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Tools for shaping the stock

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good advice from all .. I would grab a patternmakers vise, if I could afford one, but I make do with the 6 inch vise on my bench.

Also, I would counsel you to avoid buying chisels (or anything else for that matter) in "sets." It's been my experience that you will actually use only a few of them, and the remainder will sit in the pretty box, which will keep them from gathering too much dust. Instead, buy chisels as you need them, and buy the very best quality that you can afford, and you'll have fewer tools and more money to spend.

As regards the use of concrete nails for making your own small chisels, this is a slippery slope... I have only about a zillion of the little guys floating about on my bench … I actually did make a holder for them, which was rather a big waste of effort, since I soon made more small chisels and now I have many more tools that places in the holder for them … another holder is in order, but I cannot help but sense a pattern beginning to develop … hmmm … perhaps I should get some of that much- touted 'self control' stuff my kids seem to think is so wonderful …

I would also advise you to et a system which will allow you to keep your tools razor sharp … no - sharper than that … neurosurgery sharp … I use the wet/dry sandpaper method, but there are a bunch of ways you can get an edge to scary sharpness. Do not hesitate to strop your edges as well: just get a hunk of veg. tanned leather from e- bay and some polishing compound. Dull edges will slip out of the cut and into your flesh … too dull to properly cut wood, but more that sharp enough to cut flesh … bloodstains don't come out of tigerstripe maple at all well (don't ask me how I know).

Good luck with your project!
If I buy a set of any type tool and have no use for certain tools out of the set, I try to modify them into something useful. Even if I screw it up I don\t consider it a waste, as it wouldn't have been used anyhow.
 
I rebuilt an 1861 Bridesberg musket and I had to replace almost two feet of missing foregrip that was actually quite complicated. It had three steps for different size bands and a nose cap, inletting for the tapered barrel, the ram rod and the barrel band retaining springs. On top of that I had to come up with a way to mend the remaining original stock to the new foregrip in such a way as to be strong and reasonably undetectable. I bought exactly one gunsmithing tool, a barrel inletting shaper. I had to make one very small chisel from a drill bit for the retaining spring inletting but beyond that, everything else was chisels, files, sand paper and buckets of elbow grease! I did a readers digest version of the build in the builders section with photos. It's not a new build, but it has alot of the same techniques you'll use on your build. Most of it is finding another way to skin a cat. Whenever I hit a wall or got to a point where I wasn't sure how to proceed, I stopped and did some research and asked some questions. YouTube is your friend! I also would just say to myself " the guys who built this stuff originally didn't have access to what do" and understand what they didn't have in the ways of technology or tools, they made up for with persistence and hard work.
Good luck!

Nice set of chisels BTW.
Sharpen often!
 

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Ive got a tula musket to make a new front wood for . I would be very interested to see your method of making the joint. Getting enough strength in the joint and making the joint as invisible as possible is eluding me at the moment cap and ball
 
Ive got a tula musket to make a new front wood for . I would be very interested to see your method of making the joint. Getting enough strength in the joint and making the joint as invisible as possible is eluding me at the moment cap and ball
I'll post some pictures
The first part is to select a spot. I chose to join my existing stock to the new part by cutting the stock under the existing band. By cutting it directly under the center of the band it hides to mend and supports the new stock. Next I drilled two dowel holes in the existing stock. I used a simple dowel drilling kit I got from harbor freight and added two hardwood Ash dowels. I used the cut off piece of stock as my model for the new fore grip and shaped it accordingly making sure the connection would be as straight as possible. I used the barrel as my guide and held it in place with the original band until the new woodwork while the wood glue dried. I guess I should say you have to have the foregrip pretty close to finished at this point (nose cap, bands and any other inletting like the ramrod groove). Once the band is in place, it should be nearly undetectable. Of course, you'll have to match the stain/age etc. I had to inlet some barrel retaining springs which once in place, help to hide the repair further. Hope this helps.
 

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You will find that having a bunch of small tools is particularly useful such as below. Learning to sharpen things to a scary sharp level (using a strop for final sharpening and polishing). The big stuff is nice once you master good control, but small tools let you make SMALL mistakes that you can recover from more easily.

My bench set up has 2 woodworker's vices that is particularly handy for handling these long stocks. I*t's also set up so it lets me work sitting down on a stool. Goo d lighting is essential. I also have a machine vice on the corner that lets me stand up when I need to really crank on things, like filing barrel flats.
 

I could use a descriptive name for those small carving tools. The little ones with the hex shape wood handles? And if not offensive a low cost source for buying. Perhaps from the country we all love to hate. Oh god please, I do appreciate quality, but it is either cheep or I improvise.

I have had some success with those exacto knife kits. That will cut down the sides, I like those very narrow chisels to clean out the bottom.
 
The smallish hex-handled tools I got from Woodcraft as a set. I believe they are from Dockside Models. About $20 or so for a set of 5. The push tools are Pfeil, and ran about $30 each (same place). The red, blue, and green scrapers are from Brownell's, and ran $12-$15 each. All that stuff is particularly useful for carving. Another set of tools that can be handy are sanding sticks, and these little riffler files. The sanding sticks let you move the paper a little bit when they get clogged up as one end is spring loaded. I think I got those from Rockler, and about $15-$20 or so for a set plus a bunch or replacement paper (also pictured).
sanding sticks.jpg
 
One of the most tedious (yet important) aspects of doing raised carving is modeling, or, getting the raised shapes to shape rather than be flat-topped. Part of that is getting the plain below them to be flat, without digs. Small carving tools, scrapers, and the sanding sticks really let you get in there and take teensie-weensie thin shavings. Below are some intermediate photos before I was completely done with them. You can still see a few digs and scratches in the bottom one.
Kuntz tang carving before finish.jpg
kuntz wrist carving.jpg
 
I believe that an overlapping scarf join 2' or so at least to be the best way to extent a new foreend rather than the peg notion .The scarf is how it was done , Sometimes seemingly on new guns just to use a shorter blank didn't seem to phase them. If its under the band fine but if no band you need more care to pick matching wood & grain . Nice carving by the way .Salutations Rudyard
 
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