Bad precarve lock mortis fix

[Eric Krewson]

I was belly aching a while back about a precarve I bought that had the lock inlet cut too low. I lowered the barrel but still couldn't get the pan on the side flat. I was going to trash the barrel but decided to try a fix, I have nothing to lose.

Here is the lock plate inletted to put the pan in the center of the barrel flat, a big gap at the bottom.

After lowering the barrel;

I had some curly maple that matched the lock panel curl. I spent a whole afternoon fitting a piece into the lock mortise perfectly, my first few attempts had small gaps but I finally got it right.

I used unibond 800 glue because it has dark glue joint that I can match with aquafortis and tannic acid.

Nice thin glue line;

This might work, I like thin lock moldings, I can get right up against my glue line and have the right width for my molding without cutting through the glue line.

 

[ZUG]

Looking good Eric -- looks like your on the road to success :bow: . Keep us informed on the progress & results:thumbsup:

 

[stubshaft]

Looks much better, after finishing it will hardly be noticeable.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I said "trash the barrel", oops, I meant the stock.

One thing I forgot while concentrating on the patch; I forgot to plug the old sear hole so it is open under my patch. I dug out the lower part of lock inlet to the depth of the mainspring inlet and made a patch that bottoms out in the inlet, lots of wood.

I will use a forstner bit when I cut a new sear hole, a twist bit may wander into the old hole.
I suspect my new hole will drill out about 3/4 of the old hole.

 

[billraby]

I might be wrong, but it looks like there is enough wood there that you could have lowered the barrel far enough. Depends on where the ramrod hole is. The repair you did does look good though.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I have the lock plate most of the way down;

I have the plate a little askew, not quite level and not quite centered on my X, it is still in front of the breechplug, the existing inlet didn't allow me much leeway.

I thought I had my patch bottomed out in the inlet but found after cutting away the excess wood inside the inlet that I have a gap under part of the patch. I will fill it with my unibond glue and sawdust after I cut the mainspring slot.

 

[Zonie]

While your working on it, you should move the barrel back towards the butt to center up the vent hole location with the center of the locks pan.

I know photos can be deceiving but the shoulder where the rear of the barrel meets the stock looks like there is a gap there.

If this is true, by the time you remove the gap and get a 95%+ engagement between the rear of the barrel and the wood, the vent hole might be centered just right.

 

[Eric Krewson]

There isn't a vent hole, just a proposed location. Drilling for a liner is the last thing I do after the gun is completed. I do think I will move the barrel back a little more, I have moved it back about 1/4" so far, If I didn't move it the lock inlet would have put the breech plug squarely in the pan.

 

[Crewdawg445]

Not bad! Fixes like that are what's interesting. You get to see the free creative nature of us builders.

Don't you just love pre carves! Looking forward to seeing that completed.

 

[dave_person]

Hi Eric,
If you are very careful, I would bring the lower lock panel edge right up to the joint such that the seam is right on the edge but you don't want to expose any glue.

dave

 

[Eric Krewson]

There is no way I can inlet the internals on this lock the normal way with the patch and the previous inlets 1/4" below where they should be. I am going to attempt a full lock inletting job, I read somewhere it had been done before.

I am going to start with the sear hole drilled as well as the main spring inlet and go down from there with the tumbler, bridal, sear bar and spring.

What a mess to start with;

 

[Eric Krewson]

I got the complete lock inletted in one piece, it wasn't as bad I thought it would be.

I am going to clean everything up tomorrow so it looks much neater. The lock cocks and functions properly. It takes a picture to show all the warts you don't see just looking at the inlet.

Now I can move forward on this build;

 

[Kansas Jake]

Great recovery on the inlet Eric. Thanks for sharing and keep letting us know the progress. I may need to use some of your techniques on a Hawken that I received that was partially built and abandoned by the previous owner.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I went out to clean up the inlet and found the lock was hard to cock, I blackened and checked and blackened and checked, I found some impingement places and made the mainspring inlet a little deeper.

Next I noticed the pan wasn't anyway near flat on the barrel, duh, than it hit me I hadn't relieved the wood for the travel of the cock.

I prefer a slant to a notch, removed the wood, the lock is as slick as glass now.

I know I am a wood hack and only make these posts to let the other wood hacks out there know they can actually build a rifle if they choose to attempt it. I do end up with some nice looking guns (if you don't look to closely).

 

[Pete G]

Most original guns look pretty nice (if you don`t look too closely).

 

[Rifleman1776]

I used unibond 800 glue because it has dark glue joint that I can match with aquafortis and tannic acid

Great fix. You are far more demanding and creative than 99.9% of the rest of us. I would have gotten impatient and buggered up that fix sumptin awful. But, yer choice of a glue that gives a dark joint has me puzzled. :hmm: A colorless glue that will take stain seems a more logical approach to me. I've never used Unibond so can't comment on that. My choice for wood glue is TiteBond II. Thanks for posting this thread, it is a teaching tool.

 

[Black Hand]

I used unibond 800 glue because it has dark glue joint that I can match with aquafortis and tannic acid

Great fix. You are far more demanding and creative than 99.9% of the rest of us. I would have gotten impatient and buggered up that fix sumptin awful. But, yer choice of a glue that gives a dark joint has me puzzled. :hmm: A colorless glue that will take stain seems a more logical approach to me. I've never used Unibond so can't comment on that. My choice for wood glue is TiteBond II. Thanks for posting this thread, it is a teaching tool.

A colorless glue would infiltrate the wood fibers and the Aquafortis reagent won't penetrate to the wood, leaving a white line (remember that Aquafortis is not a stain - the iron reacts with the tannins in the maple, giving color after heating). A dark colored glue can be blended into the stained background - far easier to hide the repair.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I did a patch on my first rifle with titebond, it is now a yellow line, small but can be seen.

I have had enough goof ups and filed enough holes that I have a technique to make them invisible.

I used the dark glue because it is easier to cover a dark line than a light one.

After I get my first coat of finish on I use an fine artist's brush and leather dye to match the glue line to the surrounding stain. I dry brush the stain to blend it in. If I don't like my fix I wipe the leather dye off with alcohol and start over.

After I am satisfied with my stain I put a bunch of coats of finish over the area to lock the stain into place.

I was once a serious duck decoy carver and although I sold all the really good decoys I made that looked like they could fly away I have a couple of scroungy ones left. I can still use a brush and stain a little.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I did a patch on my first rifle with titebond

Titebond? Original, II or III? I like II.
But, you have created your own technique that works. :applause:
Love the decoys.

 

[Eric Krewson]

Come to think of it it was Elmer's stainable wood glue not titebond.

Guess what, Elmer's stainable wood glue doesn't stain worth a hoot.

I use Titebond III for anything that will be hidden.