how to make beech wood from cva/s and other hardwood shine like you have n

[Gene L]

That's a good looking rifle. Especially considering the stock is beech. You did a job 99% of us are not capable of doing. I especially like the elimination of the brass two-piece spacer.

I looked up quilted maple. It's a fine wood, expensive, but IMO too gaudy for a long rifle....and too expensive. I've never seen an example on a ML rifle. But would like to...it might change my opinion.

 

[BlackHillsBob]

i built 2, one is sold. go to pineridgeblackpowder and you will see the other one.

 

[Gene L]

How long would a shooter's fingers have to be to take advantage of the pistol grip on that rifle?

 

[Desperate Lee]

Beech is a hard wood.
Beech (Fagus) is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classification systems of the genus recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, Engleriana and Fagus. Whew! That's a lot.
DL

 

[Desperate Lee]

Is Beech a hardwood?
Hardwood. Hardwoods come from broad-leaved, deciduous trees. The main hardwood timbers are ash, beech, birch, cherry, elm, iroko, mahogany, meranti, oak, obeche, sapele and teak.
Walnut not a hardwood?

 

[BlackHillsBob]

i used just medium leather dye and just watco penitrating oil cut to 1/3 oil to two thirds thinner. then rubbed down with huts plastic polish. no top coat of acrilic on this one. the rust brown was done by me and it is better that a job sent away

 

[BlackHillsBob]

the best part of the gun is the rust brown. the screws were polished and not blued or browned as in the old days. the brass was polished to no scratch high gloss finish. pistols are so easy to do as all you needs is your stove and a big old pot to boil the metal in. some work hard at rust bluing or rust browning or even rust black. if any wants to know how to do it i will make a post here. only if their is interest. believe me it isnt rocket science or i couldnt do it. thanks for posting the pictures, i hope some members enjoy them. i like to add to this good site.

 

[Desperate Lee]

Bob

Post your procedure for rust browning or rust blueing and rust black. I always strive to learn. Being 67 hasn't stopped me yet. I know there are instructions out there but hearing from someone who has done it is much much better.
DL​

 

[crankshaft]

I have that same pistol. To cover up the beech I stained it a dark walnut. Real dark.
It looks better, but it's still beech.

 

[BlackHillsBob]

its a good pistol, isnt it? mine is a very old kit that was put together and never really finished. i bought it from a shooter back east for a good price.what i like about them they are so easy to do a good job on as compaired to a rifle. should i post it here for rust browning a barrel or some where else. im going to the gym now to try to stay alive one more day and will post later today. but i want to be in compliance with this site?

 

[Desperate Lee]

Bob
You can post over on the HANDGUNS section under my post for CVA pics and mods. That should keep the wood and stuff separate so no one else will get on your case.
DL

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

Are those pictures of the pistol above supposed to be BHB's superior method of finishing beech stocks?

 

[32 ballard xl]

thanks, i think i may get one and do what what did, looks good and should be a good shooter.

Mine isn't anywhere near that pretty, but mine shoots better than I do.

 

[davidmc62]

Mine isn't anywhere near that pretty, but mine shoots better than I do.

I'll tell ya, maybe some folks will say "I cant do that", or "that's more than most can do", or "my abilities are not so much".... I had never done this before I rebuilt that rifle. That was my first. I spent a lot of time looking and searching to see what others had done.
I Looked long and hard for that golden "How To" article, but they all fell short of my expectations. Oh, I found a few web pages and resources with good photos of other peoples efforts. If you cant see and handle the real deal original rifles, it is hard to really understand what these guns looked and felt like. Then I did the one thing that probably sealed the deal and helped me the most.
I bought the book "Gunsmiths of Grenville County" by Peter Alexander. There is more information within those covers that will help even the most fumble fingered fellow (say that three times fast). That my friends is the closest I have found to a "how to" book out there. There is allot of confidence building information there, along with a ton of illustrations and actual photos of his builds and originals.
If you are capable of reading and applying written text to hands on crafting, this book will get you well on your way to building or "rebuilding" a rifle and have it turn out great. I was able to get actual measurements to go by or apply to my rebuild of that CVA Kentucky rifle. I wanted that rifle to look more than the average CVA Kentucky off the line. I wanted it to resemble the actual guns that the manufacturer was trying to emulate when they designed it in the first place.
Too often I see these same rifles that folks just kind of sand on a little; round off all the corners and smooth it up, then finish it and call it good. That is fine for some but was not good enough for me.
I applied some of the traditional "long rifle details" present in originals to this gun and...well I think she turned out rather nice.
It is still a CVA Kentucky, but she looks pleasing to my eye and touch, and it provided me with a satisfying feeling for my efforts. And at the end of the day, to me, thats all that matters.

 

[54ball]

I'll tell ya, maybe some folks will say "I cant do that", or "that's more than most can do", or "my abilities are not so much".... I had never done this before I rebuilt that rifle. That was my first. I spent a lot of time looking and searching to see what others had done.
I Looked long and hard for that golden "How To" article, but they all fell short of my expectations. Oh, I found a few web pages and resources with good photos of other peoples efforts. If you cant see and handle the real deal original rifles, it is hard to really understand what these guns looked and felt like. Then I did the one thing that probably sealed the deal and helped me the most.
I bought the book "Gunsmiths of Grenville County" by Peter Alexander. There is more information within those covers that will help even the most fumble fingered fellow (say that three times fast). That my friends is the closest I have found to a "how to" book out there. There is allot of confidence building information there, along with a ton of illustrations and actual photos of his builds and originals.
If you are capable of reading and applying written text to hands on crafting, this book will get you well on your way to building or "rebuilding" a rifle and have it turn out great. I was able to get actual measurements to go by or apply to my rebuild of that CVA Kentucky rifle. I wanted that rifle to look more than the average CVA Kentucky off the line. I wanted it to resemble the actual guns that the manufacturer was trying to emulate when they designed it in the first place.
Too often I see these same rifles that folks just kind of sand on a little; round off all the corners and smooth it up, then finish it and call it good. That is fine for some but was not good enough for me.
I applied some of the traditional "long rifle details" present in originals to this gun and...well I think she turned out rather nice.
It is still a CVA Kentucky, but she looks pleasing to my eye and touch, and it provided me with a satisfying feeling for my efforts. And at the end of the day, to me, thats all that matters.

Grenville county is a good book. Alexander is an accomplished builder. His writing style is a bit different. I jokingly tell folks that The Gunsmith of Grenville County is written in Canadian.

I have to read and re read Alexander's writing as it is wordy. Sometimes less is more. In fairness to Alexander that book started out as a series of how too articles in Muzzleloader Magazine. He goes into to great depth to detail tasks that are very hard to describe.

What I find to be a great asset as a stand alone book and especially as a companion to Grenville County is Recreating the American Longrifle by Shumway, Buchelle and yes...Alexander. RTAL is written or at least edited in American.
I tend to understand RTAL better. If I want more depth I study Grenville. The pair together are really an asset to a new builder IMHO. Dixon's book is one that gives still another perspective.

No book no video no matter how good can make someone into a gunmaker. The only way is to do it either by hands on instruction or by trial and error. Even with hands on instruction...the student and future maker will develop their own way of doing things.
Does a car's Owner's Manual make one a driver? Does the shop manual for said car make one a mechanic?

 

[Rockvillerich]

Grenville county is a good book. Alexander is an accomplished builder. His writing style is a bit different. I jokingly tell folks that The Gunsmith of Grenville County is written in Canadian.

I have to read and re read Alexander's writing as it is wordy. Sometimes less is more. In fairness to Alexander that book started out as a series of how too articles in Muzzleloader Magazine. He goes into to great depth to detail tasks that are very hard to describe.

What I find to be a great asset as a stand alone book and especially as a companion to Grenville County is Recreating the American Longrifle by Shumway, Buchelle and yes...Alexander. RTAL is written or at least edited in American.
I tend to understand RTAL better. If I want more depth I study Grenville. The pair together are really an asset to a new builder IMHO. Dixon's book is one that gives still another perspective.

No book no video no matter how good can make someone into a gunmaker. The only way is to do it either by hands on instruction or by trial and error. Even with hands on instruction...the student and future maker will develop their own way of doing things.
Does a car's Owner's Manual make one a driver? Does the shop manual for said car make one a mechanic?

Have to agree, and whenever possible get your hands on good original rifles and pistols to get a feel about how delicate and light they can be compared to the vast majority of our recreations. The hardware, and metal parts, including the barrels are quite thin, and there isn't a lot of extra wood left on most of them either...not to say there aren't some original ugly clunkers out there.

 

[Bad Karma]

Is Beech a hardwood?
Hardwood. Hardwoods come from broad-leaved, deciduous trees. The main hardwood timbers are ash, beech, birch, cherry, elm, iroko, mahogany, meranti, oak, obeche, sapele and teak.
Walnut not a hardwood?

Walnut is a hardwood, a deciduous tree. Aspen is also a hardwood by definition. A very soft hardwood and there are softwoods that are much harder and denser than Aspen.

 

[Yellowhouse]

European beech is a very hard wood.
https://www.wood-database.com/european-beech/

 

[Pete G]

No matter what you do to, it is still beech.

 

[Rudyard]

NZ beech is a small leaf Podocarp definatly a hardwood .Woods wood it varies tree to tree. You can stock in most anything but Walnuts the favourite tending to be strong, stable and not heavy or tough like European Beech . You might give Balsa a miss though but sure to be light! . Rudyard