• This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.



    Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades

The Winter Project That Is Going & Going...

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Cruzatte

50 Cal.
Joined
May 13, 2005
Messages
2,227
Reaction score
1,407
Location
Lawrence, KS
The last and most important piece arrived today, the walnut stock for the fusil de chasse I've always wanted to build. [Track of the Wolf fusil de chasse, 44" X 20 ga Coleraine barrel, walnut stock, iron furniture]

I started a thread last December and I'm chagrined to find my photos have disappeared. They're still on my postimages dot org site.

So I'll post photos of the whole assembly when my wife returns with the camera. (My phone doesn't play at all with the computer. That's why no pix with this post.) I'll get 'em up soon as I can. I promise.

Anyhow, at long last I'm on my way. I'll have questions, I'm sure, as this is only my second project. I did begin draw filing the barrel this afternoon.
 
First ever build was the Caywood Wilson fusil. It needed a lot of wood removed from the fore arm, the lock and side plate panels, final inletting of the lock, buttplate, barrel and breech plug assembly, and trigger guard. Oh and drilling for barrel pins, tang bolt, trigger pin, lock bolts (but the lock plate was drilled and tapped), and all miscellaneous screw holes. Underlugs and sight had to be soldered into place, touch hole drilled and countersunk

The TOW kit is pretty much the same, except the lock plate must be drilled and tapped for the cross bolts. Only tool I lack really is a floor mounted drill press with a tilt table. But I have a good friend who has built many muzzle loaders who has a drill press. This will be my second build. Hope this answers your questions.
 
Makes me grin. I’m saving to buy for my next project,a smooth rifle, I expect to start this fall give or take a month, hope it will be up to the deer woods next fall.
 
I've been pretty pleased with the results on the Caywood build. I hope I can improve my work with the FDC project. I think I can. Most of my criticism of my own work on the Caywood is in the wood finishing. There are some places I could have done a better job of sanding.
 
So here's what an unboxed Track of the Wolf fusil de chasse parts set looks like.
Assembled_Parts1.jpg

A_TVLLE.jpg

And I hope it doesn't disappear in two weeks. :cursing:
 
So here's what an unboxed Track of the Wolf fusil de chasse parts set looks like.

Glad you said "parts set". Many newcomers to this game associate the term "kit" with a click-click-snap-snap assembly project. Those who have been there know that is not the case. You are getting parts that require considerable skill, experience and time to turn into a decent rifle. Methinks beginners would be wise to get an 'in the white' rifle. Then they can disassemble, stain, brown and have a learning experience as they put it back together.

Edit: Oops! :doh: Did I go :eek:ff ?
 
Off topic? No, not in my estimation. I appreciate your comments, and I think they are spot on. I cut my teeth on a bad experience my very first time out, and had to be rescued by a friend who was considerably more experienced than I. Next time out, having learned my lesson, I purchased the Caywood fusil, and was successful. So I call the Caywood my first build. Even my buddy said that was probably a wise choice, because in his words the larger lock, and generally more robust sized parts would be a little more forgiving. He was right.

He also made some valuable suggestions on some hand tools I might purchase. I took his advice, and these made all the difference while working on the Caywood.

And while there are some humility patches on the Caywood, it has proven to be a wonderful gun to shoot. I got hooked on smoothbores with that project. It also showed me where I need to concentrate to produce better results; sanding, mostly.

I learned the difference between "kit" and "parts set" from reading this forum. And I couldn't agree more. Thanks for the education. This place has been a great source of knowledge and collective experience.
 
Firs thing to do is to check the web thickness and adjust the barrel depth to be correct. Pre-carves are notorious for coming with overly thick webs, and breeches that are short for the inlets for the lock.
 
Good to know. The web you refer to I take it is the wood between the bottom of the barrel channel and the top of the ramrod groove. (At least that's the term I use for that bit.) This measures approximately ¼" thick. I say "approximately" because I just went downstairs and did a quick check with a tape measure. I don't have a calipers. (On my To Purchase list, however, along with a square ruler.)

Speaking of which, with that narrow piece of wood, I now understand why so many prefer 1/16" drill rod instead of the 3/32" pins included in the set. A quarter inch of wood doesn't sound like much to me.
 
Cruzatte said:
A quarter inch of wood doesn't sound like much to me.

That is actually kind of a lot. 1/8" would be much better. On big guns it can be a little bit thicker, but not much.

How thick is the breech on yours?
 
1/4" is pretty good. I just measured my pre-carve (not pre-inleted) and the web is 3/16ths. At times an additional 1/16th is "more easier" to work with.

MHO
 
Elnathan said:
Cruzatte said:
A quarter inch of wood doesn't sound like much to me.

That is actually kind of a lot. 1/8" would be much better. On big guns it can be a little bit thicker, but not much.

How thick is the breech on yours?
Approx. 1 7/8" where the barrel tang/barrel assembly will be inlet measured side to side. Top to bottom I get approx. 2". The breech of the barrel is approx. 1¼". I did mention that this is a .615" bore, didn't I?

It rather annoys me that I'm not giving more precise measurements. I'm doing the best I can eyeballing these with a tape measure. Sorry about that.
 
The only way you'll know how thick it is for sure is to drill a hole from the bottom of the barrel channel in tot he RR channel, and then measure it. As far as thickness goes, it really depends on the style of gun you're making. My current gun has 1/16" and 1/8", but that may be too thin for certain makes, like Hawkens for instance.
 
Draw filing completed. Next step is to profile the hexadectagonal flats as illustrated in The Fusil de Tulle 1691-1741 by Russel Bouchard, p. 24, Fig. 27
Drawfiling_Complete1.jpg
[/url] [/img]
 
In months when the humidity is higher, you will notice that wood doesn't cut quite as cleanly or easily. While it is ALWAYS nice to have sharp tools, you will notice they need touching up a bit more often this time of year more often now too.

Inlets made now will be really tight when the winter months roll around too, as is the reverse also true.

Finishes will seem to be abysmally slow to cure now too. I put one on (very thin application of Tried & True Varnish Oil) last Tuesday evening, and it's still not ready to be buffed out yet. It will probably take the balance of this week before it's ready. Good thing I have some other things to do yet on the gun (lock and TG engraving) to occupy my attention.
 
Yeah, makes sense. Well, I've got a lot of polishing I can do on some of the small pieces that need it. So when I just can't stand at the work bench any longer, I have something else to do that's related.
 
Back
Top