Question regarding beavertails on on lock mouldings.

[Rolf]

I started carving on the pair of silver Kentucky pistols. The curly maple is a pleasure to work with. Its a lot easier to carve than the black walnut I used on my first pistol.
I cut a piece of brass plate that's 1.5mm thick to use as a gage to make sure the molding is 1/16"high.  How high should the beavertails stick up above the back ground? 1/16" seems to high.

Best regards

Rolfkt

[Jim Filipski]

Rolfkt,
Actually a 1/16" is pretty high in my book unless you are doing an early Dutch pistol ( love those babies!)
Seriously I usually bring the stock to close to final shape then do the beavertails then work the backgrounds down & back to blend. But I'm not one to leave extra on to these carved areas ( again unless is is early Dutch which need the height)
Jim