Pistol Project slowly coming along

[Zonie]

After finishing my 1760ish B Gun, I thought I would try my hand at pistol making.
A old Revell plastic model that's been hanging on my wall for 33 years is the basis for this.

It's a .40 caliber precussion using a small Chambers lock, a 3/4 octagon X 10 inch pistol barrel I got from Vernon C. Davis and Curly Maple block of wood from TOTW.
The trigger guard is German Silver and the trigger is a simple non set style trigger.

The sights are not on it yet, but it will have a soldered small Silver front sight and a low rear sight probably located about 1/4 inch from the rear of the barrel.

The barrel has been cut down to 8 1/2 inches long and the barrel channel was cut with a carbide tipped router and a chisel.

The butt cap is a CerroBend casting. I made the mold for the casting out of plaster using the plastic model as a pattern.

Yes, the forward foot of the trigger guard is not inlet yet, so the guard will be closer to the trigger when that task is done.

Long way to go, but it looks more like a pistol than the big block of wood it came from.

I figure I've got about $170 invested in it so far (not counting the $70 I just spent on some really nice "Flexcut" carving chisels to do the fluting with.

Those of you who are thinking of carving a gun might think of going with a pistol for your first project.
Obviously the cost of the materials is a LOT lower than a full stock rifle costs.
If you frinkle it up, you can still use a pistol lock on a small "boys rifle" if you buy a precarved stock blank without the lock inlet.

Just a thought.

 

[canyonman]

Looks good from this angle. That wood really looks like it's going to pop when you have it finished. Have you decided on a finish for it yet? I've got to get a pistol to go with my Austin @ Halleck Mt. Rifle, so's I have a matched set! :winking: If I'm not mistaken, there is some kind of rule that requires this kind of a set-up, at least thats the story I'm telling the "War Dept." ::

Larry

 

[Zonie]

I've had good luck with BC Walnut stain and I'm in the process of working out some good combinations of some alcohol based stains so I'm not sure which I will use.
It will be dark, whatever I do.

Speaking of the wood, I must admit TOTW sent me a nice piece.
Yesterday, while I was spending money on carving chisels I noticed they had some Maple Flame and some Maple Burle in blank sizes that could be used for a pistol. :hmm: :hmm:
Of course they wanted quite a bit more than this guns blank cost but... :hmm: it was still a LOT less than I would have to pay for a fullstock in #2 grade Curly Maple.
I bet carving Burle would be a bear though... all those little swirls going every which way thru the wood.

Makes me have to ask...Have any of you folks used Maple Burle for a gunstock?

 

[Trina]

Wow! Zonie thats gonna be a very pretty gun...cant wait to see it finished... love the carving you did in it.. :hatsoff:

 

[Zonie]

Thank you Cookie.
I used one of my new "Flexcut" palm chisels. Their expensive but after using one, I must say they are worth the money.

They're so sharp you could circumcise a knat and he wouldn't know it happened!

Damdest thing I ever saw! The chisels came in a nice little box with a sliding lid on it. Inside were 5 chisels and a little yellow plastic box. I didn't think anything about the yellow box until I got home and thought to myself "Must be some instructions on how to strop these things to keep them sharp."
Imagine my suprise when I pulled out 4 band-aids! :crackup: :crackup:
Now, how did they know I was going to buy these? :: :: :crackup:

 

[Bob Riegl]

Nice looking gun and the Flexcut chisels are excellenet but not really expensive---if you look around at some Swiss Imports such as Pfeil---one of those chisels can be the price of a set of flexcuts. The box of bandaids is a real laugh producer---that's a good set of chisels and will do you fine for years to come---all they need is occasional stropping. This is all speaking as a woodcarver of many years and one who enjoys making wood sing. I haven't got the cojones to try to build a gun from scratch. :m2c:

 

[Story]

Zonie,
If there wasn't a thread already on CerroBend casting I can read, how hard is that?

I've always thought thid Dutch pistol from that same series was worth copying.
http://www.gasolinealleyantiques.com/kits/images/Miscellaneous/ll-dutch.jpg
Now if we could only convince someone to make 18th. cent. fake ivory pistol stock blanks...

For the wheellock fans, check out
http://www.gasolinealleyantiques.com/kits/images/Miscellaneous/ll-french.jpg

 

[Zonie]

When their put together they look something like this:

My apologies to Life Line. I somehow got the wrong company when I said these kits were made by Revell.

I like the idea of the fake Ivory. In fact, I checked out Dixies stuff but they don't have anything large enough.
I also toyed with building the "Dutch" pistol using Cherry or Walnut but getting a barrel that's close to the one on the model doesn't seem possible unless I had a lathe. It's a .50 caliber with a barrel wall thinkness of about 1/16 at the muzzle.

For those interested in some other photos of these old plastic kit guns follow this link:
MODELS

A post I made about casting nose caps on half stocks gives a little more information on casting with low temperature Bismuth. This stuff comes under several different names, most of them starting with "Cerro.."
Brownells sells a alloy for casting rifle chambers called "Cerrosafe".
Casting Nosecaps

A little more information is found here:
Cerrobend Nosecap on my Schuetzen

 

[Story]

Thanks for the links, Zonie.

Here's some inspiration.

Maastricht, steel, ivory, brass, 1660/65; 45.6 cm
George F. Harding Collection, 1982.2324
This pair of 17th-century Dutch Flintlock Pistols, carved in ivory, was not created for battle but rather for presentation and display. Two pieces of ivory were used, one for the stock and the other for the handle. The sculptor took obvious delight in carving the fanciful reliefs of animals, foliage, and helmeted warriors.

 

[Riley/MN]

I met a knife maker at Praire du Chien who was using Corrian (yeah, the countertop stuff) as faux ivory. There was a scrimshander set up next to him who was doing some beautiful work on the stuff. I didn't think to ask him how it was to work with.

 

[Story]

FWIW, I had a recent email exchange with a faux ivory grip manufacturer who expressed interest in stock blanks.
He asked the following questions:

Would you want any of the exterior contouring (carving) done?

Would the barrel relief need to be cut out?

Would they be fired (that one was an easy answer).

Sounds like a blank would be doable, but not cheap.

 

[the skrat]

hello zonie nice looking pistol
about burls for a pistol blank other than than the problems you stated most burls i have seen always seem to have bark inclusions in them an you never seem to know where they will turn up witch would to me would really spell disaster but if you could find a good one would really be one of a kind these things have birdseye curl wild grain every wich way multi colered wood and a lots of other cool stuff in them oh and did i mention they are also very unstable they really twist and turn when they dry. im a logger in upper michigan and have seen some burls 3 feet in diameter by 1 foot thick i usually find a couple smaller ones and turn a plate or bowl on my lathe real pretty stuff an you never know what they will look like inside :results: :imo:well i hope you find one that works out and post the pics i enjoy looking at all your other creations and the burly pistol would fit in with the rest of them.

curly maple