Building a Tennessee Rifle

45 man
You definetly have the touch and the eye to do awesome work. Besides that you sound like a man that would make anybody a good friend. I hope I get a chance to meet you sometime.
10XWoodsman

I never charge for a gun fix any more but a bottle of cheap booze is welcome. We paid off our home fast and pay the credit card every month so we have no debt at all. Best thing you can ever do is to not owe money. Buy a car, pay cash. My wife has a credit score of 850 and mine is 824. You do not get higher. I made good money working for the airline and when fixing TV's back then I charged way less then a shop. I had TV's from the Ohio river to the lake to fix. Word of mouth because I did not cheat anyone. I gave my check from work to Carol and bought guns and parts from what I did on the side. Gun smithing will never make you rich. It is just love. Friends are life. I have so many my wife does not understand. My door is open and they walk in anytime. I have never found a need to lock a door.
I am here with such great people with so much talent.
Thank you all and I love you all and your families.

Here is Part 37

Yeah, the butt plate can be a fast way to become a nut case. But you are on your way. The tools I made for each step fills drawers and I can't even remember what some are for. The ramrod hole is a joy too so make sure you do not drill with the metal parts on the barrel for pins or keys. That is why drills came out the bottom of the stock. You fellas are doing great. I can't wait to see the finished gun.

Here is Part 38

Just watched 39. After building that finishing leaves me antsy. Suddenly the works done and I just have to wait until tomorrow to put on anothe coat of oil it’s a bittersweet time... lots of memories though.

Here is Part 39

Here is Part 40. This is the last one. The rifle is finished now. I hope that you enjoyed watching this.

Fantastic work.

Very Nice!

Watched the last one sad to see it end. To my eye SMR are the most beautiful of any guns and that one is a fine example. You did great work

tenngun said:

Watched the last one sad to see it end. To my eye SMR are the most beautiful of any guns and that one is a fine example. You did great work

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I am already started on the next one. I will put the first video of that series on You Tube around the end of the week. And that one will look even nicer. At least that is the plan!

Looks great!

I’m shaping my buttstock now, and spent this morning on the cheek plate, learned a lot watching your vids. My cheek plates always looked wrong but I couldn’t say why, this one is looking real good (to me at least).

Where is a good place to order maple blank stocks from? Most places I have checked online are usually out of stock. I’m looking for a grade 1-2.

Sambini said:

Where is a good place to order maple blank stocks from? Most places I have checked online are usually out of stock. I’m looking for a grade 1-2.

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Have you tried Dunlap's? Grade 1-2 is very plain, and my mentor put it to me this way... you're gonna have a LOT of time tied up shaping a stock from a blank... the same amount of time and effort on a Grade 1 as a Grade 8.
Do you really wanna spend that much time and end up with a plain straight stock?

Sambini said:

Where is a good place to order maple blank stocks from? Most places I have checked online are usually out of stock. I’m looking for a grade 1-2.

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Maple is getting harder to find with figure. It is getting much more costly too. Very few trees had a fine figure. I was lucky when a kiln send me a card when they opened the kiln. Ohio maple. I would get a huge plank for at least 4 guns for $30, pre cut and dry more. I lost out once when I found a curly cherry plank and ran out of money. The Log Cabin had inletted stocks that were fine but warped bad. Not enough wood to carve either.
Look for better figure as plain wood after all the work is disappointing.
You need to remember to make all cuts cross grain and never, ever take a draw knife to curly wood.
Good wood grows in harsh conditions and most of my best was planked from trees that fell or got struck by lightning. Chainsaw mill. I still have a few tons of cherry, walnut and white oak on racks that I can't get down myself anymore. Quarter sawn for gun stocks.

Grade 1 or 2 is the way to go if you do not have a good amount of experience. Highly figured wood can be difficult to work with. I think that lower grade wood is a better choice for a gun with lots of carving. The carving can lost ina stock that has a lot of curl to it.

Sambini said:

Where is a good place to order maple blank stocks from? Most places I have checked online are usually out of stock. I’m looking for a grade 1-2.

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I agree with another poster that Dunlap Woodcraft is a good place to look, I've bought stock blanks from them in the past and they're always very good to work with. They'll send you pictures of the blanks they have that match your needs and let you choose. I've also had good luck with Gunstocks Plus. I bought a standard grain full stock maple blank from them for $79 plus shipping, I think a straight grain maple blank can look really good if it's finished well.

I can agree somewhat as plain wood is easier to work but then again I never met a piece of wood I did not like. But let me say for a fact that highly figured wood can be carved if the tools are deadly sharp.