My Franz Kettner staling rifle is in very good condition overall. The wood shows the dents and scratches that are unavoidable to a hunting rifle. There is one irritating thing I would like to eliminate, the name "Mersmann Beckum" has been scratched into the wood of the cheekpiece. I'm considering sanding it out and refinishing the raised cheekpeice only. I realize it will be difficult to perfectly match the surrounding wood finish but I have had some experience in working with gunstocks and think I can come pretty close. Is it worth the effort or would I be compounding the damage by trying to fix it?
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A quick google search turned up the fact that there are quite a few people surnamed Mersmann living in Beckum, Germany. If there is any possibility that the name scratched on the cheekpiece has been there a good while I'd be inclined to leave it alone and regard it as a hint of some early history of this arm you don't yet know. Others will, of course, feel differently. Dan
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As with Dan I'm nearly always inclined to leave such pieces as they are. As Dan opined it's part of the history of the old rifle and I always wonder the whys and wherefores of old scratchings. The firearms are mine for now but they're all going to outlast me so "making them mine" isn't very important to me. Seems to me I'm depriving some future owner of history bits if I fix everything. But, I'm sentimental that way.
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