Over my head.

[Mike Lyons]

Anyone ever feel like they might have gotten in over their head?  I’m feeling it right about now.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Nice drawings.  Now, cut it.

[Pukka Bundook]

Taylor's right, but maybe look at it for a day or two, and you will note where symmetry is off a tad and may want to alter it before putting the knife in.

Don't rush it at this stage. Once cut, it's cut.  :-)

[n stephenson]

As Taylor said ! Continue !  As you cut it, you can do little adjustments, as you go  . Some of them will do it themselves!! You have done a very good job so far! Besides, being in over your head , means your not in the shallow end of the pool at least! Right! ;)What I`m seeing behind the cheek , looks NICE from the pic !!  Nate

[Bill Raby]

Nice drawings. Maybe you have overdone it a bit? No. You are not in over your head. There is nothing hard to do. It is just a lot. A lot does not make anything harder. Just makes it take longer.

[Craig Wilcox]

Brother, you may be in over your head, but you are swimming strongly toward shore.

Really, you are doing a fantastic job on that rifle!  Now, quit fishing for more compliments!!

I hope that my frail efforts will be half as good as what you are accomplishing.

[alacran]

Taylor's right, but maybe look at it for a day or two, and you will note where symmetry is off a tad and may want to alter it before putting the knife in.

I wouldn't be all obsessed with symmetry. Look at originals symmetry is haphazard at best. My 2cents.

[BarryE]

Every time I do a build I tend to stretch out a bit farther than the last and I often feel as though I bit off more than I can chew.  It is a constant learning experience.  Take the advice offered and make it happen.

[J Henry]

  Go for it,patience and go for it,you can eat an elephant,one small mouth full at a time,do not look at the whole elephant just the next mouth full.Good luck keep us posted.
  I like the layout,should loo real nice when you are finished.

[Pukka Bundook]

Taylor's right, but maybe look at it for a day or two, and you will note where symmetry is off a tad and may want to alter it before putting the knife in.

I wouldn't be all obsessed with symmetry. Look at originals symmetry is haphazard at best. My 2cents.

Indeed most originals have a certain A- symmetry Alacran. My point was for Afghan Vet to make sure He is happy with it before cutting.  Nothing worse than getting it done and finding something niggles you!
(Yes, I've been there and done it, And gone back and altered things!.  Much easier to Make sure before cutting.)

Cheers,
R.

[Mike Brooks]

Cool, you're quite the artist. I wanna see the carving you already have done behind the cheek piece.

[Mike Lyons]

There’s errors all over the place.  The pencil lines go away during the carving process and instead of slowing down to redraw the area or make a chisel that fits my drawing,  I plowed on. I tried your style by blasting Rob Zombie, Megadeath and Tool and got ahead of myself.  It’s inner and outer tie rods, ball joints and A arms today.  Not much gun building for me.


poems by Gamaliel Bradford

[Mike Brooks]

Looks pretty good from here, hard to tell for sure. Do you sit on your hobby horse while you head bang and carve?

Isn't this something like your first or second gun? You're doing incredibly well.

[Daryl]

My thoughts exactly, Mike. Guy has a LOT of talent.

[Kingsburyarms]

Looks great to me - even with my glasses on - Get the car fixed and keep carving - -

[PPatch]

Ambitious for sure, intricate and involved. But you can envision it and you do draw nicely, it looks to me like you can carve, keep going. Slow down, be deliberate. There should be no rush to complete the rifle, it will be with you for a long time.

dave

[BOB HILL]

Looking good, man. Keep it up.
Bob

[J Henry]

Patience   slow down  grasshopper.

[Mike Lyons]

Thank you all for the encouragement.  It’s not talent.  I’m copying a rifle off of the KRA disk and using several pictures of rifles already built.  Luckily I can free hand draw but as far as coming up with my own design,  that’s not happening and I’m no where near that skill level.  I do doodle during boring meetings for practice.  Haha. My carving is not all that great.  Sharpening tools is a skill I’m still trying to master.  Hollow fringing my chisels was a huge step forward,  but sharpening a parting tool is a different animal that I haven’t mastered. My wife tells me that she can’t understand why I’m slowly torturing myself with these guns.  I normally just say, “see you in the morning!” and head down to the garage. Thank all of you again and those that have given me advice in the last year or so.  I owe you all a several cold ones. Off to the drivers side!

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Your butt stock carving will pop if you take a narrow lens shaped and very sharp stabbing tool to the edges of the carving and plunge it in about 1/32".  The narrow, thin lens shaped tool will follow the curves nicely as you only cut half of its width after the initial cut, allowing the tool to sit half in the cut while you press in the next.
It's the technique I used on this Jaeger rifle.  Prior to stabbing the carving was lifeless and boring.

[Mike Lyons]

That’s a really nice carving. I like rifles that look hand made rather than so precisely cut that they look like a machine did it.

[Marcruger]

"Looking good, man. Keep it up. Bob"

What Bob Hill said. 

I like what you have done so far.  You have talent, and are getting practice.  A winning combination.  :-) 

God Bless,   Marc