When I first started working on guns I had a worn out Remington 11 that was my Granddad's bird gun. I polished out every pit, replaced the old wood he had repaired and replaced every worn part. Then I hot blued and it looked like brand new. I felt like a fool. That old gun had scratches from when Grandad ran from the Warden. It had rust from a 100 times he crawled in the salt marsh and it had his hand work in a couple of amateur repairs. I would love to have it back like it was before I made it new and wiped away every trace of him.
