My Traditions Kentucky Pistol Build

[wiscoaster]

Step #1

Account for, collect, isolate and contain all the parts:

 

[wiscoaster]

Step #2

Get familiar with my hunk of wood. Thoroughly wet it with distilled water to:
1) Raise the grain for sanding.
2) Get familiar with the grain.
3) Discover imperfections.

 

[wiscoaster]

Step #3

Initial dry-fitting, to give me an idea of what needs to be done:

The barrel fits pretty nice and snug. The trigger guard doesn't come anywhere close to fitting. It's going to need to bending of the metal or additional inlay of the wood. Should I wait to see how the trigger mates with the lock? Suggestions welcomed.

Some minor fitting around the nose piece and the tang:

 

[wiscoaster]

Step #4

The barrel looks really nice. No major machining marks. Smooth and shiny. The bore also looks really nice. Crisp rifling. Lots of milling residue; easily cleaned out. I'm planning on plum browning it. Any pro or con thoughts on that?

 

[wiscoaster]

Step #5

The lock sideplate and hammer looked really badly tarnished (or maybe it's some cheap simulated color case hardening? Don't know and don't care, it looks pretty cheesy):

Some time spent with Mother's, my Dremel, #0000, 2000 grit, various toothpicks, Q-tips and a couple stiff brushes helped:

Still not perfect, though much improved. IF I'm going to plum brown the barrel, do you guys think I should do same to the lock sideplate? (Not knowing what kind of metal, I don't know if and how it would "take". I suppose I could try a little on the back side first).

 

[wiscoaster]

Step #6

Trying to get some idea of what finishing techniques and materials to use, I started with the ramrod, sanding and applying amber-tinted oil:

My plan is to stain and finish with Tung oil or Tru oil. Pro or con thoughts?

Note to self and others: the metal ends ARE NOT BRASS. They're some other metal (aluminum probably) just very lightly coated or painted, and even the lightest sanding overrun takes it off. Not sure how I want to remedy that yet. Maybe just with paint. I suspect I'll just install this ramrod as "decoration" and use an external ramrod to charge the gun. Suggestions?

 

[wiscoaster]

That's all for today.

 

[Dutch7]

Good for you - make note of all the excess wood, start there. These things need a lot of slimming down for proportion.
try filing on the under side of the "brass parts" to see what you have.
a browned barrel will look nice with a darken wood stock. The Beachwood stock will take some work to achieve a good finish, try inside the barrel channel with different stains until you are happy then stain the outside.

 

[Panama Red]

Don’t bend on that trigger guard! Brass “work hardens”, I found out, when I bent my trigger guard juuuust a smidge. Broke it. Admittedly, it was a longer, thinner trigger guard for the Kentucky rifle.
-Red, knows a few things, because he’s seen a few things…

 

[wiscoaster]

Don’t bend on that trigger guard! Brass “work hardens”,

Thanks for the warning. Do you think I could bend it a smidge if I heated it first?

 

[Panama Red]

Thanks for the warning. Do you think I could bend it a smidge if I heated it first?

I really don’t know. I just know that in bending mine, it broke. There are some threads on here that discuss bending brass.
Enjoying the build so far! Keep posting up!
-Red, needs a pistol now…

 

[wiscoaster]

Step #7:

Cleaning the barrel bore of milling residue.

But first: GO SHOPPING!!

Because .... as it turns out, all my cleaning implements are no good for a 50 caliber, 10 inch, closed breech barrel. Not to mention the threads on the attachment are different.

And ... I can't take a pic of the bore to show you guys the result, sorry. If I could shine a light in the breech end, maybe, but I'm just working with an iPad camera.

 

[wiscoaster]

Step #8:

Rust-brown the barrel.

Product used is the Birchwood-Casey "Plum Brown" solution, arrived today courtesy of Amazon.

The barrel finish wasn't quite as pristine as appeared at first glance, so first move was to do some polishing. Bluing is only going to make surface imperfections more noticeable. Then thorough degreasing; I like to use acetone, followed by denatured alcohol.

Then I made a little stand for the barrel from a piece of dowel and scrap wood:

The instructions say to heat to about 275 degrees until a "drop of water splatters". I did that in the oven. It's surprising how long it takes. But this is a pretty big hunk of metal. Note: use distilled water. Tap water will leave a mineral deposit.

Another note: the solution could spatter while applying, so wear long-sleeve shirt, gloves and safety glasses.

Yet another note: be sure to plug holes you don't want rusted, like threaded holes.

I was surprised how much color change occurred so fast with the first coat. I suspect you could still get good results at a lower temperature.

The instructions didn't say to do this, but I made a neutralizing solution from distilled water and baking soda, swabbed that on after the first coat dried, then rinsed in cool water.

The first coat may not look like much, but I'm going to let it alone overnight and then card it. To my eye, it looks pretty good for a first coat:

 

[wiscoaster]

Step #9:

Hardwood finish prep: testing stain.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm using the ramrod to test my finishing techniques & materials. I decided to try a new technique with this project by applying an oil first. The reason I did this is because beech really soaks up stain and tends to get too dark and spotchy and not much you can do.

So after letting the oil set for a day I sanded lightly and applied dark walnut:

After wiping, it's still too dark:

I want it a little lighter and redder. So flash-dry with a heat gun and lightly sand again, then apply some red chestnut:

After wiping:

You can see it's indeed lighter and redder. I'll let the stain set then try a finish coat to see how that looks. But that looks like about what I want, so I'll probably test a mix of 50/50 dark walnut and red chestnut on the inside of the barrel groove to see how it looks on the gun stock.

 

[Rich44]

Nice Project.
Put other end of trigger guard in first.

 

[wiscoaster]

Put other end of trigger guard in first.

Thanks. I tried that, and it's still about an eighth of an inch too long.

 

[wiscoaster]

Step #8 (cont'd):

After carding the first browning application:

Pretty happy with results at this point. My major goof was not plugging the screw holes well enough (and worse with hydrophilic Q-tip heads) so dealt with a bit of rust on the threads then located some gun screws to plug the screw holes until done.

From this point it's a repetitive process, so won't be posting updates on each application until barrel completely done.

Everybody have a great holiday weekend, and fly your flags to remember our fallen warriors.

 

[wiscoaster]

Step #10:

Hammer and side plate prep.

As I mentioned previously, I was planning to rust brown the hammer and sideplate. So, I disassembled the lock works and removed the hammer. Don't want to rust the lock works, NO!! De-blued, cleaned and further buffed and polished the hammer and side plate. And you know, what? I think they look pretty nice just like that:

So, do you guys think I should just leave them like that? Or, go ahead with my plans to rust brown them, like I'm doing to the muzzle?

Side note: hammer removal had me baffled until this thread posted by fellow forum member supplied the key:

https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/taking-apart-a-side-hammer-lock.116647/

 

[wiscoaster]

Interim:

I'm thinking about adding a decorative brass sideplate to the (outside? offside? what's the proper term?) of the pistol and picked up this brass sheet metal at the local hardware store. The size is good; I'm just wondering if this is suitable?

Thanks ....

 

[appalichian hunter]

Your gun, your build your choice.