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Kibler Colonial build

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Joined
Aug 21, 2022
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Location
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Still very much a work in process

Dry fitting everythingFile and sand all brass/ wood mating surfaces for smooth runout. Filed the far tip end of the tang to mate smoothly with the stocks waist, also bucked the tang screw down flush with the tang. That gives me a clean smooth runout from the breach to Comb

Image.jpeg


The lock is ideal for me! The main spring is strong, and the action is like silk! And boy, is it ever pretty!



Image_1.jpeg


in

The muzzle has been well crowned-coned.

The barrel is marked on on the bottom “ Kibler, GM and 1 - 70”. No laser etching telling me to use only black powder etc. Nice.



Now the only thing left to do is to take her all apart. And begin the business of carving the stock.





Still very much a work in process

Dry fitting everything



File and sand all brass/ wood mating surfaces for smooth runout.



Filed the far tip end of the tang to mate smoothly with the stocks waist,



also bucked the tang screw down flush with the tang. That gives me a clean smooth runout from the breach to Comb.



Cut in additional detail work on trigger guard. The forms haven’t changed, I just added a bit of relief. If

I’ve given a lot of thought to how to finish the stock. The A grade curly maple I have deserves nothing less.

All of these sample blocks have 3-4 coats of BLO.



tanic acid, iron nitrite. Beautiful but dark. More sanding would bring up more feature, I also experimented with ananine dyes



The yellow is a bit much, but jumps nicely.



The golden brown is my wife’s favorite, I am leaning that way myself.



The forth pix is applying a mixture of red and coal black dye, let dry, sand to almost gone, just dark endgrain, then apply the golden brown and sand lightly. Not too dark, with flashes of red, but I think I could have done a yellow top coat.



The last pix is BLO alone.



The lock is ideal for me! The main spring is strong, and the action is like silk! And boy, is it ever pretty!



The muzzle has been well crowned-coned.

The barrel is marked on on the bottom “ Kibler, GM and 1 - 70”. No laser etching telling me to use only black powder etc. Nice.



Now the only thing left to do is to take her all apart. And begin the business of carving the stock.



File and sand all brass/ wood mating surfaces for smooth runout.



Filed the far tip end of the tang to mate smoothly with the stocks waist,



also bucked the tang screw down flush with the tang. That gives me a clean smooth runout from the breach to Comb.



Cut in additional detail work on trigger guard. The forms haven’t changed, I just added a bit of relief. If

I’ve given a lot of thought to how to finish the stock. The A grade curly maple I have deserves nothing less.

All of these sample blocks have 3-4 coats of BLO.



tanic acid, iron nitrite. Beautiful but dark. More sanding would bring up more feature, I also experimented with ananine dyes



The yellow is a bit much, but jumps nicely.



The golden brown is my wife’s favorite, I am leaning that way myself.



The forth pix is applying a mixture of red and coal black dye, let dry, sand to almost gone, just dark endgrain, then apply the golden brown and sand lightly. Not too dark, with flashes of red, but I think I could have done a yellow top coat.



The last pix is BLO alone.



The lock is ideal for me! The main spring is strong, and the action is like silk! And boy, is it ever pretty!



The muzzle has been well crowned-coned.

The barrel is marked on on the bottom “ Kibler, GM and 1 - 70”. No laser etching telling me to use only black powder etc. Nice.



Now the only thing left to do is to take her all apart. And begin the business of carving the stock.
 

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The wood samples
 

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Thanks guys, Jim Kibler really makes a gorgeous rifle. I am still experimenting with stock staining, I want to try Minwax water based stains, and to play with mix and match dyes. I want to see if alcohol works better than water with them.
I plan on carving “C” scrolls and tang and trigger guard embellishments in the Recoco style to the stock. It’s kinda scary to take a cutting tool to this stock, I could just stain what I have and call it a day, but I won’t. I got the tools and enough foolish confidence to succeed or completely s***w up a first class stock. Either way I am having a ball!
 

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An excellent build. Those Kibler kits were a great thing for the ordinary guy that wanted a custom quality flintlock. Most guys can't really afford to have a custom builder make a rifle for them and don't really have the skills to build one from a plank by themselves. I did a Chambers kit (not quite finished) and even those have quite a steep learning curve. I also have a Kibler Colonial kit which I haven't touched yet because I wanted to make sure I got better at carving so I could decorate it a bit. After seeing a bunch of these, I think I'll just put it together, keep the embellishments simple, and go shooting.

By the way, in my opinion the first and darkest finish is the one I like the best. I think that's what I'd shoot for on my rifle.
K.C.
 
KC Clem… that first stain is tanic acid and iron nitrate. It requires heat to blush the color. I Lost my heat gun somewhere, and I used a oil lamp to apply heat, those glass chimneys put out a bunch of heat, one can light a cigar off one easily. Worked really well
 
More progress.
I opted for the aniline dyes for the stock. Tannic acid is more traditional, but I was looking for a lighter look. This is my first attempt at inletting and relief carving as well. Curly maple is hard, hard. Tools cannot be too sharp. I left the barrel in the white, even polished it a bit. My next big learning curve will be installing and engraving a hunter’s star. But first I want to take her to the range to see what I can do with this fine long gun. I have some 2F and 3F Pyrodex, but no 4F to prime.So I have ordered real black powder in all 3 grades, it seems the right propellant for this 1760 style firearm. If I can shoot a respectable group, I’ll post it as well
thanks for looking
Shadowalker
 

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Interesting and nice work Shadowwalker. IMO and eye reference your four sample block finishes, the first and third are too light (yellowish). The second is too dark-don't care for real dark brown maple, but like the color of darker walnut with a tint of red in it. The fifth is more appealing to me, but IMO needs more of a hint of red to it, but it's your rifle and taste that matters. Will be nice looking when finished. That's what is nice about builds, ya can finish and build to your own taste and eye.
 
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Crow Choker…
I have built four sidelocks, on the 3 before this art project, I went more “traditional “ pictures attached. I just didn’t want to do that again. I have visions of silver overlay on side plate, all period correct! Also I have a small amount of ivory that was my fathers, that might work too. Everything in the 1760 style, think Lancaster pattern. At any rate, this is fun!
 

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A couple more pix in full sun. This curly maple, photos don’t capture it well. I think she looks Gorgious! But I get it if one thought that this treatment was a mistake. Just wrong.
It is my opinion that In a line up with 10 other long guns, she will stand out! Thanks for looking
Shadowalker
 

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A few more…
 

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