wefalck

I think one has to try for oneself with one's equipment. There are so many contradictory recommendations around, that one gets easily confused and discouraged ...

Yep, those jeweller's flush cutters are very useful to nip off things flush. Had one for decades. They are meant to nip off steel watch springs, so they are very hard and tough.
 
I use a piece of card/paper behind the shrouds, on which the shrouds and the ratlines have been printed. This gives you a good guide to check that you didn't pull the shroud out of alignment and that the ratlines are correctly spaced.

Sometimes mothers aren't any better: ma mother wanted to make some 'fruit flambée', heated them in a large copper pan that was kept for the purpose, poured the rhum over them and put a match onto it - pouff, it was suddently all flames and white smoke: she had forgotten to turn off the extraction fan, which had sucked in the flames, which in turn ignited the grease in the filter. She was lucky to realise quickly what had happened and switched the fan off, so that no big fire developed, ouff ...
 
Another time, there was some banging heard in the house and my mother, who was in my sister's room reading stories to her shouted at me (by habit in such cases), what I was doing ... but it wasn't me, when I checked the kitchen it was full of white smoke and foul smell - she had forgotten that she put some eggs to boil before she went to my sick sister's room and in the meantime all the water had evaporated and the egss exploded. Decades later, when the kitchen was dismantled, we still found mummified egg in some corners behind the cupboard
 

Interesting, I hadn't heard of this technique. There used to be a guy called Red Adair, I think; who was a specialist for putting out such fires using controlled blasts, which may work on a similar principle.

Did I mention, that I once tried to make gun-cotton? My father had a useful book, that told you everything about how to make explosives and how to test them ... perhaps I was lucky that it didn't work, because the cotton-wool I used was actually not cotton.

Sometimes mothers aren't any better: ma mother wanted to make some 'fruit flambée', heated them in a large copper pan that was kept for the purpose, poured the rhum over them and put a match onto it - pouff, it was suddently all flames and white smoke: she had forgotten to turn off the extraction fan, which had sucked in the flames, which in turn ignited the grease in the filter. She was lucky to realise quickly what had happened and switched the fan off, so that no big fire developed, ouff ...
 
Another time, there was some banging heard in the house and my mother, who was in my sister's room reading stories to her shouted at me (by habit in such cases), what I was doing ... but it wasn't me, when I checked the kitchen it was full of white smoke and foul smell - she had forgotten that she put some eggs to boil before she went to my sick sister's room and in the meantime all the water had evaporated and the egss exploded. Decades later, when the kitchen was dismantled, we still found mummified egg in some corners behind the cupboard
 

Sometimes mothers aren't any better: ma mother wanted to make some 'fruit flambée', heated them in a large copper pan that was kept for the purpose, poured the rhum over them and put a match onto it - pouff, it was suddently all flames and white smoke: she had forgotten to turn off the extraction fan, which had sucked in the flames, which in turn ignited the grease in the filter. She was lucky to realise quickly what had happened and switched the fan off, so that no big fire developed, ouff ...
 
Another time, there was some banging heard in the house and my mother, who was in my sister's room reading stories to her shouted at me (by habit in such cases), what I was doing ... but it wasn't me, when I checked the kitchen it was full of white smoke and foul smell - she had forgotten that she put some eggs to boil before she went to my sick sister's room and in the meantime all the water had evaporated and the egss exploded. Decades later, when the kitchen was dismantled, we still found mummified egg in some corners behind the cupboard
 

There was also a 1953 franco-italian road-movie 'Le salaire de la peur' with Yves Montand and Peter van Eyck, where four guys were hired to drive two lorries with nitro-glycerin to be used to extinguish a burning oil-well into the South-American djungle ... one lorry makes it.

I happen to have an Adept No. 1 hand-shaper - but admittedly rarely use it ...

Yep, those jeweller's flush cutters are very useful to nip off things flush. Had one for decades. They are meant to nip off steel watch springs, so they are very hard and tough.
 
I use a piece of card/paper behind the shrouds, on which the shrouds and the ratlines have been printed. This gives you a good guide to check that you didn't pull the shroud out of alignment and that the ratlines are correctly spaced.

Sometimes mothers aren't any better: ma mother wanted to make some 'fruit flambée', heated them in a large copper pan that was kept for the purpose, poured the rhum over them and put a match onto it - pouff, it was suddently all flames and white smoke: she had forgotten to turn off the extraction fan, which had sucked in the flames, which in turn ignited the grease in the filter. She was lucky to realise quickly what had happened and switched the fan off, so that no big fire developed, ouff ...
 
Another time, there was some banging heard in the house and my mother, who was in my sister's room reading stories to her shouted at me (by habit in such cases), what I was doing ... but it wasn't me, when I checked the kitchen it was full of white smoke and foul smell - she had forgotten that she put some eggs to boil before she went to my sick sister's room and in the meantime all the water had evaporated and the egss exploded. Decades later, when the kitchen was dismantled, we still found mummified egg in some corners behind the cupboard
 

There was also a 1953 franco-italian road-movie 'Le salaire de la peur' with Yves Montand and Peter van Eyck, where four guys were hired to drive two lorries with nitro-glycerin to be used to extinguish a burning oil-well into the South-American djungle ... one lorry makes it.

It really depends on the period and the type of guns. There are three main materials for guns, namely bronze, cast iron and steel. I gather, we are talking here about either bronze or cast-iron guns. The surface treatment was intended to stop or reduce weathering and degradation of the guns exposed to the weather.
 
To my knowledge, bronze guns were not given a specific surface treatment. With time bronze develops a brownish patina that reduces further degradation. However, as bronze sculptures, one can also create articial patinas by rubbing the material with sulfur compounds or vinegar-based concoctions. This can change the colour from a deep green to a sort of metallic black.
 
Cast-iron rusts easily and needs to be protected. This was done by either (black) paint or by creating a passivating patina. In the latter case the guns were repeatedly rubbed down with vinegar. The resulting rust, mixed with iron-acetates, was solidified after drying the guns carefully by rubbing them with lineseed-oil. Effectively, this process created in situ  an iron-oxyhydroxide-based paint of a deep brown colour. Some navies also used black or (rarer) dark green oil-paint. One would need to establish this for a particular prototype and period.
 
We have become used to certain types of surface treatments on models and their guns. Very often, these may be aesthetically pleasing, but are certainly not 'realistic'. While a painted gun certainly would not have a metallic appearance (except for the muzzle), a surface treatment on the model that suggests 'metal' might enhance their appearance. In the case of black guns, I would spray-paint these in a semi-gloss and then rub ridges, rims etc. lightly with a very soft pencil; this then can spread and blended in using one's finger or cotton-sticks. Such a treatment gives a certain 'plasticity' to the gun. Not sure about a procedure for bronze guns, as I never had this issue.

Did I mention, that I once tried to make gun-cotton? My father had a useful book, that told you everything about how to make explosives and how to test them ... perhaps I was lucky that it didn't work, because the cotton-wool I used was actually not cotton.

Sometimes mothers aren't any better: ma mother wanted to make some 'fruit flambée', heated them in a large copper pan that was kept for the purpose, poured the rhum over them and put a match onto it - pouff, it was suddently all flames and white smoke: she had forgotten to turn off the extraction fan, which had sucked in the flames, which in turn ignited the grease in the filter. She was lucky to realise quickly what had happened and switched the fan off, so that no big fire developed, ouff ...
 
Another time, there was some banging heard in the house and my mother, who was in my sister's room reading stories to her shouted at me (by habit in such cases), what I was doing ... but it wasn't me, when I checked the kitchen it was full of white smoke and foul smell - she had forgotten that she put some eggs to boil before she went to my sick sister's room and in the meantime all the water had evaporated and the egss exploded. Decades later, when the kitchen was dismantled, we still found mummified egg in some corners behind the cupboard
 

Interesting, I hadn't heard of this technique. There used to be a guy called Red Adair, I think; who was a specialist for putting out such fires using controlled blasts, which may work on a similar principle.

There was also a 1953 franco-italian road-movie 'Le salaire de la peur' with Yves Montand and Peter van Eyck, where four guys were hired to drive two lorries with nitro-glycerin to be used to extinguish a burning oil-well into the South-American djungle ... one lorry makes it.

Yep, those jeweller's flush cutters are very useful to nip off things flush. Had one for decades. They are meant to nip off steel watch springs, so they are very hard and tough.
 
I use a piece of card/paper behind the shrouds, on which the shrouds and the ratlines have been printed. This gives you a good guide to check that you didn't pull the shroud out of alignment and that the ratlines are correctly spaced.

Interesting, I hadn't heard of this technique. There used to be a guy called Red Adair, I think; who was a specialist for putting out such fires using controlled blasts, which may work on a similar principle.

Did I mention, that I once tried to make gun-cotton? My father had a useful book, that told you everything about how to make explosives and how to test them ... perhaps I was lucky that it didn't work, because the cotton-wool I used was actually not cotton.

Interesting, I hadn't heard of this technique. There used to be a guy called Red Adair, I think; who was a specialist for putting out such fires using controlled blasts, which may work on a similar principle.

Interesting, I hadn't heard of this technique. There used to be a guy called Red Adair, I think; who was a specialist for putting out such fires using controlled blasts, which may work on a similar principle.

@shipman
This steady rest I have built with simple means.
With this I can position small ball bearings for round logs with diameters of 1 - 10 mm for support. The simple tool has already proven itself very well. 

Yep, those jeweller's flush cutters are very useful to nip off things flush. Had one for decades. They are meant to nip off steel watch springs, so they are very hard and tough.
 
I use a piece of card/paper behind the shrouds, on which the shrouds and the ratlines have been printed. This gives you a good guide to check that you didn't pull the shroud out of alignment and that the ratlines are correctly spaced.

Yep, those jeweller's flush cutters are very useful to nip off things flush. Had one for decades. They are meant to nip off steel watch springs, so they are very hard and tough.
 
I use a piece of card/paper behind the shrouds, on which the shrouds and the ratlines have been printed. This gives you a good guide to check that you didn't pull the shroud out of alignment and that the ratlines are correctly spaced.