|
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 7,578
Campfire Outfitter
|
OP
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 7,578 |
A major breakthrough in progress... So my ally on this project has been D'Arcy Echols. He needed a lefty Legend McMillan stock blank for a client quicker than he could get it from McMillan, and so I traded him one in exchange for him duplicating a stock off my pattern. The unfortunate part of the deal for him (but the absolutely great part for me) is that I would take my pattern by and he would tell me what was not right yet. I would go home, fix whatever was deficient, and then return for another lesson in remedial stock building. He was kind enough to put up with maybe a half dozen of those visits. When he said it was ready to go, I took a blank over. He got it rough cut while I was overseas, and offered me the chance to watch as he did the final shaping. He uses a Hoenig pantograph, which mounts the stock and pattern in rotating steadyrests to ensure that the stock is not deflected by the pressure of the cutter. The result is that he can cut to .003" over. It did take over three hours, and three different depths of cutting, and I'll bet he changed cutters 25 times to properly get into some corner of the stock. I have used a number of semi-inlet blanks before, but never one cut this close. It greatly sped up my work. D'Arcy thinks he can inlet a stock off this pantograph in 3 hours, it took me almost 8, which might be a third of the time I have spent on others. The wood is everything I might have hoped for--now I need to just take my time and not screw it up. (I wet the stock with mineral spirits for the photos.)
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 2,961
Campfire Regular
|
Campfire Regular
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 2,961 |
That is a beautiful stock to say the least!!
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 5,681 Likes: 4
Campfire Tracker
|
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 5,681 Likes: 4 |
Figures don't lie, But Liars figure Assumption is the mother of mistakes
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 7,578
Campfire Outfitter
|
OP
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 7,578 |
Here is what I was referring to regarding the rotating steady rests in the Hoenig pantograph:
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 1,716 Likes: 11
Campfire Regular
|
Campfire Regular
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 1,716 Likes: 11 |
Very nice. You got your money's worth on that trade! :-)
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 22,884
Campfire Ranger
|
Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 22,884 |
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 7,263
Campfire Tracker
|
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 7,263 |
That blank looks like the tree knew it was going to become a gunstock. The grain is just about perfect. I'll say you got a pretty good deal on the trade, a mini apprenticeship and a profiled blank too. What finish? Any alkanet oil? The color is so good already could be risky.
"When you disarm the people, you commence to offend them and show that you distrust them either through cowardice or lack of confidence, and both of these opinions generate hatred." Niccolo Machiavelli
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 7,578
Campfire Outfitter
|
OP
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 7,578 |
I appreciate your comments. I am really pleased with the layout of the stock; I have not done enough projects from a blank to be able to confidently "see" the stock that is buried in the blank. Decisions about how to finish the stock are pending. Fortunately I have cut off pieces of the blank to practice with. I have not used alkanet oil before, so I might be asking you some questions.
By the way, you offered some important comments about the relative shapes of the cheekpiece and the shadowline. I have made some changes consistent with your advice, so look for that as I post more progress photos.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 7,263
Campfire Tracker
|
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 7,263 |
I could send you some alkanet. Better to make your own and do a big batch so you can play around with different dilutions of turpentine to oil. Once you have one you like mix plenty so you don't have to use a different batch on the same stock.
Best info is on the Double Gun forum. It is interesting stuff it is both a dye and a stain. It looks terrible at first and then when finished brings out the grain like nothing else. Go easy with a more diluted mix. You can add a little to each stage of the finishing to get deeper color.
You can get the raw alkanet root from herbal, candle and soap making places on line.
But go with whatever D'Arcy recommends.
"When you disarm the people, you commence to offend them and show that you distrust them either through cowardice or lack of confidence, and both of these opinions generate hatred." Niccolo Machiavelli
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 908
Campfire Regular
|
Campfire Regular
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 908 |
That is a gorgeous stock. I also really like the barrel contour and wanted to ask you to share the details on it.
Thank you.
If you can't be a good example, may you at least serve as a dreadful warning
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 7,578
Campfire Outfitter
|
OP
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 7,578 |
The barrel is a profile I developed, again influenced by Echols and the Burgess tradition. It is approximately a Winchester featherweight with a shank. Most factory barrels taper at .006"/in; this one tapers faster than that, which means it carries more diameter further forward, and is not as whippy as other barrels with the same muzzle diameter. But I also like the aesthetics of the sharp corner where the shank breaks into the concave taper. I used the same profile on a 7mm Rem mag. Brux turned it for me from a pattern I sent to them.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 53,303
Campfire Kahuna
|
Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 53,303 |
Thank you for the update, ...
this is one of the finer threads running on this website.
Kudos for keeping dreams and visions alive, Mate !
GTC
Member, Clan of the Border Rats -- “Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it.”- Mark Twain
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 7,578
Campfire Outfitter
|
OP
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 7,578 |
Woodworking books always say it is good to practice with a finish, even one you have used before, because it may interact in novel ways with any given piece of wood. Given that I am trying some new things on this stock, some experimentation was doubly called for. This is two coats of some penetrating sealer, a black paste filler for the pores, one more coat of sealer to lock in the filler, then some hand rubbed oil coats. I put a little transparent red/brown dye in the sealer and oil, just to see what I would get. Any thoughts?
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 75
Campfire Greenhorn
|
Campfire Greenhorn
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 75 |
Good grain flow through the wrist, love the dark grain too.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 17,181
Campfire Ranger
|
Campfire Ranger
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 17,181 |
Randy NRA Patriot Life Benefactor
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 10,960 Likes: 1
Campfire Outfitter
|
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 10,960 Likes: 1 |
Looks great, nicely done.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 7,578
Campfire Outfitter
|
OP
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 7,578 |
Time for an update--it continues to look like a rifle. The gun spent about 6 weeks with Mike Scherz (Gila River Gun Works, Pocatello ID) getting some custom bases made. I think they look better than Talleys, and also have compensated for some unevenness in the action radius. He also needed to re-thread the rear screws to 8-40 because the existing 6-32 holes were mis-aligned. Aside from that, most of my hours have been in polishing the metal and sanding/whiskering the stock--none of which is evident in photos, however. But I am still a sucker for putting denatured alcohol on it to make sure the figure is still there...
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 96,162 Likes: 3
Campfire Oracle
|
Campfire Oracle
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 96,162 Likes: 3 |
Life Member SCI Life Member DSC Member New Mexico Shooting Sports Association
Take your responsibilities seriously, never yourself-Ken Howell Proper bullet placement + sufficient penetration = quick, clean kill. Finn Aagard
Ken
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 30,291 Likes: 2
Campfire 'Bwana
|
Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 30,291 Likes: 2 |
I always like your rifle posts... great job!
“Perfection is Achieved Not When There Is Nothing More to Add, But When There Is Nothing Left to Take Away” Antoine de Saint-Exupery
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 15,335 Likes: 5
Campfire Ranger
|
Campfire Ranger
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 15,335 Likes: 5 |
Beautiful work. Thank you for all of the pictures.
Semper Fi
|
|
|
|
520 members (1lessdog, 160user, 22250rem, 01Foreman400, 1badf350, 1Longbow, 49 invisible),
2,128
guests, and
1,129
robots. |
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
Forums81
Topics1,193,237
Posts18,504,505
Members73,994
|
Most Online11,491 Jul 7th, 2023
|
|
|
|