it do whatever you want and you have restored the integrity of the wood furniture. It is also waterproof and will not absorb water and disintegrate or split in the future at the wood weld/glue/putty points. The reason I say make your own wood putty with sawdust and Titebond 3 wood glue is that it is much stronger than over the counter pre-made wood putties from your hardware store and bonds to the wood rather than filling the crack and not bonding very well. Hope this helps =]
I'm always for the bigger hammer, bigger splitting maul and longer wrench. Control over velocity every time. I always thought Mark that you had a good head on your shoulders, but the hammer mini lecture confirms your genius.
Thank you for your work, dedication to the craft and your willingness to share. It makes a difference in the world and has saved a lot of very nice old guns.
thumbs up for Danish oil. it is my favourite wood finish. It gives a good colour and a hardwearing finish on softwood floors. I treated all of the pine floors in my home with it over 20 years ago and it is only now showing signs of wear in busier areas.
You do know so called Danish oil is just a linseed oil (flax seed oil) based poly highly thinned, right? But, yes, it's good stuff, if you build it. I'm partial to highly thinned finishes, because they penetrate deeper, hardening more of the surface of the wood to which they are applied. Currently, my favored product is Daly's Seafin. It's formulated to penetrate and harden wood.
The condition of this rifle makes me think of the rifles coming back from the government arsenal in Nepal , some were 120 plus year old Martini Henry’s. This really wasn’t an Arsenal but a centuries old palace with only some windows and lots of weather. In one of the forums a fellow used Kramer’s Best Antique restorer to clean up a rifle.This is a blend of all natural turpentine, vinegar, waxes etc. Twelve components in all . The point is that there is nothing in this mix that will contaminate the wood and soften it. However it will slowly dissolve the gunk and rust. Screws frozen in the wood would release with no damage to the wood. The wood was cleaned with all the patina remaining and all the makers marks clearly visible. Converting the rust is clearly the superior treatment for the metal and in my opinion and experience Kramer’s is the best way to clean up wood be it a milsurp or a prized antique . Thanks for the hours of meticulous work, you are a craftsman..👍 The article: www.gunboards.com/threads/kramers-antique-restorer.122451/
Another cinematic and engineering masterpiece. Mark, your choice and use of language is simply SUBLIME. That wasn't just gak ... that was pure untergak!
Have to agree with you on the Danish oil. Then there's my wife's Lee Enfield. She used 9 coats of linseed on an unfinished Boyd's stock. It looks fantastic and actually dried for her. I suspect witchcraft.
Excellent work, I once bought an 1891 Argentine Mauser in excellent condition for $75 on craigslist. Hell of a rifle along side my 1947 Spanish Mauser and new 1950 Yugo, many years ago. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
This video's techniques - and in particular, the care and awareness and observation of both what is happening, and beforehand, what could happen, when you take an action to move something or address an issue. It is SO reminiscent of the things I remember reading about back in the late '50's when I first started working on gunstocks (yeah, I'm almost 80 - but I'm not dead yet, to steal a line from Monty Python & The Holy Grail). I particularly remember "whiskering" a stock of an old single-shot .22 that was about 25 years old and looked like the factory had dipped it in heavy varnish. I stripped it and then began sanding and dampening to raise the grain, then sanding again until no more whiskers of wood came up. I was curious, so I kept going to see what would happen, repeating about 20 times. The result was like glass when I finally applied hand-rubbed (meaning with your palm - HAND rubbed) coats of thinned varnish, buffing between coats. Crazy amount of work, but I was experimenting - not trying to make money. I still have the gun almost 70 years later, and the stock is still like glass. For people with a love of wood and woodworking, gunsmithing is a calling. Thanks for reminding me of the old days.
Mark: Explains what he's doing and why Viewers: Too much talking Same viewers: Would you be satisfied with taking a course where the instructor says nothing and points at stuff?
U are exactly right...this man is a teacher...an instructor...he HAS to talk so that his students can understand what he's doing...those who don't realize this cannot even begin to understand...this guy is VERY good at what he does!
You won't. The unspoken issue here is the gun has little residual value, and we cut the labor off pretty much right where we are. I used it to demonstrate various techniques but it's not coming back. I have another 03 that is next, that needs lots of woodwork, anvil093, and that one IS going all the way.
@@marknovak8255 That totally makes sense. This was the first video of yours I came across and I’m hooked. I find it hard to watch longer videos and you had me glued to the screen the whole time. Such a wealth of information and a great personality! I’d love to be a fly on the wall of your shop. I’ll be looking out for that next video. Keep up the good work!
Those Kuhnhausen books are priceless to have...they ARE a large initial expenditure but are imperative to have when you're working on Mausers, 1911s, Smifs and US Gas Operated Rifles...
I don't know how well it would apply here, but Luthiers (stringed instrument builders/repair people) use cyanoacrylate glue of different viscosities (depending on the need) to fill small cracks and voids. You can also mix it with wood dust from a similar type of wood to make an excellent filling compound, and when sanded and finished (if required) it's barely distinguishable from the original wood. If wood dust is available you can tint it black or dark brown and it will appear as if it's just a natural imperfection in the wood. For large cracks you can stabilize it and then route away the affected area and apply a spline or a plug using the same species of wood. A great place forninapriation on UA-cam is Ted Woodford.
THANK YOU for a very informative Post. I learned alot that will help me with the restoration of an H&R bolt action single shot. 22. There are even a few things that will help with the restoration of an old cheap violin currently on my bench !
The metal buttplate on K98s were originally painted on the inside with some sort of reddish brown primer, so i would wire wheel the hell out of it on the inside and hit it with rustoleum and call it good. K98 metal was blued up to 1944 and at some point probably due to shortages in chemicals the BRNO " DOT" coded K98s were then parkerized and most milled parts were now stamped like trigger guards, barrel bands, bayonet lugs.
Nice work in a study of how to use tools, and I'm always impressed that rags are a tool too. Persevering to overcome is always a trade-off between work needed vs. work that is worth doing. Sometimes the value can be knowledge used later down the road, so there are really no failures, just incomplete attempts at salvage. Well done, and keep the dreams of others alive, if possible.
No part two to this, unfortunately. The job was cut off as soon as the TRUE condition of the bore was known. The wood was something I wanted to explore on video, and an entire episode on nothing but wood is next. This unit went home in a bag, essentially. We just wanted to show what was possible, at the very edge of salvation.
Wasn't "winging" this as much as you might think. The first and most important thing is to get a look at the bore. IF the bore is still good, everything else happens next, so the wood gets done while the metal parts are being converted. Many other problems ganged up to say that it was ruined as an item that the owner was willing to put money into, so he cut it off, and it is barely a shooter. There is a rhyme to the reason......
Thanks for the clarification!
Disappointed to know the bore was not fit for saving. 😟
What all stopped the project? A new barrel can't be too expensive. He could even change caliber.
@@jeramyw True, but who will do a barrel change, headspace, requal of the gun for free? I'm not, and the owner isn't going to pay for the job......
@@marknovak8255 Ok. What became of it? A wall hanger, parted out, or sold?
I'm a train mechanic. Everything I work with is big and heavy and ugly. Never layed hands on a gun but alot of what you teach transfers across many areas and I love watching your videos. You have taught me a thing or two and for that I'm grateful. Keep it up Mr Novak. All the best from sunny Ireland.
I don't care what these comments say. You are a walking book of knowledge.
I'm currently taking classes for gunsmithing and your videos or teaching me alot. The gunsmithing classes teaches function operations design you are teaching so much more.
THANK YOU SO MUCH
I'll give my K98k a hug after watching this
😂
I'll hug my VZ.24 too
Is a polish mauser rare?
@@farengarsecret-fire9597 I would say it probably depends on when it was made. If it was made before the invasion then it probably is. I don't know if the Poles made guns for the Germans.
@@ArmoredAaron2693 it is marked 1928. And the best i can find is that the Pollock's were copying other countries firearms. And apparently there were only 286,000 of them made.
Mark, my dad was a gunsmith , I enjoy watching you. He taught me a lot. He really hated it when someone would bring a gun in after they took regular tools and tried to fix it. He called them " the hammer and tongs guys ". It takes a lot of patience to be a gunsmith. Thanks
It is rare that I can sit through videos of this length, mostly because the typical content creator has a tendency to spend too much time with empty talking or getting into something that is irrelevant or not interesting. This video was fantastic and easily stayed engaged. Personally, I was engaged by the various pearls of wisdom dropped here and there and the "tutelage" feel of showing the viewer what to look for regarding various aspects of breakdown and fixing.
This channel is massively underrated.
Well, that makes two of us at least
Television commercials sway many away from the "simple pleasures" of life.
@@marknovak8255 You would be worth $100 a hour in my country
Well said.
The drop time and date just worked out this way. Merry Christmas........
Thank you fine sir !!
Merry Christmas, Mark. Thank you for another wonderful video!
Merry Christmas Mr Novak!
Merry Christmas, Mark!
Merry Christmas sir!
Cunningham's Law states "the best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question; it's to post the wrong answer."
First to actually look it up.....OUTSTANDING
This guy is beyond PhD...best I have seen in 63 years.
This video has taken me to younger times when I would visit my armourer under any excuse and then sit for hours watching him do his trade an explaining every step; honestly I would love to get a big pot of tea and sit across from Mister Novak to get advantage of his great knowledge while trying to learn something new. Beautiful video, thank you for the memories you brought back. Excellent job. God bless you.
Trying to show what is possible, by guy's and gals with ordinary equipment. Great to have you in the fold
@@marknovak8255 👍
My Grandfater hide a K98 he found in field in the last days of war,in a space under the stairs. (He was 10 years old at this time) later in the late 60s after he went for a hunting licence he dug it up and
got it officially registered.He later gave it to my uncel after he had passed his hunting licence, too. He still use it for driven hunts in it orginal setup.
Great story!
have you shot that thing BTW? Like actually shot a boxful of rounds with that old girl.
@@blackegret666 I saw him shoot it once during hunting . But because german gun laws most people dont get to shoot a gun in their live. You need to be in a shooting club or have a hunting licence to own guns. My uncel let me shoot once on a private range when I was 16 (8 years ago) but not this gun. My mother didnt like that so i didnt went with him again. Guns and gunowners have a bad reputation in germany. Now I am in work and dont have much time but if I am ever can spare 3000€ I will go for a hunting licence.
@@cnils407 Take care and Hopefully you can be with your baby once you get everything sorted.
That's bad ass!
Really enjoying this. This is reminiscent of fixing my father's reproduction colt 1860 army black powder revolver. Apparently my parents had gone shooting 10 plus years ago and never cleaned it. His response to seeing was "if you can fix it it's yours." Worked on it off and on for a few years. Only had to replace the cylinder and a leaf spring. Thanks for bring back good memories.
Please ..please..put up the rest of this video ....I love what you are doing ..Mark you are a true professional...your experience shows ..thank you for sharing your knowledge..
I find the comments about his talking too much annoying as hell. The man has a tremendous knowledge base. Shut up and listen and you may learn something if you are capable.
Dude, I watched this for 8 minutes before heading to comments to comment on just what seemed to annoy you. This guy is intolerably boring and talks way too much...I'm out.
I like this show
@Kasey Turchin thank you for your definite conclusion based on your oun limited knowledge/information. You might have extreme patience or maybe a "special" learning curve.
@Kasey Turchin Lol. If your brain works that slow please continue to indulge the slow unfolding of this mans thought. I'm sure he possesses a wealth of knowledge that could only be obtained through years of experience that his books could never bring; I salute that. I didn't have time for any long winded boring professors either and came to the same early conclusion. Thank you.
I love the narration. I don't like restoration videos with just music or tapping with no explanation at all
I can actually see Mark going up to a shelter and adopting the one puppie with the dodgy leg. Love this man and his sence of care
Wow - If I had seen that 98 at a gun show I would have said " might have some salvageable parts " But WOW ! ..You brought it back back from the brink ! Thank you for showing this
Such a joy to see someone who knows what he is doing. Great video.
Thank you Mark and Bruno for all your hard work in sharing your work with us. I have an old Dutch Beaumont 1871/88 that I am about to conserve thanks to your help.
Same here. I will be conserving one over Christmas myself. Mine has the Vetterli mag conversion, but all respective serial numbers match.
When you pulled that handguard off, I said "what the actual F**k!"
It has been wet for quite a while. The rust scaling on it is just horrendous.
Doing Gods work Mark.
Christmas, a cigar, some blue label, and Anvil. What a night.
I know nothing about the guns but the techniques of wood and metal conservation shown are invaluable. I need to rewatch and take some notes.
I've been able to do some amazing work on my vintage military rifles thanks to your help. As always, thank you for sharing your craft!
OUTSTANDING.....keep doing that!
I don't know who writes the intro scripts for you Mark, but they deserve a raise. If it's you - well, pat yourself on the back.
Bruno scrubs throught the completed video, and I narrate. He cuts it up and here we are
When my uncle was a boy in Cologne German soldiers dumped weapons in the canals. He fished them out to trade to the American Army. Looks like he missed one.
thank you mark. my grandpa died on 24th and you gave me a change of mind by uploading this video. thank you so much.
Really good video. I'm not doing gunsmithing at all, but I do sometimes repair or refurbish old toys, tools, kitchen utensils etc. I learn a lot. Getting some confidence it can be done.
The basics are all the same.
u
Just a short little list for those out in restoration land of what was left IN THE WHITE with K98's:
1. bolt disassembly disks (always, no exceptions) - the disks both sides of the butt
2. buttplates (always, zero exceptions) - note: the inner face of buttplates were painted with red oxide primer
3. EARLY bayonet lugs (up to 1943, when blueing was done on this part)
4. firing pins
5. sears
6. rear sight leaf tops (the scale) were linished back to white after the unit was blued
7. stock recoil/cross bolts
Everything else was RUST BLUED up till 1939, and thereafter CAUSTIC (hot) blued (Mauser invented caustic bluing).
Bolts were NEVER in the white on K98's - disregard EVERYTHING "Mitchell Mausers" has ever and will ever do! Entirely blued bolts (except the firing pin) up to late 1944, when many were phosphated (not parkerised, as the manganese dioxide was not in the mix)
Incidentally Mark, the rifle you show is a Sauer made rifle.
Good to know information. I'm not a historian, so I typically blue everything, and let the customer decide what to take it off of. Much easier to remove blue than to put it on. I will now say that the red inside the butt was the paint you talked about. And even here, paint could be reapplied over the blue. The sick part about this whole thing was the gun was pristine and this much damage took only about 6 months to happen. We stopped right here, and cut the money off, because it would never be even remotely correct again.
that scotch brite tip was the best info I've gotten. I had a Mosin M44 with a bolt as brown as the stock, Scotch brite and elbow grease polished back to clear silver. Even found a few hidden factory marks underneath the grime
I don't use these videos as a guide, however, you have a ton of helpful knowledge in these videos for aspiring gunsmiths, thanks a ton!
Mark. I am a structural engineer and my life has changed with the discovery of PL Premium MAX... it is also a loctite Premium MAX. It is black and cures to 1275 PSI. I have been speccing it for repairs to wood trusses... the force it will take is epic. I wonder if that stuff transferred to a syringe might be better and blacker than gorilla.
Will bond anything, but I think you have problems trying to use it in a syringe.Have some Weller 14 gauge syringe blunt needles here,used with Syringe Glue Applicator, (never tried filling with Premuim Max),there might be larger gauge needles available.
Looking this up now, will advise for action. Note that in gun repair, glue strength is rarely the limiting component. It's the integrity of the entire stick of wood. The glue holds, but the fault just moves over to another grain boundary, and fails there. Great tip however, I'll get some and let everyone know. Thanks
Flood Damage? That K98 was sitting in one of those old sheds out back. The one where the roof fell in 40 years ago or so. It's amazing that you turned that pile of rust and rot back into a usable firearm once again. I can tell that your expertise does not come from reverse engineering a UFO or two. My Hero!!!!! I can remember when one could buy a pair of 19 cent brushes for your cars generator and have a solid electrical system in your auto. Today the "alternator" dies and it's off to the parts store for a $438.00 alternator. Your work may not be quite as expensive as you think.
That was the quickest 49 min. I can remember in a long time. Thanks, Mark & Co.
So rare an honour to watch and maybe just learn from a truly genuine masters many skills repairing to us broken objects to their full and previous near perfection,, an enjoyable time had , thank you so much.
If Bob Ross had found a different canvas, this might be it. Thanks for another great restore.
Probably the best Christmas Present I received this year... A Mark Novak video.
Subscribed after the first minute and 15 seconds when he saig "pre-breathe your helium... down the rabbit hole and it's flooded."
I like the cut of this guy's jib.
Thank you so, so much Mark, I nearly made a gigantic goof saving the stock of my Spanish Mauser ( converted to 308). About 20 yrs. ago i stoped the decay and used Danish Oil & finished with spar urethane. since then I have rescued 12 rifles.
I subscribed about 20 minutes into this because you know what the hell you are doing and sharing your knowledge well.
As an amature pistolsmith in Canada love your videos this type of information is just not available. Thank you for the time and effort it is greatly appreciated. Oh and Merry Christmas
Borax & water kills mold, then I use isopropyl alcohol to drive out the water. A 90+ year old clock maker turned me on to using Go Jo waterless hand cleaner to remove metal corrosion from hardwoods, and by God, it works GREAT!
Great for more than skin cleaning!!!
Outstanding!!!!!
Mark, you have certainly rekindled my long lost appreciation of history (never thought guns would do that). I have literally found myself watching videos of firearms I didn’t know, or care, existed just to watch you work. And In doing so I have found myself duckduckgo’ing (I refuse to use google anymore) the historical relics you work on. That eventually lead to me re-reading some things I read as a child. And those are good memories. I’d like to thank you.
History (and a keen interest in it) can do that. Anytime who has a physical object of a past era (like a book/watch/instrument/firearm) can have an intimate connection with the past and those that used such items in good and bad times.
"Can you fix this up for me? I don't wanna put more than about 50 bucks into it."
Mr. Novak, Thank you for showing some bad chips, cuts, mold and dents being repaired on the stock. I mainly so wood refinishing and have always underestimated scrapers and scotch brite pads. This information is very useful to me as I have some old stocks I have been worried about working on.
Oof. As someone who saw how quickly the fungus of dry rot can bite in a wood hull sailboat, I applaud your use of alcohol, but I am by no means certain that is enough. With some trepidation, I am showing my age here,and my local pharmacy of many years ago used to sell Formalin bottles to the microbiology students at university. Formaldehyde, either painted on or simply in a fume cupboard,was the recommended method of stopping fungus in its tracks. That was then,this is now.
As long as that wood remains dry,shouldn't be a problem,but who knows what further use succeeding owners will make of that old girl.
The rifle has presumably been completed and returned to the owner,so any comments here are after the barn door closed. But formaldehyde is a whole lot more capable of dealing with what is after all critters that come from the soil and return dead tree carcasses to the soil. And are very long lasting critters.
Hey I could be wrong and the alcohol is plenty good enough. Hoping so anyway. I doubt college kids nowadays have their hands in Formalin solution like we did. And a good thing too.
I concur sir. I have used it myself for the very same purpose. Living in England and not needing gallons of the stuff, the easiest way to source the formalin was from a local chemist - it always took a few minutes to disabuse a nervous pharmacist from the notion that I was inhaling or gargling with it, or - the most frequent assumption - that I might be a serial killer gathering preservation supplies. However, once or twice, provoked beyond endurance, I did play the role...
Beautiful refinishing on that beat up wood, Mark.
I learned the secret to boiled linseed oil finishes...patience. What I do is time the coats to the same beat I get laid. About 6 coats a year will allow ample dry time and a durable finish.
The before shot looks like something straight out of the classic firearms or RTI catalog., I can imagine the description."NRA GOOD/VERY GOOD CONDITION *CRACKED STOCK*, RARE KRIEGSMARINE K98K SALVAGED FROM THE BISMARK, LIGHT SURFACE RUST, $1800 ONE OF A KIND."
You missed SAS/SBS ninja from your 30k listing.
HAND DELIVERED BY HITLER TO KING MUSHUBU BY UPS IN 1973, ILLUMINATI CONFIRMED!?!?!?!?
ONLY ONE AVAILABLE
+ $200 for Grade A hand selection
@@lunarpking That'll get the lot sold :)
The comment and comments section is great
Must be picked up in person. Cannot ship. 444 hwy 407 Arctic Circle. Will accept Crypto or trade for Tiger or Panzer. Hurry have had many offers...
Though sad to see it in rough shape, at least we can say it wasn’t neglect or error that did this. And that it was at least salvageable. Nice work as always.
I really like the supercuts at the beginning, I feel like I'm getting ready to watch an episode of top gear.
I was leaning more towards Batman
You sir have true talent and I don't just mean gunsmithing but teaching as well.
I restore cars but have still learned a bunch of good shit watching your videos. Truly excellent videos, explanations, camera work, audio I mean, everything is spot on down to the cigars. Thanks for the content
What we do has a lot in common. Thanks
Oh the stories these old guns could tell if they could talk!!
Appreciate the attention to not sanding the wood also.
Thanks for the video
One and a half minutes in and I already know I gona subscribe to this chanel. This style just works for me
Thank you Mrr Novak, although you have a non tutorial disclaimer at the start of your videos I always take away knowledge from what you share with us. Always a pleasure always good times . Keep diving !
Another advantage of scotchbrite: it doesn't leave liitle bits of steel wool jammed into the grain of the wood.
Or in your fingers
@@OutOfNamesToChoose great point
I watched the whole video before I checked comments , was hoping to see the part two of the metal . If the customer don't want to pay for a new barrel then not much you can do . Great informative videos I love them
This gun was likely lost in a boating accident.
That's exactly what happen to all my guns.
Jerry Kuhnhausen's manuals are worth their weight in gold. It has helped me numerous times in the shop. The man I swear was a madman, some of his diagrams are so detailed It's insane.
His books have been a godsend on multiple occasions, I cannot recommend them enough.
have to say this, do NOT stop talking in your videos its part of what makes them so great :)
everyone else can STFU!
Just a bloody shame. I have a k98 custom sporter. Beautiful walnut with roll over comb and set triggers. I hold this little unicorn close to my heart. I bought when I was 17 it made me w
ince when you said no sandpaper. I know this for a fact. I washed out a bit of checkering. Someday I will attempt to bring it back. Happy, you made me cry about it again
Just a word of advice from a woodworker get some (Titebond 3 wood glue) and get some wood sawdust, be sure to get real fine sawdust ... Mix the sawdust and glue and mix it making a wood putty that is very tacky... Step 1 drill out the crack from end to end and lightly run a chisel to clean up the split. Once you have a lil valley in the wood paint the inside of the opened crack with the Titebond 3 wood glue. Step 2 make the putty and pack it in the opened up crack use something(Note: make sure to pack the wood putty in while the painted glue is still wet) to pack the Titebond 3 homemade wood putty in the crack very good, let it sit overnight the fixed wood putty aria and joints will actually be stronger than the rest of the actual wood. You can sand it stain it do whatever you want and you have restored the integrity of the wood furniture. It is also waterproof and will not absorb water and disintegrate or split in the future at the wood weld/glue/putty points. The reason I say make your own wood putty with sawdust and Titebond 3 wood glue is that it is much stronger than over the counter pre-made wood putties from your hardware store and bonds to the wood rather than filling the crack and not bonding very well. Hope this helps =]
I'm always for the bigger hammer, bigger splitting maul and longer wrench. Control over velocity every time. I always thought Mark that you had a good head on your shoulders, but the hammer mini lecture confirms your genius.
Really, it confirms the wisdom of many before me, I'm just passing it along. Thanks
I come for the amazing weaponsmithing, I stay for the incredible intelligent wit
Thank you for your work, dedication to the craft and your willingness to share. It makes a difference in the world and has saved a lot of very nice old guns.
Looks like a Royal Tiger Imports "Hand select"
I knew about the steaming to raise dents but the A to B comparison was really neat!
thumbs up for Danish oil. it is my favourite wood finish. It gives a good colour and a hardwearing finish on softwood floors. I treated all of the pine floors in my home with it over 20 years ago and it is only now showing signs of wear in busier areas.
You do know so called Danish oil is just a linseed oil (flax seed oil) based poly highly thinned, right? But, yes, it's good stuff, if you build it.
I'm partial to highly thinned finishes, because they penetrate deeper, hardening more of the surface of the wood to which they are applied.
Currently, my favored product is Daly's Seafin. It's formulated to penetrate and harden wood.
@@kellyvcraig yes, I know what it is.
Appreciate the care an dexterity you advocate when working it gives a toolmaker like myself a alternative insight on preservation.
Mark Novak's first words on a 49 minute K98 video: "Oh my."
Me: "Oh my."
Sulu: "Oh my."
😂🤣👍
I was amazed at the lack of profanity when he took that upper handguard off.
Thank you Mr. Novak for sharing your wisdom.
your work never ceases to amaze me
Its nice to see the restoration and conservation art live and well. All the old timers I knew are already gone.
The condition of this rifle makes me think of the rifles coming back from the government arsenal in Nepal , some were 120 plus year old Martini Henry’s. This really wasn’t an Arsenal but a centuries old palace with only some windows and lots of weather. In one of the forums a fellow used Kramer’s Best Antique restorer to clean up a rifle.This is a blend of all natural turpentine, vinegar, waxes etc. Twelve components in all . The point is that there is nothing in this mix that will contaminate the wood and soften it. However it will slowly dissolve the gunk and rust. Screws frozen in the wood would release with no damage to the wood. The wood was cleaned with all the patina remaining and all the makers marks clearly visible.
Converting the rust is clearly the superior treatment for the metal and in my opinion and experience Kramer’s is the best way to clean up wood be it a milsurp or a prized antique . Thanks for the hours of meticulous work, you are a craftsman..👍
The article: www.gunboards.com/threads/kramers-antique-restorer.122451/
Will get some Kramers for a test. Note...this is by far the worst one I've ever dealt with
Every time I view one of Mark's vidios, I learn one more way around problems I have run into. Keep it coming Mark.
This is SOOOO much better than that one guy that fakes restorations.
please tell us all who that is
@@boshi_coyo All of them. Almost.
@@JohnSmith-wj2wd lmao
Another cinematic and engineering masterpiece. Mark, your choice and use of language is simply SUBLIME. That wasn't just gak ... that was pure untergak!
Have to agree with you on the Danish oil. Then there's my wife's Lee Enfield. She used 9 coats of linseed on an unfinished Boyd's stock. It looks fantastic and actually dried for her. I suspect witchcraft.
Excellent work, I once bought an 1891 Argentine Mauser in excellent condition for $75 on craigslist. Hell of a rifle along side my 1947 Spanish Mauser and new 1950 Yugo, many years ago. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
There must be something wrong with me. These videos could last 4 hours and I wouldn't get bored.
This video's techniques - and in particular, the care and awareness and observation of both what is happening, and beforehand, what could happen, when you take an action to move something or address an issue. It is SO reminiscent of the things I remember reading about back in the late '50's when I first started working on gunstocks (yeah, I'm almost 80 - but I'm not dead yet, to steal a line from Monty Python & The Holy Grail).
I particularly remember "whiskering" a stock of an old single-shot .22 that was about 25 years old and looked like the factory had dipped it in heavy varnish. I stripped it and then began sanding and dampening to raise the grain, then sanding again until no more whiskers of wood came up. I was curious, so I kept going to see what would happen, repeating about 20 times. The result was like glass when I finally applied hand-rubbed (meaning with your palm - HAND rubbed) coats of thinned varnish, buffing between coats.
Crazy amount of work, but I was experimenting - not trying to make money. I still have the gun almost 70 years later, and the stock is still like glass. For people with a love of wood and woodworking, gunsmithing is a calling. Thanks for reminding me of the old days.
Mark: Explains what he's doing and why
Viewers: Too much talking
Same viewers: Would you be satisfied with taking a course where the instructor says nothing and points at stuff?
Because, watching a video implies that you can magically do the work....!
U are exactly right...this man is a teacher...an instructor...he HAS to talk so that his students can understand what he's doing...those who don't realize this cannot even begin to understand...this guy is VERY good at what he does!
One of your very best. Thanks for all the hard work putting these together. It really shows.
48+ minutes just sailed by, Thanks for your hard work!
I know sometimes Mark seems to hate showing the same thing over and over again, but damn so I learn something new every time.
Hope there’s a part 2 in the works! We need to see the finished product!
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
You won't. The unspoken issue here is the gun has little residual value, and we cut the labor off pretty much right where we are. I used it to demonstrate various techniques but it's not coming back. I have another 03 that is next, that needs lots of woodwork, anvil093, and that one IS going all the way.
Also, 2 part jobs are a video disaster, not doing that again
@@marknovak8255 That totally makes sense. This was the first video of yours I came across and I’m hooked. I find it hard to watch longer videos and you had me glued to the screen the whole time. Such a wealth of information and a great personality! I’d love to be a fly on the wall of your shop.
I’ll be looking out for that next video. Keep up the good work!
Those Kuhnhausen books are priceless to have...they ARE a large initial expenditure but are imperative to have when you're working on Mausers, 1911s, Smifs and US Gas Operated Rifles...
I don't know how well it would apply here, but Luthiers (stringed instrument builders/repair people) use cyanoacrylate glue of different viscosities (depending on the need) to fill small cracks and voids. You can also mix it with wood dust from a similar type of wood to make an excellent filling compound, and when sanded and finished (if required) it's barely distinguishable from the original wood. If wood dust is available you can tint it black or dark brown and it will appear as if it's just a natural imperfection in the wood. For large cracks you can stabilize it and then route away the affected area and apply a spline or a plug using the same species of wood.
A great place forninapriation on UA-cam is Ted Woodford.
I love your conversion videos mark. I always learn something listening to your stuff. Keep it up my man
When you take the joke it fell off the boat to seriously.
THANK YOU for a very informative Post. I learned alot that will help me with the restoration of an H&R bolt action single shot. 22.
There are even a few things that will help with the restoration of an old cheap violin currently on my bench !
I used to do a bit of restoration work. I could taste what came out of that bore. It hurts my soul.
@BaptistWarGod TheCreator yup ... Starts off a a smell, ends up a taste. Lol
Does this count as PTSD???
Nice timing. Great way to spend the end of a Christmas Day. Fun to watch and relaxing.
The metal buttplate on K98s were originally painted on the inside with some sort of reddish brown primer, so i would wire wheel the hell out of it on the inside and hit it with rustoleum and call it good. K98 metal was blued up to 1944 and at some point probably due to shortages in chemicals the BRNO " DOT" coded K98s were then parkerized and most milled parts were now stamped like trigger guards, barrel bands, bayonet lugs.
Nice work in a study of how to use tools, and I'm always impressed that rags are a tool too. Persevering to overcome is always a trade-off between work needed vs. work that is worth doing. Sometimes the value can be knowledge used later down the road, so there are really no failures, just incomplete attempts at salvage.
Well done, and keep the dreams of others alive, if possible.
There are really no failures, merely a creative redefinition of mission objectives
Ah so that's what Bruno looks like, kinda figured he was an exact clone.
enjoyed your comments and explanation. some of the advice you give certainly transfers to other wood and metal projects
There are few things on this Earth as satisfying as watching rust come off steel...
Watching that barrelled action drop out of the stock is enough to make a grown man cry!
" the decision to screw this gun up was made by someone other than us"
JEEEZ ... I felt guilty when that got stated!
Absolutely love watching this and learning! Thanks for sharing all the information Mark.