Pistol grotesque.

[LehighBrad]

I did a search but had no luck. Can anyone describe, or better yet post pictures on how to inlet / install a pistol grip grotesque cap on a pistol??  I want to put one on the pistol I'm currently building , but don't know how to go about inletting it correctly. For example...how would you file or rasp down the wood along the edges of the grotesque without ruining the cap itself?? I mean, all the uneven edges and raised surfaces around the edges of the face. 

[E.vonAschwege]

There was a muzzleblasts article a few months back in which someone showed his process of inletting one of these.  I bend out the "tab" slightly so it clears the wood, then inlet the remaining portion straight down.  Once installed, I skip the rasps and files, and instead use a chisel to cut down along side the buttcap.  In the final step, I hold the edge of the chisel on the brass, then shave down the wood to exactly the right depth.  It takes care, but doesn't need much cleanup after that.  I wish I had photos from the last one I did, but the camera decided to try swimming shortly after I took the pictures... 
-Eric

[Acer Saccharum]

the camera decided to try swimming shortly after I took the pictures... 
-Eric

In the toilet, or the ocean?

I guess the result would be the same, nevermind, I really don't want to know.

[E.vonAschwege]

It fell into a tide pool....   


Fortunately, I'd sent this photo to Acer, who still had it somehow and forwarded it along to me.  Here you can see the buttcap inlet and the wood trimmed away with the chisel (complete with a few chisel marks to clean up). 

[PPatch]

It jumped into the tidepool you mean... ;o)

Those butt caps look like a bear to inlet. Good job!

dp

[eddillon]

Here is a link to a thread on ALR.

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=22714.msg220451#msg220451

[eddillon]

Here is a link to the buttcap before wood finishing.

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=23815.msg228477#msg228477

[Mark Elliott]

I inlet one just like the one in Eric's pic.   It was tedious.   I just kept fitting and chiseling.    However,  I saw an article somewhere that showed that the original pistols eliminated a good bit of the trouble by simple cutting off the butt of the pistol flat just beyond the edge of the butt cap.   That way you are really just inletting the tang and the edge, not very different from a rifle butt piece.   I have only recently started making those inlets easier on myself by not inletting the wood up into the butt piece.