AeroncaTAL
50 Cal.
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2006
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Well, here are some photos of my Lyman Great Plains Rifle. The weather here in Oregon is typical for November, which means that it turned to crud. There was a break between rain showers this afternoon, so I was able to take a few photos out in the back yard.
I’ve been working on a Lyman Great Plains Percussion in .54 since about last March. This rifle is my introduction to black powder and building any sort of firearm. What a journey this has been!
The Lyman stock is American Walnut and my stock has some nice figure in it. I found the cheek piece on the GPR to be a little too massive for my tastes, with a gradual slope to the back of the comb. So I reshaped the cheek piece to bring it more in line with pictures of Hawkens and Plains rifles that I have seen. I also sharpened the angle where the top of the comb comes down into the wrist. I had thought long and hard on what sort of decoration(s) I wanted to put on the rifle. I considered and rejected fancy carving and a lot of inlays, as they would not fit the look of a Plains rifle. I settled on a hunters star in German Silver in the cheek piece with some brass wire garnish. Since I was in a learning mode with this project, and wanted to customize it, I designed and cut my own inlay from stock German Silver.
Once the stocked was shaped and the inlay installed, I sanded with 220 grit sand paper. The walnut really did not need much more sanding than that. I debated what to seal the wood with and finally decided to try a trick I found on another discussion group, which was to use black artists oil paint. The information I had read, pointed out that the old time gun builders would seal the wood with lamp black mixed with olive oil and this is essentially the same as artists oil paint. That was good enough for me. I covered the entire stock with the paint, let it dry a bit, and then rubbed off with steel wool. The grain in the wood was really brought out with the paint. The wood was stained with two coats of Laurel Mountain Cherry stain and one coat of Laurel Mountain Honey Maple stain. I then burnished the wood with a piece of deer antler. I finished the stock with boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits in a 50/50 mixture, rubbing it on thin. I have 8 coats of oil on the stock so far.
From the start I wanted this rifle to have an antique look to it. Originally I was going to brown the metal, but after assembling it in “white”, I began to have second thoughts. I kind of liked the contrast with the stock that the “white” gave the rifle. So I posted to the group for some opinions on this. Based on the responses I got, I decided not to brown and instead try to achieve a “gray”. I left some tool marks and a few dings here and there on the furniture, and used bleach to get some minor pitting. I applied Birchwood-Casey Super Blue, and then rubbed the heck out of it with 0000 steel wool. Depending on how long I left the bluing on before rubbing back, I was able to get anywhere from almost white to a nice aged blue. I took the case color out of the lock and hammer with naval jelly. Slopped it on, and 30 seconds later rubbed it off with the steel wool. I used bleach to pit the outer surface of the lock, then used the bluing and rubbed it back. The barrel was last to do. My attempts to remove the tool marks on the barrel by draw filing seemed to put more marks in than take away, I finally resulted to using 220 grit sand paper on a hard wood block. This got most of the scratches out, and a couple of applications of bleach gave it some minor pitting. I applied two coats of Super Blue then rubbed back with the steel wool. The result was the barrel came out a bit darker than the furniture, but I liked the effect. I used naval on the screw heads to antique them then reassembled the rifle. I was done.
In building this rifle I never wanted an out of the box look to it. I wanted the rifle to have the look of something that your father or grandfather would have hanging up above the fireplace. Not an ancient heirloom from a century ago, but a well used firearm that has given years of good service, has been well taken care of and is just waiting for the next hunt. I wanted the look of an old and trusted friend. It’s not perfect, I made a few mistakes. But I think that I have achieved the look that I wanted. Now that I’m finished with it, I think that it is time to get to know this old friend.
Scott
I’ve been working on a Lyman Great Plains Percussion in .54 since about last March. This rifle is my introduction to black powder and building any sort of firearm. What a journey this has been!
The Lyman stock is American Walnut and my stock has some nice figure in it. I found the cheek piece on the GPR to be a little too massive for my tastes, with a gradual slope to the back of the comb. So I reshaped the cheek piece to bring it more in line with pictures of Hawkens and Plains rifles that I have seen. I also sharpened the angle where the top of the comb comes down into the wrist. I had thought long and hard on what sort of decoration(s) I wanted to put on the rifle. I considered and rejected fancy carving and a lot of inlays, as they would not fit the look of a Plains rifle. I settled on a hunters star in German Silver in the cheek piece with some brass wire garnish. Since I was in a learning mode with this project, and wanted to customize it, I designed and cut my own inlay from stock German Silver.
Once the stocked was shaped and the inlay installed, I sanded with 220 grit sand paper. The walnut really did not need much more sanding than that. I debated what to seal the wood with and finally decided to try a trick I found on another discussion group, which was to use black artists oil paint. The information I had read, pointed out that the old time gun builders would seal the wood with lamp black mixed with olive oil and this is essentially the same as artists oil paint. That was good enough for me. I covered the entire stock with the paint, let it dry a bit, and then rubbed off with steel wool. The grain in the wood was really brought out with the paint. The wood was stained with two coats of Laurel Mountain Cherry stain and one coat of Laurel Mountain Honey Maple stain. I then burnished the wood with a piece of deer antler. I finished the stock with boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits in a 50/50 mixture, rubbing it on thin. I have 8 coats of oil on the stock so far.
From the start I wanted this rifle to have an antique look to it. Originally I was going to brown the metal, but after assembling it in “white”, I began to have second thoughts. I kind of liked the contrast with the stock that the “white” gave the rifle. So I posted to the group for some opinions on this. Based on the responses I got, I decided not to brown and instead try to achieve a “gray”. I left some tool marks and a few dings here and there on the furniture, and used bleach to get some minor pitting. I applied Birchwood-Casey Super Blue, and then rubbed the heck out of it with 0000 steel wool. Depending on how long I left the bluing on before rubbing back, I was able to get anywhere from almost white to a nice aged blue. I took the case color out of the lock and hammer with naval jelly. Slopped it on, and 30 seconds later rubbed it off with the steel wool. I used bleach to pit the outer surface of the lock, then used the bluing and rubbed it back. The barrel was last to do. My attempts to remove the tool marks on the barrel by draw filing seemed to put more marks in than take away, I finally resulted to using 220 grit sand paper on a hard wood block. This got most of the scratches out, and a couple of applications of bleach gave it some minor pitting. I applied two coats of Super Blue then rubbed back with the steel wool. The result was the barrel came out a bit darker than the furniture, but I liked the effect. I used naval on the screw heads to antique them then reassembled the rifle. I was done.
In building this rifle I never wanted an out of the box look to it. I wanted the rifle to have the look of something that your father or grandfather would have hanging up above the fireplace. Not an ancient heirloom from a century ago, but a well used firearm that has given years of good service, has been well taken care of and is just waiting for the next hunt. I wanted the look of an old and trusted friend. It’s not perfect, I made a few mistakes. But I think that I have achieved the look that I wanted. Now that I’m finished with it, I think that it is time to get to know this old friend.
Scott
