Advice to new builders:

[MSW]

Eric is spot on ... this is not a deal where you want to grab ANY power tool ... while tempting, they will get you into trouble 99 and 44 one hundredths percent of the time. BIG MISTAKE (don't ask me how i know) ...

if you don't have The Gunsmith of Grenville County and Recreating the American Longrifle, you should... they're available from Track of the Wolf. while expensive, they will (in my clumsy experience) save you the cost of their purchase in parts you don't ruin... count into that the fact the they will save you significant time in purgatory for swearing you won't do because of the mistakes you won't make, as well as time you won't spend waiting for the repair parts to arrive to fix the mistake you won't make, and the support of a rapidly vanishing cultural skillset

don't buy "sets" of tools... they look cool, but you only end up using one or two, and that makes them much more expensive... buy the tools you really need one at a time. if you love sets of stuff, after about your third build, build a custom box for your tool collection ... this will give you an excuse to spend more time in the shop .... aside from taking away time from the range, i don't see a downside.

good luck with your project, and Make Good Smoke

 

[Johnny Tremain]

Power tools
I went to every junk shop in town and found hand tools to do the job. to include a hand drill.
When I finished my one rifle, I gave all the tools the local builders guild so they would have tools for other noob builders.

 

[Henry2357]

Pro tip- don't focus on small mistakes continue through complete the job and you'll be surprised how good the overall look is and how unnoticeable the small flaw is plus they add to the uniqueness

So true…all good thoughts here, these help us new builders.

 

[springfield art]

: so you don't go through what I did..

I am a very inexperienced builder, I am working on my first, A Pedersoli Trade Musket and I want to give some advice to those who are starting their new build.

For me I was as nervous as heck, OMG, OMG. I have to sand it right just like others say, Get that perfect smoothness, how much to sand,(heck for the first sand and shape I used my cordless battery sander, and it worked great) OMG how many different grads of paper, which I used 4, up to 320. Do I have it all cleaned off, heck I was using my compressor and our vacuum, I'm nervous to pull the barrel, don't want to break the fore-stock, I'm nervous to start to stain, Am I doing it right.

I almost didn't want to start the project!!.

So something just came to me, It's not a newborn baby(even though its been years now and my memory is not like it used to be and I may have dropped her just once).. So what did I do, While being careful of course, I JUST DID IT. So if any of you starting or thinking of a build, Stop the nervous manure and just do it.. Being nervous wasn't worth it and almost ruined my fun, it turned out it wasn't rocket science.
I started, was careful like i mentioned and it's coming out great. All stained and ready for finishing.

PS, I am nervous as heck to brown the barrel though. . I'll never change.

Some years ago I did the very same thing; just went ahead and did stuff, mainly re-finishing, stripping metal finishes, tinkering, etc. Paid off! I now do many little things that I was afraid to do previously. Sanding, browning, oil-finishing, etc. etc.

 

[Alan Ruuska]

Lots of good advice above ! My contribution is that "Sunlight is your Friend". I know it's hard, but if you can hold off on that next finishing step until after you've had a look at your project in sunlight you will often save yourself from having the choice of having to re-do something or live with it and see it every time you handle the gun.