Starting another scratch build

[IanH]

Really scratch. Gonna be a 24-gauge shorty trade gun, RobM inspired me with his work. Got a barrel coming, will have to come up with a breech plug and tang and figure out which one of Kibler's locks I'm going to use.

In the meantime, pick tree (the one on the left is more solid). Texas hill country black cherry, the stuff is always full of worm holes, the heart rots out, and it cracks like crazy but sure is pretty if you can find a piece solid enough for a gunstock.

Fell it and haul back to the house, study the cracks, rot, and shape and cut into it.

Dig around in the rot for the bottom and see....is there a gunstock in there? Maybe....

Switch to the table saw and band saw, rough out a blank. Normally I'd leave a lot more wood, wax the ends, and put it away for a few months but with all the cracks, rot, knots, and worm holes I needed to get worked down pretty close so no surprises. I've found oroject-ending defects 1/4" from the outline before on other projects, really sucks when that happens. This one's gonna be rustic so if I can dodge the rot and the worst of the cracks, it will be good. Also try to dodge the worst of the big wormholes but in the end it is what it is and there will be a few to fill.

I think we have a usable blank here. The cracks will start to open up shortly, it will be a battle but I think I can win.

It has a knot through the buttstock and some dark heartwood in the lock area, should be a pretty (if rustic) stock.

That's enough work for one day, I'm tired!

 

[Eric Krewson]

I coat the entire green cherry stock blank with a coat of shellac and haven't had any drying checks in the 4 or 5 I cut out of a log.

 

[Rob M.]

Really scratch. Gonna be a 24-gauge shorty trade gun, RobM inspired me with his work. Got a barrel coming, will have to come up with a breech plug and tang and figure out which one of Kibler's locks I'm going to use.

In the meantime, pick tree (the one on the left is more solid). Texas hill country black cherry, the stuff is always full of worm holes, the heart rots out, and it cracks like crazy but sure is pretty if you can find a piece solid enough for a gunstock.

View attachment 233001

Fell it and haul back to the house, study the cracks, rot, and shape and cut into it.

View attachment 233002

Dig around in the rot for the bottom and see....is there a gunstock in there? Maybe....

View attachment 233003

Switch to the table saw and band saw, rough out a blank. Normally I'd leave a lot more wood, wax the ends, and put it away for a few months but with all the cracks, rot, knots, and worm holes I needed to get worked down pretty close so no surprises. I've found oroject-ending defects 1/4" from the outline before on other projects, really sucks when that happens. This one's gonna be rustic so if I can dodge the rot and the worst of the cracks, it will be good. Also try to dodge the worst of the big wormholes but in the end it is what it is and there will be a few to fill.

View attachment 233004

I think we have a usable blank here. The cracks will start to open up shortly, it will be a battle but I think I can win.

View attachment 233005

View attachment 233006

It has a knot through the buttstock and some dark heartwood in the lock area, should be a pretty (if rustic) stock.

That's enough work for one day, I'm tired!

Very cool ! Gonna be fun to watch this build !

 

[Rob M.]

Really scratch. Gonna be a 24-gauge shorty trade gun, RobM inspired me with his work. Got a barrel coming, will have to come up with a breech plug and tang and figure out which one of Kibler's locks I'm going to use.

In the meantime, pick tree (the one on the left is more solid). Texas hill country black cherry, the stuff is always full of worm holes, the heart rots out, and it cracks like crazy but sure is pretty if you can find a piece solid enough for a gunstock.

View attachment 233001

Fell it and haul back to the house, study the cracks, rot, and shape and cut into it.

View attachment 233002

Dig around in the rot for the bottom and see....is there a gunstock in there? Maybe....

View attachment 233003

Switch to the table saw and band saw, rough out a blank. Normally I'd leave a lot more wood, wax the ends, and put it away for a few months but with all the cracks, rot, knots, and worm holes I needed to get worked down pretty close so no surprises. I've found oroject-ending defects 1/4" from the outline before on other projects, really sucks when that happens. This one's gonna be rustic so if I can dodge the rot and the worst of the cracks, it will be good. Also try to dodge the worst of the big wormholes but in the end it is what it is and there will be a few to fill.

View attachment 233004

I think we have a usable blank here. The cracks will start to open up shortly, it will be a battle but I think I can win.

View attachment 233005

View attachment 233006

It has a knot through the buttstock and some dark heartwood in the lock area, should be a pretty (if rustic) stock.

That's enough work for one day, I'm tired!

 

[Rob M.]

Really scratch. Gonna be a 24-gauge shorty trade gun, RobM inspired me with his work. Got a barrel coming, will have to come up with a breech plug and tang and figure out which one of Kibler's locks I'm going to use.

In the meantime, pick tree (the one on the left is more solid). Texas hill country black cherry, the stuff is always full of worm holes, the heart rots out, and it cracks like crazy but sure is pretty if you can find a piece solid enough for a gunstock.

View attachment 233001

Fell it and haul back to the house, study the cracks, rot, and shape and cut into it.

View attachment 233002

Dig around in the rot for the bottom and see....is there a gunstock in there? Maybe....

View attachment 233003

Switch to the table saw and band saw, rough out a blank. Normally I'd leave a lot more wood, wax the ends, and put it away for a few months but with all the cracks, rot, knots, and worm holes I needed to get worked down pretty close so no surprises. I've found oroject-ending defects 1/4" from the outline before on other projects, really sucks when that happens. This one's gonna be rustic so if I can dodge the rot and the worst of the cracks, it will be good. Also try to dodge the worst of the big wormholes but in the end it is what it is and there will be a few to fill.

View attachment 233004

I think we have a usable blank here. The cracks will start to open up shortly, it will be a battle but I think I can win.

View attachment 233005

View attachment 233006

It ha

 

[Rob M.]

Ok , that was weird...sorry about the triple post !! LOL

 

[IanH]

Finally found time to mill and file the barrel flats and mill off all of the underlug. Most of the time spent was setting up a fixture since I don't have a spindexer with a big enough hole for the barrel. I only draw filed five flats for now and left the top one a little high until my breech plug comes in.

Next I'll put it through the headstock of the lathe, set it up true to the bore with 4-jaw and outboard spider, and turn the wedding band. Then it will go between centers to finish the outside of the round part, then again up close to the chuck to breech it.

 

[deerstalkert]

how is the checking? dead and standing puts you in a whole different set of parameters as far as curing goes. i have lucked out sometimes and finished a project that was stable. other times i have had the wood crawl back to the woods!
we have a tree here local called Hawthorn with striking wood when finished. but so far i have never had one stable. makes stunning knife scales but it is hit and miss whether it curls or sprouts leaves!
we also have some wild cherry. mostly small but once in a while they could give one or two blanks.
I am eager to follow this build. rustic!

 

[SDSmlf]

Did I miss it, or are you drying the wood before final shaping or after assembly?

 

[IanH]

I've had similar experiences with standing dead wood. Just went and looked, so far so good, no warping and no checks. There's a tiny crack that may show on the left cheek at the back that doesn't look any bigger than when cut.

What I'm fighting now on the layout is a giant bug hole through the forestock halfway between the muzzle and rammer entry. After digging out the dust with a pick, the void is unavoidable. I'd like to put it in the barrel channel but there's no room so I think I will have to dodge to the right with the barrel as far as I possibly can and let some of it show on the outside. It wraps so it will take out part of the rammer channel but I should have enough wood under it for a solid forestock. It will show and have to be patched no matter what, it's just a tough place to strengthen.

 

[IanH]

Barrel done except for breeching the tang.

 

[IanH]

Abusing metalworking tools again.

Sharpened the HSS flycutter and got the first true, level, flat surface on the stock, shimmed to be perpendicular to the vertical centerline through the butt. Tool cut like butter and no chipping.

Multiple passes and depths with a 1/2" ball nose end mill got the front half of the barrel channel finished. Time to reset the stock and do the back half. Will do the last .020" width and depth where the taper and octagonal section is the old fashioned way.

Damned bugs! Dead center on my end cut. Rather than set the barrel back (can still do that at this point) I'll just trim it back.

 

[IanH]

Barrel fully inlet, still waiting for the tang to get here.

Bedtime, I'm pooped.

 

[Larks]

Fascinating, thank you for taking us along for the ride

 

[Notchy Bob]

Great thread!

The second photo in post #13 shows the angled barrel channel gives you built-in cast off in the butt, assuming that’ll be a right handed gun. That ought to put your eye right in line with the bore.

There is some real talent on display here.

Notchy Bob

 

[IanH]

Great thread!

The second photo in post #13 shows the angled barrel channel gives you built-in cast off in the butt, assuming that’ll be a right handed gun. That ought to put your eye right in line with the bore.

There is some real talent on display here.

Notchy Bob

Thanks for the kind words, Bob. I don't know about talent but I got determination. I'm fighting my perfectionism here as I want this one to be more "realistic" than what I usually do on modern arms where I strive for absolute perfection in every fine detail.

You are quite correct from the photo angle, which is actually a bad angle. The cast will be neutral, after a fashion as I am left-handed. The reason for the angled channel was to dodge a massive bug hole that goes right through the forearm at the left edge. There was enough wood in the buttstock (barely) to still achieve a neutral cast after rolling the stock slightly and re-establishing a vertical line through the butt. Doing that will make an unconventional butt plate shape but will eliminate some sapwood on the left side of the toe. I'm working to the limits of this blank, some areas will require only smoothing as there is no wood to spare after working through the defects as best I can.

I should also note that while this project could be defined as a "trade gun", I will be deviating from the traditional designs. The trigger will be hinged to the plate and the tang screw will go straight down from the top and thread into the plate. The comb will be arched slightly, the wrist will be shorter, the butt plate angle will be different, and the contours of the wrist into the butt and the thinning of the comb will be different from the classic design.

Some of the features will be a little exaggerated, too, as it's a 26" 24-gauge with a paper-thin barrel but will have a modern LOP, 5" butt, and a big honking monster 6" Kibler round-faced English lock while also having a very slender wrist and forestock.

 

[IanH]

My milling machine is having an identity crisis, but the collets haven't spit the wood router bits out so I keep using them.

Trammed in the forestock, smoothed off the bottom plane, and milled the rammer channel.

Pretty close, tram was off slightly but not too bad.

Setting up to drill the rammer hole. Here's where I take a break, eat a snack, rehydrate, mess around on the internet, and unwind a bit before going back to it.

Where the point of the drill is, there is a 1/8" hole plumb and square through the stock drilled from the barrel channel side from a previous setup. It will be covered by the inlet pipe and mostly removed when the tab is inlet, but provides a direct centerline measurement for the rammer channel. With rough-sawn sides and questionable squareness it is difficult to transfer accurate, indirect centeline measurements from top to bottom. I also drilled a blind peep hole hole into bottom of the barrel channel the rammer near the breech.

 

[IanH]

Hole done, dead nutz on the money.

Bolster inletted, worming on getting the plate down.

 

[IanH]

Plate all the way..

Put the internals of the lock back together and pushed it all the way down again, made sure everything had proper working clearance...

Top view...

Did a little more refinement to the stock shape but here I'm stuck until the tang, trigger, and trigger plate gets here. I want to take another 3/16" off of the bottom from the front of the wrist all the way to the rammer entry hole but need the rear thimble and see where the trigger plate needs to be positioned vertically before I can bring that to final profile.

 

[IanH]

Finally got a chance to get back to this project.

Faced the breech, bored .740" deep by .685", ran down a plug tap, then bottoming tap, faced the internal shoulder at .750", checked the plug fit. Good, but needs 5/8 of a turn. Bored and faced .042", another half turn with the bottoming tap, clean and apply Sharpie, test for crush fit. Good to go, lined up, draw filed top and bottom and match-marked the plug and bottom flat with a sharp cold chisel.