Tang Finial

Well, I'm slowly making a little progress on my Chambers Lancaster rifle. I have the barrel completely down in the channel without the breechplug, and nice and tight against the rear wall of the channel. I got a finial cut and filed on the tang, got the tang bent, and am now working on inletting the tang and plug down into the stock.

Here's a couple of pictures of the finial:

It's not perfect, but I like it, and after reviewing some tangs in Kindig and RCA Vol. 1, I feel good about it. I shaped it by coming back 3/8" from the end of the tang and drawing a line across the tang, then coming in 1/16" on both sides, and drawing a curve from that point to the center of the tang at the end. I used a lid from a can of Goex for the curve. I then cut as much excess off as I dared with a hacksaw, and broke out the mill bastard files to file it down.

This tang is very similar to the tang Jim Turpin puts on the Lancaster in his DVD, although his is more rounded, where as I specifically wanted mine to come to a point.

I will post more pics as soon as I get the tang down into the wood. Then it will be on to inletting the trigger plate, drilling and tapping my tang screw, and getting it pinned up.

 

[kmeyer]

Very nice lookin'. Do you have any side shots? I'd like to see if you filed the depth as I'm doing one now.

 

Yeah, I took one, but it came out a little blurry 'cause I got a little too close to it, and this camera doesn't do closeup's very well. Regardless, I'll post it.

To answer your question, I haven't filed any thickness at all on the tang. I plan on getting it down into the wood, and then filing it to match the wrist profile.

 

[THOM]

Don't forget to file in from the top all the way around the tang..
A small beveled angle is all you need; but it makes a huge difference in metal to wood fit..
If you leave the sides flat, yer asking for trouble; when you want to pull the tang up out of the wood.. could cause it to break pieces of wood along the side of the tang..or worst- out the back where that point is on yer tang..
I also have a thick soft cloth folded up on my bench; and when I want the barrel out; I turn the gun upside down,while holding the barrel,and I give the stock a gentle thump..
the weight of the barrel lets it fall out; and NO wood is splintered..
I don't mean to confuse ya; but if you can learn from my boo-boos, good fer ya !! :front: :front:
Any metal to wood fit - always bevel the metal,you won't be sorry ..
Hope it helps, and yer work sure looks nice..
Summer on
limpin'frog :sleep: :snore: :hmm: :sleep:

 

Well, it looks to me like the sides of the tang already have a bevel on them, so I didn't file them any, but I did make sure to put a bevel on the finial when I was filing it. Do I need to file more of a bevel on the sides of the tang than is already there?

I worked on it some more last night, and I have the tang about half-way down into the stock.

 

StaticXDOOd, IMO keep the bevel to a minimum. You don't need much. If you put too much bevel, when you do the final shaping, fileing the tang and wood together, you could open up gaps in the inlet as most inlets end up perpendicular. Keep a VERY slight bevel as previously suggested and once it is fully inlet and finished, then file a bit more bevel on the back of the finial being careful to stay away from the top (you don't want to creat gaps in your inlet). You want some relief at the back of the tang or recoil may break out some wood back there.

Cody