Creeping along... Do I see the light?

[Rootsy]

Been at this thing for a while... Started as a Pecatonica Pre-Rev Kentucky semi pre-carv as I asked Dick to only do the rough out, barrel channel and ramrod hole.  I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and that causes me to really buckle down and make serious progress each time I work with her.  Made the patchbox cover the other day and cut the dovetails.  Cleaned up the carving... Still some work to go here and there.  The best teacher is learning to smooth out and attempt to blend in your mistakes... Should be easy to see those oopsies for anyone with any experience.  This is actually the first flintlock and subsequent carving I've done on a rifle.

[Acer Saccharum]

Hey! You're doing a really nice job. Very encouraging to see your work, thank you for showing us!

Tom

[northmn]

I commend you for asking for input at this stage.  Most finish the rifle and then ask for comments when it is too late.  Know how you feel as this type of rifle takes forever to finish.  Always something else to finsih.  Working on one now and am in the same boat.  Looks like you may need some cleanup work around the entry thimble? Cannot see that clearly.

DP

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

Wow, very crisp and clean!! excellent work!  It doesn't look like you have spent as much time getting the tang carving as nice as the rest yet. if so I encourage you to do that...It is going to be a very nice rifle. Don't rush now!!

[Rootsy]

Wow, very crisp and clean!! excellent work!  It doesn't look like you have spent as much time getting the tang carving as nice as the rest yet. if so I encourage you to do that...It is going to be a very nice rifle. Don't rush now!!

No rushing, patience is a virtue...

I began with the tang.  I need to revisit it and do something as I don't particularly care for it either.  It seems to be lacking in some way and looks very primitive compared to the butt.   I've been thinking on it and have not quite figured out what exactly to do.  It'll come to me eventually (I hope).

Need to finish the fore stock molding behind the nose cap and at the rear entry thimble.  

I appreciate the insight thus far.  

[B.Habermehl]

 Your carving is coming along very nicely. You are obviously a careful workman. The only thing I have to offer is to keep all metal parts in their inlets as much as possible. Inlet edges are way past fragile. Your really nice carving would go to waste really fast with a a bit of nearly invisible damage to your inlet edges. I am way past PARINOID when I have any piece out of it's inlet especially but plates. Maybe you are not a klutz like me, but with that many parts out of their inlets I would GUARONTEE I would have something dinged or worse flaked.

[ronward]

 wow!,
     FWIW, comming from someone who is just in the planning stage of his first build... that's beutiful! i think that's a part of these guns i like the most..... the carving looks so natural on them, i could look at that all day. carving on a modern rifle, to me anyway, just doesn't belong.  it's also the part that intimidates me the most about building one these. i can draw/design build early american and period furniture of all kinds to beat the band and have no trouble getting the right shape out of a stock blank, but when it comes to artistic work like that, carving and so on, forget it...i don't even want to attempt it for fear of mistakes and wasting all my other work. ' i'll look forward to seeing the finished rifle, your carving has that perfect balance of fancy, but not too fancy and just enough,...just the way i like'em!

[Swampwalker]

Mr. Root, I'd like to commend you on a very nice job shaping this rifle - your architecture looks very good, and your wood-to-metal fit looks great.  I do have a couple of comments about your carving design.  While your execution looks great, the design looks more like Arch's with scrolls at the ends, which gives them and awkward look.  Take a look at carved rifles which you like, and try drawing those design to better see the elements involved.  The curve should have a smoother radius transition along their length.  Also, in order to provide a little more space to the rear of the cheek piece for carving, the cheek piece could stand to be shortened a bit. 
These comments are not meant as major criticisms on what is on the whole a very good job.   Keep up the good work!
Regards
Dave Balsley

[Rootsy]

Your carving is coming along very nicely. You are obviously a careful workman. The only thing I have to offer is to keep all metal parts in their inlets as much as possible. Inlet edges are way past fragile. Your really nice carving would go to waste really fast with a a bit of nearly invisible damage to your inlet edges. I am way past PARINOID when I have any piece out of it's inlet especially but plates. Maybe you are not a klutz like me, but with that many parts out of their inlets I would GUARONTEE I would have something dinged or worse flaked.

Appreciate the concern.  The butt plate is back on.  The only reason I had it removed was to cut the dovetails for the patch box cover, etc.   For the rear thimble I have a bit of a gap now that I've taken the rails down in that area  I need to fill them with some scrap.  That component is the most frustrating component I've ever attempted to sink into wood.  At least with the butt plate I just broke out the ballpeen and closed up any slight gaps.  I am not quite sure i want to add any decoration behind that rear thimble finial nor not... I may try my hand at some engraving on it... I am truly undecided.  I will add some engraving to the side plate... This will be a first as I have not done much with hand engraving..

I have a few dings here and there... Some will steam out.  Others will just be accelerated wear. 

Working on the brass end for the patch box lid at the moment and the spring... Thinking the hole cover could use some taper as I have it a consistent 1 1/2 inches wide.  It looks very gaudy IMO when you stand back and really look at it.  The mortise is 1 1/8 wide so I have a lot of room to add some taper.  Thumbing through RCA I & II has given me some architecture ideas for it.   I had shaped it to just under 1/2"  tall but it really stood out so I slimmed the height to 3/8. 

I really enjoy this stage of work.  Instead of mechanical repeatable processes of assembly which I find monotonous and boring the shaping and decoration really bring my creativeness to the surface.  I find I get the most joy at this stage. 

[JTR]

Rootsy,
You’re doing a fine job for your first gun!

For what you have now with your tang carving, you might look at George Schroyers work in that area for some inspiration.
One other thing, in my humble opinion, would be to slim down the cheek piece. From your pictures, it looks like it sticks out from the stock about 3/4", which is just too far. Also, the two big flats you have on the face of it would look okay on a Tennessee rifle, but that’s not what you’re building.

Generally speaking, the prominence of the cheek piece is just an illusion brought about by shaping, and not just shear bulk.
On most PA rifles, the cheek piece protrudes out from the stock only about 1/4" to about 3/8" at the most, as well as being tapered in thickness from the front to the rear. Thinner at the front, and a bit wider at the rear.

You mentioned that you have the RCA books. There’s a lot of pictures from the top of the stock, or from the bottom, so a look through these will give you a better idea of cheek piece shape and size.

Keep at it, and keep posting pictures as you go!
John

[B.Barker]

Rootsy the last gun I finnished only took me about nine years. So don't worry about how long it takes. Some times its better to walk away and ponder things for awhile. Just not eight years like I did. You have good lines to your rifle and I'm like the other fellows the cheek piece is a bit on the large side. I had problems with that area also and few people ever get the carving right the first time. Nice rifle for your first.

[Rootsy]

By all means, keep the constructive criticism flowing.    I never really gave the amount of protrusion of the cheek piece much consideration until a couple of posts ago...   I enjoy having things such as this brought to my attention.

I am attempting to create decoration that isn't primitive by any means yet isn't over the top and gaudy.  Subtle and tasteful and not overly embellished.    The decoration is loosely Dickert in style.  I actually was looking at the Albrecht remnants in RCA and grabbed the french curve and went to town sketching a rough interpretation.   Once I had the initial decoration incised and relieved I felt it needed some depth here and there and some accent lines, etc... It is really an evolution... No clear direction from the very start.  A few mistakes along the way that I've had to correct the best I could without making a real eyesore.  99% of those who look at it won't know the difference.. But I will...

This rifle doesn't fit any particular VA / PA school but is more of a mixture of aesthetics and components which I have found pleasing.  I am using a Fusil trigger guard (modified of course) for pete's sake... Though I have been having second thoughts about it... I really don't find grip bars  that stand out away from the stock and flat oblong trigger openings very attractive... Plus I don't have the largest of hands.  A more round trigger opening for a single trigger and grip bar that touches the stock would be good... Just not sure what would fit the bill... Maybe some guidance?

This architecture of this rifle fits me like a glove and points like an arrow.  The balance at this point is such that it feels like I can shoulder it and it just hangs there as long as I want.  It is a very pleasing rifle to shoulder, hopefully it shoots as well. 

Every time I shoulder her I have to ask her where she's been all my life... Those poor ole plains rifles all had to find new homes...   Plains rifles are like dancing with Rosie O'Donnell where this girl is akin to dancing with Julianne Hough... 

[Sean]

Hey Rootsy,

Nice work.  Hard to tell from those photos, but it looks like you could also take the rails on your forearm down a bit to half the height of the side flat or a bit less.  It'll make the whole gun look much slimmer and sleeker.

Sean

[Rootsy]

Hey Rootsy,

Nice work.  Hard to tell from those photos, but it looks like you could also take the rails on your forearm down a bit to half the height of the side flat or a bit less.  It'll make the whole gun look much slimmer and sleeker.

Sean

They are pretty close right now.  In some spots they look too high but mark the barrel and pull it and it's right there within a 64th or so.  It had my mind all screwed up for a while also until I proofed it with the calipers.  The C/L of the bore is even with the top of the pan and the nose cap comes to the middle of  the muzzle.. she's a straight line in between.  That skinny waist on the B weight will mess with ya.