inletting questions

[ltdann]

I should stay away from the TOW catalog, it's dangerous!  Anyway, while perusing the catalog I was looking at the butt plates and they a few in there that have some pretty fancy finials, like the one with the acanthus leaf.  Anybody have a technique to install a butt plate like that?

After I pondered that for awhile I ran into the thumb pieces.  I've seen some these installed, they look great and I don't know how it's done.  The ones I've seen aren't flat nor do they appear to be inlet to any great extent.  I kind of like how they give texture to a stock.

Any insights?

[n stephenson]

ltdann, most of the buttplates I have inlet that have a fancy finial have a fairly  straight back end . I generally trace the back end on the blank and bandsaw it off then, I inlet the butt plate straight down inletting the finial down into the comb. There are probably other ways to do it but I haven't found them. With a regular flat ended return on the butt plate you can work it forward as you go but the fancy ones pretty much need to go straight down .             Nathan

[Mark Elliott]

With most butt pieces, your have to inlet them down and forward a little at a time.  You just have to visualize where you are going in three dimensions.  I know it is hard.  Most of those butt pieces with the fancy heel extensions make it a little easier by being symmetrical and increasing in width toward the back.  That means that little errors in inletting are erased as you move forward.   You just have to have faith it will work out and just do it. 

[deepcreekdale]

I'll ll take a shot at answering your buttplate question. It is difficult to describe in words, not that hard in practice. After cutting the basic curve of the buttplate into the butt, you will inlet the entire buttplate pretty much from the heel first. To start, I place the buttplate against the stock and roughly pencil around the outline of the plate itself. Then, staying well inside those lines, I remove as much wood as possible, it is pretty much an eyeball operation at this point. Then it is simply a matter of using your inletting black, soot or method of choice to mark your plate and tap onto the stock. You will want to approach the inletting by bringing the plate down toward the heel area first. Before removing any wood, though, take a look and be sure you will not be removing wood that will not be under the plate itself, as the plate settles into position. Don't just go chiseling away all the inletting color you see without thinking first. Like I said, it is easy to demonstrate in person, hard to put into words. For those of us that are technically challenged with computers, cameras and all those modern gadgets, it is even harder to explain.
As far as thumbpieces , there are two ways, both HC. Some have a lug cast into the bottom and are then threaded and a hole drilled down into the trigger plate area and a small bolt holds them on. The other method , which I prefer is to make nails out of silver wire/rod. I chuck about a 1 inch length of about 1/16th inch silver into my drill press and using a double cut file, make a tapered point about 1/2 inch long. By using a double cut file, you will create tiny ridges in the nail, sort of like a ring nail that will hold the nail securely in place. Then, I drill however many holes using about a #55 drill bit in the inlay and using a countersink by hand, make a small chamfer in each hole. I place the inlay in place, and drill a pilot hole with about a # 60 or # 62 bit. Cut the wire to slightly longer than needed and drive in like any nail. If you lightly tap the protruding part, it will peen over nicely into the chamfered hole and be almost invisible, although I like the slight outline of the nail head itself.
 I hope this was understandable. I really need to learn to post pictures! I am so computer illiterate. I guess that is why we build rifles that went out of fashion 175 years ago!

[ltdann]

Thank you for that, it makes more sense.  I hadn't considered either the straight back end or the increasing width toward the rear of finial.

On the finial, do you still file a slight taper on the back side (bottom)?

In regards to the thumb piece, I kind of thought that a silver or nail was the way to go.  Do you still inlet a little or just mount to the surface?

[deepcreekdale]

I inlet them. If it is just a flat plate I inlet it flush, on some that have moldings and carvings, it might stand a little proud to the surface to accent the three dimensional shape. I am currently working on a later period caplock rifle, just for something different, It has no carving but lots of german silver inlays, as in over 30. Plus lots of silver wire inlay. I am a bit strange in that I LOVE inletting. I made brass nails to hold all those inlays in. I looks pretty neat with the silver colored inlays with brass colored nails.

[deepcreekdale]

By the way, for thumbpieces and cheekpiece inlays, I use .40 thousandths sterling silver from Rio Grande. Great stuff to work with, it is very soft and forgiving, easy to shape into any curve needed and engraves and carves easily. Almost like working with dense clay.

[ltdann]

I like rio grande silver.  I've used their 0.01 ribbon .999 fine for wire work.   It has pro's and con's.  I like that it can bend some on a horizontal plane without folding up on itself.  On the other hand, it's VERY soft and when I wet the inlay to swell the wood, the wood can push it out of alignment.

I may try some half hard sterling next time to overcome that .  I haven't tried inletting solid pieces of silver yet, but am anxious to try.

Got any pictures?

[deepcreekdale]

I have a photographer friend coming over this weekend who has promised to help me with posting pictures. Hopefully his teaching will sink in to my technologically impaired skull so I can post some stuff. I know it isn't hard and there are great tutorials here but I don't even know how to download my pictures to my computer.