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Wood margin around lock and side plate?

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1BadDart

45 Cal.
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After mowing and a little work on the garden I worked on the stock a little on my Virginia build. The area around the lock was pretty long in the front and rear so I doing a little rasp and sandpaper work. When finished the area will be subtle.

My question is do you match the sideplate side to the lock side or do you make the contour match the sideplate?

Lock side

.
IMG_6034.jpg


Sideplate side with a rough sketch of the lock side. The outer lines are traced along the current edge of the relief.

IMG_6037.jpg
 
Hi,
I urge you to locate online photos of original Virginia guns so you can see what they actually looked like. Do not cut in lock panels except around the front, where a gouge and round file are useful. For the rest, the panels are formed by shaping the wrist and breech section rather than cutting the panels in. Look at the photos below.
DzjJYUE.jpg

ULZkeJs.jpg

VuQeWFb.jpg

The molding lines are cut in after I've shaped the panels, not before to create them. Also note that the bottom of the stock is fully rounded carrying the curved bottom of the fore stock right through to the wrist. It is not flattened. The old time makers did not fuss too much making the panels mirror images. They usually tried to have them start and stop equally so if you looked down on the breech each panel was the same length and position, and any carved beaver tails were centered on the wrist on both side. However, more than that they often did not care. On British guns, the side plate side was often shaped to accommodate the side plate rather than to mirror the lock and the panels were shaped differently as below.
APht5fU.jpg

ellOP4f.jpg


It is usually best to make the surrounding flats very thin. IMO wide flats never look good and are rarely found on original American rifles made during colonial and "Golden Age" periods. Making them thin also helps you avoid carving in the ugly notch for the flint cock you see on so many rifles. Here are some examples.
BHRqTxh.jpg

RBdxmHq.jpg

I3UeaZJ.jpg

cFFevkr.jpg

WCWKRVe.jpg


Finally, on your stock, I would lower the tail of the panel so it terminates either in the center or just below center of the wrist. I would reshape the panels, reducing their size greatly and shaping them so the tails are lowered on the stock.

dave
 
Thanks guys.

Dave, very informative! I'll work on thinning the margin and turning the tails down to or just below the center line of the wrist. One of my concerns is the taking too much wood from around the pin holding the front of the trigger guard.

I don't have the skills to do the relief carvings, so my rifle is going to be a plain girl.

Justin
 
Hi,
It is OK if that pin hole is right on the edge of the flat. Here are some original examples of Virginia-made rifles showing that pin. These are from the Kentucky Rifle Foundation CD of Shenandoah Valley rifles. Here is a John Grandstaff rifle.
FWJodVk.jpg

KZSzZHX.jpg

And here is a Simon Lauck rifle.
Q6nXyYm.jpg

g4WDZhd.jpg
.
One way to deal with that pin is to dovetail and solder in place an extension to the forward tab so the pin can be drilled inside the lock mortise.

dave
 
I'm thinking I'll take wood off right up to the pin hole and make the rest match it. This rifle isn't being built to be period correct. I'll probably shoot some squirrels with it, but its main purpose is for 25-yard offhand paper matches. I chose the Virgina pattern because it had the least drop at the comb, the wide butt plate will help with what little recoil it has too.

Thank guys, Justin.
 
you have the advice of the gods of building so i won't presume to add any comments other than, you have the lock and side plate on the wrong sides of that gun!🤣🤣
looks like you will have a fine build when done. be sure to post progress .

Have you ever considered yours are on the wrong side? 😁

I agree on the advice, it's greatly appreciated too. I learned years ago when building hot rods to find someone with more experience and pick their brains. It has saved me a lot of heartache and money over the years.

Justin
 
Have you ever considered yours are on the wrong side? 😁

I agree on the advice, it's greatly appreciated too. I learned years ago when building hot rods to find someone with more experience and pick their brains. It has saved me a lot of heartache and money over the years.

Justin
of course I was just funning! I have never had the problem of wrong or right as i am ambidextrous. i do have a dominant eye though.
If you take the lock panel up to where it does meet or goes above the trigger pin hole, you can make a pin with a decorated head and contour it to meet the radius of the stock. had to do that on a pistol build. added a little panache to my eyes.
 
of course I was just funning! I have never had the problem of wrong or right as i am ambidextrous. i do have a dominant eye though.
If you take the lock panel up to where it does meet or goes above the trigger pin hole, you can make a pin with a decorated head and contour it to meet the radius of the stock. had to do that on a pistol build. added a little panache to my eyes.

Yes sir, I took your post as humor and mine was intended to be the same. All is well. :thumb:
 
I did a little work a few minutes ago, it's better but I'm not sure I like it much. It may be one of those deals where it gets "good enough", at least who it's for. :doh:

IMG_6039.jpg
 
Hi,
The flats do not have to be even all the way around. Look at this one
cFFevkr.jpg

Note how the flat around the top of the lock thins out a lot. That enables the flint cock to clear the wood and it gives the whole surround a more graceful look.

dave
 
Ignore that hole and keep going, you don't want it to look like a side slab of a 2x4. On another note, what's the deal with that touch hole insert? That looks like it might be too deep.
 
Your lock is on the correct side, we southpaws gotta stick together.

Regardless how you shape the lock panel around the lock, if the other side doesn't match in shape, location, and flow, it would drive my OCW over the cliff.
 
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