First Build and questions.

[kansas_volunteer]

I have very limited experience making muzzleloaders, mostly i put together modern rifles as a hobby. I have done a bit of general carving though. I use gouges in #9, #5, and #3 sweeps. The nine is for roughing out, the five to start refining the shape and the three to smooth things out. I might add a skew chisle sometime, but I'm getting by without for now. You could buy this set in smaller sizes and be well fixed. A few specialty chisles as mentiond above would round things out. I like using palm chisels a lot. Small chisles can work big, but large chisles can't work small. Scrapers of all types are really handy. I'm a big fan of broken glass for scraping. Bust up a beer bottle and you can probably find just the shape you need. I do have nice steel scrapers.

 

[Hatchet-Jack]

Bill Raby has made some excellent videos showing step by step how he builds several guns. He was just featured in Muzzle Blasts.

https://www.youtube.com/c/BillRaby

 

[Monkeyman]

Bill Raby has made some excellent videos showing step by step how he builds several guns. He was just featured in Muzzle Blasts.

https://www.youtube.com/c/BillRaby

I stumbled across his videos and I watched his fusil series and his Kentucky rifle series, great stuff.

 

[Phil Coffins]

These are nearly all the chisels I use for working from a blank or a simI inlet stock. All made as the need came up over the last fourth years.
IMG_0250 by Oliver Sudden, on Flickr

 

[JL]

Good luck on your build OP! I am working on my first real one. I wish I had spent more time focusing on sharpness and sharpening on my first kit, as others have suggested. I still waste too much energy and cash researching and purchasing "the perfect" tools. Kudos to the posters here that can make their own or enhance the inexpensive ones and still produce excellent builds.

I am working on a plank and after countless days sawing, sanding, rasping etc... a google search revealed to me that a Woodcraft store was way too close! A $260 plane + some scrapers and a strop later... lol. Very in to this though and am already appreciating some of my better tools including that jack plane.

 

[Monkeyman]

Good luck on your build OP! I am working on my first real one. I wish I had spent more time focusing on sharpness and sharpening on my first kit, as others have suggested. I still waste too much energy and cash researching and purchasing "the perfect" tools. Kudos to the posters here that can make their own or enhance the inexpensive ones and still produce excellent builds.

I am working on a plank and after countless days sawing, sanding, rasping etc... a google search revealed to me that a Woodcraft store was way too close! A $260 plane + some scrapers and a strop later... lol. Very in to this though and am already appreciating some of my better tools including that jack plane.

Good luck to you as well!

 

[Monkeyman]

Update: I called TRS and they should ship the gun tomorrow. If that happens, I’ll use this thread as a build thread.

 

[Col. Batguano]

Apart from the advice you've already gotten (and will get more) on tools, 2 critical things you need are a super solid bench, and a way to hold this very long piece of wood. I personally like to work by sitting on a stool, but others do most of their work while standing. I just find I can work longer and have better control when I sit.

Most people use 2 vices spaced some distance apart, but some can get away with one, and a rest for the other end. Good lighting is imperative.

 

[Monkeyman]

Just got charged by TRS, hopefully will get a shipping notification soon and will start by next week.

 

[Monkeyman]

well, it arrived today. I polished and made the butt plate temporarily acceptable for inletting it the stock. Have it almost done, but I decided to call it a night.
pics:
Last pic is where I’m leaving off tonight.

 

[Monkeyman]

almost there, drilled the holes in the butt plate and am going to countersink them tonight after some chiseling. I’m doing better than I thought I would for a first build. The stock is wider than the plate, which is good. I’ll take that extra wood away to make it look nicer once I clean it up.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Welcome you poor dumb fool!
Well another victim of the flintlock bug, like the rest of us....,

OK all kidding aside...,

Others have likely already written this, so this will probably be "another vote" in favor of what is next written....

IF I had the fortitude to obtain TRS parts to assemble a musket as my first build, HERE IS WHAT I'D DO...,
I'd read EVERYTHING that Dave Person has posted on this forum about building muskets, and I'd read it all, several times,
..., and I'd go very slow while I tried to duplicate what he wrote about what to do, and how to do it.

I'd figure that would be the best way to end up with the best outcome concerning a Bess, if not any musket that you might choose.

With slow, patient, diligent work, you are even likely to produce a musket of much higher quality than a store bought, Italian made musket (imho).

LD

 

[Monkeyman]

Alright, final inletting for the butt plate is done. There are some gaps which will be closed with wood putty. I’m also considering using thin CA glue and dust I got from sanding today. A great resource has been MODEL 1740 PRUSSIAN POTSDAM MUSKET AND BAYONET — Horse Soldier and it’s interesting seeing the imperfections in original examples of the M1740. That being said, I’m not building for an army, so I’m going to try and get the imperfections to a minimum. The butt plate has many scuffs and file marks which will be taken care of, I’m not leaving that in the condition it’s in. Although the quality isn’t quite up to the standard of guys on this forum who have been building for a while, I’m quite impressed with myself! I thought I would have screwed it up somehow!
Anyway, pics!

 

[billraby]

You can take out the gaps with a hammer rather easily.

 

[Monkeyman]

You can take out the gaps with a hammer rather easily.

So I can just hit the butt plate into shape? Good to know.

 

[Pete G]

Please keep the wood putty on the shelf.

 

[Johnny Tremain]

Man am I a cheap skate. I only built one rifle, dont figure to ever make another, so I bought $12 buck chisels from here.

https://www.muzzleloaderbuilderssupply.com/mbs3cart/agora.cgi?cart_id=7347600.48938&product=Tools
Still have them somewhere, they worked great.

 

[Rudyard]

Cofhus gewheer ? Cow foot musket. Good on you for tackling one . I know little more than the name, but I know a man who does in Indiana in fact if you have the TRS Potzdam Mag lock it came from him (To copy) I gave it to him & I bought it in Cabool Afghanistan .Small world .
Regards Rudyard

 

[Rudyard]

Man am I a cheap skate. I only built one rifle, dont figure to ever make another, so I bought $12 buck chisels from here.

https://www.muzzleloaderbuilderssupply.com/mbs3cart/agora.cgi?cart_id=7347600.48938&product=Tools
Still have them somewhere, they worked great.

I couldn't PM you Do you know of Elmer Johnston in Mattawa/per cance .Regards Rudyard

 

[Col. Batguano]

Bill is right. You can peen the BP to shape to take up those gaps. Avoid wood putty if you possibly can. It will always show when the stain goes on.