Teaser for Tlallijr

[smart dog]

Hi,
Some photos of Tony's late flint English rifle.  The stock is English walnut from Ron Scott.  Under the lights the color is more orangy than in natural light.  First photo shows the stock wet with Sutherland-Welles polymerized tung oil.  The rest are after the excess oil was wiped off and the stock about to be put aside to dry.  The wrist gets checkering and a silver oval inlay.  I start the engraving and barrel inlays tomorrow, then browning, and I will be done.  The stock will require 3-4 more coats.

dave


 

[Jeff Durnell]

That's walnut? #@!! $#@*! 

[James Rogers]

Looking good Dave! About 7 to 9 more stripes in that wood and it will be solid plain 
Oh and that lock panel is so spot on for that style!!!

[Top Jaw]

Tremendous piece of EW!!  And fine building to match.  Keep up the good work!

[smylee grouch]

Super nice. What lock and modifications to it ? That wood has it's own ability to blend into many hunting scenes.

[SingleMalt]

That's gorgeous!

[rtadams]

1-16-19

smart dog,

I like your finish and ask for more details about the "Sutherland-Welles polymerized tung oil" finish that you are using on walnut. Are you using exterior or interior tung oil?, What luster grade --- low, medium or high? Are you using "Original or Botanical formula? Is the stock sealed and if so what sealer did you use? Is the Walnut stock stained and if so what product and what concentration?
Any other details would be appreciated that would help in obtaining the type of finish that you are able to obtain using Sutherland-Welles tung oil finish on walnut wood.

Note: Is the final finish in the wood or a build-up finish?

Best Regards,

Robert T Adams 

[smart dog]

Hi and thanks for looking and commenting,
Robert, I originally wanted to use alkanet root as a dye in my tung oil finish.  Unfortunately, despite ordering the proper powdered root at the beginning of December, I have not gotten it yet and it is still in transit from India. The US supplier never warned me that they had to order it from overseas.  Anyway, I could not wait so I used water and oil soluable aniline dyes. In my normal finishing process, I paint all my stocks with a water-based dye and then scrape or sand to the final finish. The dye shows me where the scratches and rough parts are and I essentially scrape it off.  On this gun, I used a dark scarlet dye for that purpose and only partially sanded it back so the figure was still deeply colored. Then I mixed a bit of yellow and brown dye in with S-W botanical polymerized tung oil that was also thinned 50% with mineral spirits.  I applied 2 coats of that, which stained the wood and also acted as a sealer.  When dry, I vigorously sanded the stock with 220 grit paper dipped in tung oil until a slurry developed on the surface.  I let that dry and then sanded the dried slurry off with 220 paper.  Then I repeated that process using 320 grit paper.  That filled the grain.  Now I am just wiping on unthinned and untinted tung oil and wiping off the excess to build up the gloss a bit.  The oil is both in the wood and eventually will build up on top a little.  I use regular internal grade botanical S-W tung oil.  The exterior oil is the same stuff with UV blockers added.  The stock shimmers with colors like a cat's eye that change as you move it in the light.

davel   

[rtadams]

1-17-19

smart dog,

Thanks for sharing your procedure for finishing and the products used for walnut wood. The instructions are concise and clear. I will give this a try on test pieces of American Black walnut for future reference.

Again; thanks for your efforts and willingness to share your information.

Best Regards,

Robert T Adams

[smart dog]

Hi and thanks for the note Robert,
If you are going to work with American black walnut let me suggest a slightly different coloring.  Certainly black walnut has wide variation in color and some blanks need no coloring.  However, most black walnut has a cold almost purple-brown undertone that I dislike a lot.  To remedy that, I stain the stock with pure yellow aniline dye rather than the red I used on this stock when staining prior to my final scraping or sanding. The yellow completely kills the cold purple-brown and warms it up almost to the color of English walnut.  The table below indicates the colors I use for this final finishing task depending on the wood:
Black walnut ------ yellow
English walnut ------ scarlet, orange
Maple ------ scarlet, orange, reddish-brown  ( this is before using ferric nitrate or aqua fortis)
Cherry ------ black 

Anyway, that is how I decide what colors and below are some photos of black walnut guns treated as I describe.  Compare these guns to the walnut stocked Kibler southern mountain rifles shown on this site to see the differences in color.

dave
 

[Vicanddogs]

Dave do you have some pics of cherry stocks you have finished with black dye you could show
Thank. vic

[smart dog]

Super nice. What lock and modifications to it ? That wood has it's own ability to blend into many hunting scenes.

Hi Smylee,
Thank you for the note and I always appreciate your comments. The lock is a Davis late English flintlock.  It is just OK and needed a bit of work.  I had the great privilege of inspecting and working with English locks at the height of their development. One lock was a John Manton and the other was by Innes of Scotland. Those locks left a deep impression on me and many modern makers simply don't know how flintlocks at their pinnacle actually performed.  I worked over the Davis lock to bring it up closer to that standard.  First, the frizzen spring roller did not even engage the toe of the frizzen on center.  The frizzen touched the roller on its inner edge bending the spring outward. I ground off the inner edge of the spring bringing the roller closer ti the plate and engaging the frizzen toe on center. I also had to free up the roller because it was stuck in one position.  The frizzen face is very straight and perpendicular to the flint in the flintcock.  That creates sparks but knaps the flint such that after 10 shots or so the flint is worn down to a nub.  That is entirely wrong with respect to original locks. So I got out my gas welder and bent the frizzen into the proper arc consistent with period designs.  Davis mainsprings are almost always weak.  In a short throw lock like all the late flint locks, the mainspring must be very strong to produce good spark.  This is mated to a frizzen spring that has heavy resistance when struck by the flint, but the roller bearing opens it quickly and eliminates all resistance getting the frizzen out of the way.  That is how those great locks worked. You have to experience one to understand.  I have turned the Davis lock into the closest approximation I can of a real late flint English lock barring the inclusion of a sliding safety bolt.

dave     

[smart dog]

Dave do you have some pics of cherry stocks you have finished with black dye you could show
Thank. vic

Sure,

[smylee grouch]

Thanks for that reply Dave. I too have used that lock and I also had to "move" the frizzen spring inward. I really like the English guns and your's is going to be a great gun for sure.

[Bob Roller]

Super nice. What lock and modifications to it ? That wood has it's own ability to blend into many hunting scenes.

Hi Smylee,
Thank you for the note and I always appreciate your comments. The lock is a Davis late English flintlock.  It is just OK and needed a bit of work.  I had the great privilege of inspecting and working with English locks at the height of their development. One lock was a John Manton and the other was by Innes of Scotland. Those locks left a deep impression on me and many modern makers simply don't know how flintlocks at their pinnacle actually performed.  I worked over the Davis lock to bring it up closer to that standard.  First, the frizzen spring roller did not even engage the toe of the frizzen on center.  The frizzen touched the roller on its inner edge bending the spring outward. I ground off the inner edge of the spring bringing the roller closer ti the plate and engaging the frizzen toe on center. I also had to free up the roller because it was stuck in one position.  The frizzen face is very straight and perpendicular to the flint in the flintcock.  That creates sparks but knaps the flint such that after 10 shots or so the flint is worn down to a nub.  That is entirely wrong with respect to original locks. So I got out my gas welder and bent the frizzen into the proper arc consistent with period designs.  Davis mainsprings are almost always weak.  In a short throw lock like all the late flint locks, the mainspring must be very strong to produce good spark.  This is mated to a frizzen spring that has heavy resistance when struck by the flint, but the roller bearing opens it quickly and eliminates all resistance getting the frizzen out of the way.  That is how those great locks worked. You have to experience one to understand.  I have turned the Davis lock into the closest approximation I can of a real late flint English lock barring the inclusion of a sliding safety bolt.

dave     

I made up a few of these locks in years past and thought of it off and on but
decided against it.I have used the L&R small Manton with good results and
the Durs Egg as well.The late English lock is a bit big but has potential with
a different mechanism.I am currently concentrating on triggers and after
finishing a few more locks I will decide if I will make any more of any kind.

Bob Roller

[msellers]

Dave,
Thank you for sharing all the dying information, as well as all the inspiration.
Mike

[alacran]

Your work is SUPERB as always. Thank you for the dying tips on the black walnut.