Hi,
Josh was over today and we worked on his Woodsrunner kit. Rich Pierce helped him carve the lock moldings, cheek piece, and designs around the cheek piece and barrel tang. He created simple designs that look authentic but embellish the original carving a little.
I am going to train Josh to clean up and level the backgrounds around the carving as well as finish it. I am also going to work with him to cut a simple decorative molding along the ramrod channel. He spent much of the day smoothing the cast texture on the lock and getting rid of casting seams. I really dislike it when assemblers leave those seams and texture. It screams lazy amatuer work.
Josh completed the fitting of the end cover for the patchbox lid. He filed off the heads of the screws leaving heads looking like nails covering the countersunk holes.
Then he cut the thumb hole in the rear of the lid. I outlined the hole with a "V" chisel and Josh used gouges to cut it out inside the borders.
Then he smoothed it with round scrapers.
We had an issue with the forward ramrod pipes. they were loose in the mortises and wobbled even when attached with the pins. That wobble might disappear when the wood swells from stain and finish. I decided not to rely on that, so I slightly bent the pins in the middle and mounted them so the top of the bend pushed the pipe tighter in the mortise. It worked very well and I am sure stain and finish will further lock the pipes in tight.
It came out great and when he comes back, we will get the rifle further toward completion.
dave
