MIDNIGHT LACE PROJECT

[David Price]

I have excepted a contract from someone that wants  a rifle that is a bit different form the norm.   I can do anything that I want but it must be different from anything else that I have built before.  I have had a design for a rifle in the back of my mind for sometime now, and this could be the opportunity to build it.  I refer to it as the Midnight Lace Project.   I know what  some of you are thinking , but it has nothing to do with porn.. 

The rifle that I have in mind, of course will be a swivel breech, but instead of using a piece of curly maple stump wood, I am going to use a piece of black cherry, and stain it as black as I can get it, that’s the midnight part.  The lace part will be the  extensive silver wire.  The wood will be highly carved, and have some Mammoth ivory inlaid in it.   The hardware will be steel except for the lock and side plate which will be Damascus steel.  There will also be a bit of gold inlay in the metal.  The rifle should  be very interesting, very contemporary, quite different, and should be very attractive………Or may be not!!!!!!!!!! 

 I am so undecided about it that I have decided to build a test rifle first.  Not quite as ornate, but with the general design in mind.  The following pictures are the start of the test rifle.  It will be very interesting hearing your comments.

I thought that this might be an interesting project for ALR to follow  and comment on.

[Larry Pletcher]

David,
This is going to be cool.  Keep us informed.

Pletch

[Brian]

Oh man!  I'm drooling already and he's just started!    Wow, is that going to be cool!

[J Shingler]

A test Rifle! Well when you decide to chuck that one and start on the real rifle I would be more than happy to come over and dig it out of the dumpster. LOL Sure looking good to me and am interested in seeing how those contrasting color materials come together.
J Shingler

[Brian Jordan]

I am surely interested in more pictures. I absolutly love to look at the work you do.

[California Kid]

How about a different butt plate.

[acorn20]

David,
Not only is your carving concise, but your picture taking is quite sharp and clear!  Keep 'em coming!

Dan

[t.caster]

How is his going to be different unless you destroy the prototype? That would be a shame! Is that Black Cherry? Looks like our wild Cherry.
You are lucky to get so much bench time!
Keep the pics coming, I love all your work!

[Tom Currie]

Dave, Thanks for taking the time to share your progress on the is project. We are  inspired by your work.

[Osprey]

I like different styles and love the concept, can't wait to see it complete!

Midnight lace huh?  Of course it's going to have charcoal blued barrels with full length lacy sterling inlay?   

[Tim Crosby]

 Wow David that's a prototype? I can't even think one out that nice. Can't wait to see it finished much less the production rifle. Thanks for the pics.

Tim C.

[E.vonAschwege]

Sounds like a fun project Dave!  How are you thinking of staining the Cherry?  Try different dillutions of Aquafortis or Lye.  Even though one is a base and the other an acid, they both darken Cherry substantially.  Lye will produce a bit more even color IMO, but Aquafortis will be a bit more black.  Neither will be as friendly to the beautiful carving as the aniline dyes you usually use.  Let us know how it goes, thanks for sharing!
-E

[acorn20]

You know Dave, Eric has a pretty good point.  Aren't you concerned that you might loose some of your carving detail as a result of using a dark stain?  Or are you looking for the most color contrast between wood and silver wire work?  Since cherry has a prevalence to darken with age, perhaps the stain you usually use would highlight your carving as well as obtain a rich dark stain, in due time, that would also complement the silver wire inlay work. 

Again, can't wait to see it complete.  Thanks for sharing your work.

Dan

[David Price]

T.caster,
I assure you the rifle will not self destruct  after it is finished.  Or at least I hope not!!!!!!!!

Eric and Dan,
Aquafortis  is not one of my favorite  materials to use.  It is too finicky  for me to take a chance on.  I had problems with it several times in the past.   The first time  the mule kicks you  it's the mules fault.    I have such good results with aniline dye I don't see any reason to change.  I made a sample on a piece of the cherry wood to see how dark I could get it, and it came out looking like ebony, which is just what I was looking for.  All the wood grain shows through nicely.  Tomorrow I will take some pictures of it and post it.

The wood was terrible to carve.  I have worked with cherry before but never tried to carve it.  The carving is done and it came out alright, I don't know if cherry does not carve well, or if it was just this particular piece of wood.  Has anyone else tried carving cherry? 

[David Price]

Here are the color samples that I made.  I put a little silver wire in one just to see the contrast.  Tomorrow I should have the whole stock stained if everything goes well.

Today I thought I had a tragedy on my hands.  I inlaid an ivory moon in the cheek piece, surrounded  by quite a bit of silver wire which is only about 1/6 on an inch from the ivory.  When I applied the  dark stain, some little fractures in the ivory absorbed the stain and showed up as pencil lines on the ivory.  I thought about it a long time before doing anything.  I ended up drilling several small holes in the moon, and collapsed it inward without hurting the wood at all.  I then placed a piece of scotch tape over the opening and made a tracing  of the moon.  I then stuck the tape on another piece of ivory and cut and filed it out.  It took me three hours to fit it into the hole,  the good news is it fit as good as the original one, and this time no fractures.  If I get it all stained tomorrow I will post a picture.

[imghttp://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e120/blackpowderaa2bex/Prototype%20contemporary%20rifle/PROTOTYPECONTEMPORARYRIFLE036.jpg]http://[/img]

[davec2]

David,

In my scrimshaw work I have often been disappointed by ink flowing into an unobserved fissure in the ivory...always at a really unfortunate location and often causing a severe recurrence of my Navy induced intermittent Turret's Syndrome.  As a remedy, or more correctly a preventative, I have taken to flooding the nearly finished surface of the ivory with a very non viscus cyanoacrylate glue.  It is then wiped off and the final surface preparation completed prior to the first inking.  This process fills in any little imperfections that will undoubtedly pick up ink (or stain) and make the ivory look bad.  It also seems to prevent the ivory from checking any further and seals out changes in atmospheric moisture.  I also do this with any and all ivory inlays to prevent exactly what happened to you.  It takes a little extra time to prepare, but saves having to go back and replace or repair.

Dave C

[Woodsloafer]

David,

I love your work.  The good thing about cherry is that once it is cured it is very dimensionally stable.  That is why it is used for wooden levels.  The bad thing about cherry is that it has very low shear strength.  That is why it is a devil to carve. 

Take care,

Woodsloafer

[Blacktail]

David, this is a bit off topic, but thanks for posting those photos. I see that you relieve the area around your moldings by taking out some shallow chips after cutting out the profile. How do you like to smooth things out? Thanks again for those pics, I have NOT been doing things right in my practice attempts.