Sources for wood carving designs found on original long rifles?

[Mike Lyons]

I purchased several of the KRF CDs and I've tried to print some of the details on rifles so I could transfer them to a gun. Didn't work at all. When I sized them they turned to a blur. Not happy at all with the CDs. I can get much better quality taking a photo of a picture in a book and sizing it. I thought these CDs were HD and you could print in HD. I hate I wasted my money on them.

Which ones do you have?  I’d be happy to purchase them.

[577SXS]

I have volume 1 Issue 1 and Eastern Pennsylvania Issue XVI. I also had ordered another one that has Isaac Haines rifle I want to copy but it hasn't arrived yet. I have a Mac computer so maybe this is the issue. My secretary has Windows so we will play with them on that computer to see if I get better results. What I'm after is properly sized HD print of carvings so I can transfer to stock for carving. Also I really want a HD copy of the eagle on the cheek of Nathaniel Volger's rifle so I can transfer it to a plate to engraving it. Attached is a photo of first attempt to engrave the eagle, my print didn't have good details so its not as good as I would like.

[Bob McBride]

I think thats a plausible Eagle. Good stuff.

[jstedfast]

jstedfast,
Are you looking for a carving pattern for all sorts of longrifles, or just for a Bucks County incised carved gun?

I'm mostly interested in Bucks County because I live in the Bucks County area, but I find all of the carvings I've seen beautiful and would likely be interested in others.

[jstedfast]

Attached is a photo of first attempt to engrave the eagle, my print didn't have good details so its not as good as I would like.

Wow, that looks pretty good!

[jstedfast]

I've been watching some of the free beginner carving tutorial videos produced by https://www.marymaycarving.com/ on YouTube and they look like a good intro at least. She's got more that you need to sign up & pay for which I'll probably do once I receive a copy of Jim Kibler's carving booklet (I actually ordered his complete carving practice kit at https://kiblerslongrifles.com/collections/carving-practice-kits).

I wanted to take a read through his Instruction Booklet to see if it makes any recommendations on which types of gouges I might need. They are pretty expensive. My guess is that I'll need either a V-gouge or a deep/narrow U-shaped gouge. I'd prefer to buy once, cry once.

[TommyG]

You will also need a means to sharpen them if you don't already have that.  I have a pretty good selection of Pfiel tools and most come ready to go out of the box, but I still find that I have to touch up a V gouge at least once when carving a gun.  This doesn't include the stropping that is done more frequently.  You will find different preferences among builders as to what type of carving they do - stab or v-tool chasing.  In my limited experience there are pros and cons to each.  Stabbing requires more tools of different shapes to follow your design and if you need to change up for some reason on your design, you are pretty much committed to it once you stab in to depth.  V tool chased by a small mallet requires less tools( I use a Pfiel 16-1 mostly) but can become a high risk effort in a hurry especially on the contours of a longrifle.  The best advice I could give is to practice, a lot.  Having a Kibler practice blank is a great idea as is any scrap of rasped & smoothed hardwood.  Have a good design/drawing, never carve on the same day you draw- guaranteed you will look at it the next day and make changes, keep your tools really really sharp and when relieving your background, turn off all the overhead lights and work with a low angled floor lamp to illuminate all the imperfections that will need to be smoothed out.

[577SXS]

I think the biggest issue in carving is laying out the drawing on the stock. I'm not good enough to draw it free hand and be happy with results. I've taken a photo of carving in books and then sized them on my printer to fit stock. I then took black carbon paper and taped both print and carbon paper to the stock. I then trace the carving details onto the stock. This has worked really well for me.
Yes chisels need to be VERY sharp. Make sure you have small left and right skew chisels as these are what I use the most of. Your stabbing in is also very important. Take your time.
I've always hated wood work but have really gotten into the carving.

[577SXS]

Here is a photo I took of my favorite carving. Its an Isaac Haines gun.

[577SXS]

Here is that photo transfered to the stock. Don't use blue carbon paper, its a nightmare to get off the wood.

[577SXS]

Here is the carving finished. I still haven't figured out how to get all the details sanded properly. I kills me to whisker the wood after carving and then have to sand it all again. I still see flaws I missed after the finish is applied.

[jstedfast]

You will also need a means to sharpen them if you don't already have that.  I have a pretty good selection of Pfiel tools and most come ready to go out of the box, but I still find that I have to touch up a V gouge at least once when carving a gun.  This doesn't include the stropping that is done more frequently.  You will find different preferences among builders as to what type of carving they do - stab or v-tool chasing.  In my limited experience there are pros and cons to each.  Stabbing requires more tools of different shapes to follow your design and if you need to change up for some reason on your design, you are pretty much committed to it once you stab in to depth.  V tool chased by a small mallet requires less tools( I use a Pfiel 16-1 mostly) but can become a high risk effort in a hurry especially on the contours of a longrifle.  The best advice I could give is to practice, a lot.  Having a Kibler practice blank is a great idea as is any scrap of rasped & smoothed hardwood.  Have a good design/drawing, never carve on the same day you draw- guaranteed you will look at it the next day and make changes, keep your tools really really sharp and when relieving your background, turn off all the overhead lights and work with a low angled floor lamp to illuminate all the imperfections that will need to be smoothed out.

Thanks TommyG, I appreciate your suggestions. I've got some sharpening stones (Japanese water stone 1000/4000 grit) and a strop, but I may need different stones - not sure.

My plan is to read through Jim Kibler's instruction booklet and practice the basics on some cheap wood I can grab at Home Depot/Lowes. Once I feel like I've gotten the technique down, I'll probably try to come up with a design to carve in my stock and transfer that onto some of that same cheap wood from Home Depot/Lowes and practice carving said design. Once I feel like I've gotten that down, make a go at carving said design in the practice stock and then finally on to the real stock.

[jstedfast]

Here is a photo I took of my favorite carving. Its an Isaac Haines gun.

May I say that you have excellent taste? That is a very nice carving, indeed!

I got the "An Intimate Look At The American Longrifle" book and have been going through all of the photos and there are just so many that are beautiful.

[577SXS]

Thanks jstedfast, another beautiful book is The Lancaster Long Rifle.

[Chuckg]

Hi, just stumbled on your post, I’m in your shoes no talent to draw. I found 2 books on line but I can’t remember where I got them from but you google the titles. The first book is by Susanne Warren- Bicoi“The book of Lancaster”  carving details for the gunmaker
This book has full size drawings of carvings you can trace. The second book is “The Johnson Record”
It’s a collection of patterns on inlays and patch boxes you can also trace. I’ve been practicing from these. There are a lot of patterns to choose from. Good luck.

[Dphariss]

...I bought a pretty good laptop and went to put a disc in and realized the dang thing didn't have a CD drive of any sort. 
 

Same here POed me.
Same solutions for me.

Dan