Hi all; Jim, glad to be mooching about again after spending so long in a lather of uncertainty. Figure it's time to give this old girl some TLC. And I still have to think before remembering which is quartered and which is flaunched!
Fearn: Not really very practical for me to go to Iran, to be honest. More's the pity (I'd not mind looking at Ctesiphon) but there it is. I did consider trying to find some
cornus sanguinea around here; it certainly seems an option worth considering. I don't know where it grows wild in the UK, but presumably it must do so somewhere. However, I know about as much about working wood as a horse knows about industrial chemistry, so doubtless lots of silly questions to come yet. At least I'd already thought of seasoning (drying) as a problem; at a guess, the best I could do would be to get a reasonable-sized big of dogwood, stick it in a corner somewhere, and leave it to dry for 6 months (or however long is necessary for dogwood).
Amazingly, although the tree itself is apparently relatively common, nobody seems to sell dogwood timber. I can only presume there's no market for the stuff.
Raf: Looking at it since (with the aid of some of the very knowledgeable people at the Brit Mil Forum) has suggested that, yes, it is in fact an EIC lock, albeit with new (and not too good) mainspring. As to replacing
that, I'm not sure. Since the odds of this beast ever firing again are slender at best, it seems best to leave it alone, apart from removing corrosion. Had they not made such drastic alterations to the barrel... but ah well. One can't really fault the locals for making a living.
Cheers all,
Meredydd