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Author Topic: Mistakes and how to save the gun  (Read 10788 times)

Offline Acer Saccharum

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Mistakes and how to save the gun
« on: February 13, 2010, 05:24:59 AM »
Inspired by the 'pitfalls' thread, I want to start a discussion of screw ups and how to save (gracefully) what you've got.

On my present build, I'd  made the trigger plate, figured out where the end of the guard was going, set where I wanted the plate, etc. But when I went to inlet the trigger plate, I installed it on the guard mark, not the trigger mark.
(for a larger view click on the image itself, a new PhotoBucket feature)


Ok, so where do we go from here? I took a few moments, and realized a new plate was in order, and that the rear extension of the guard was wide enough to cover the original plate inlet.


Now I have the new plate inlet, and the guard finial inlet done, and it looks like I designed it this way. I sent the first plate to Rich Pierce. May he not do the same thing as I did!  ;D
You can see the round inlet for the tang boss of the original inlet in the guard ext inlet.

« Last Edit: February 13, 2010, 05:26:19 AM by Acer Saccharum »
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Offline smallpatch

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Re: Mistakes and how to save the gun
« Reply #1 on: February 13, 2010, 07:02:10 AM »
Acer,

The sign of a true craftsman, is not that he makes NO mistakes, just that he knows how to recover from them.  I love it when a plan (even a recovery plan) falls together.
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Offline KLMoors

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Re: Mistakes and how to save the gun
« Reply #2 on: February 13, 2010, 03:43:17 PM »
Acer, I just did that exact same thing on the fowler I'm building! The funny part is, that by the time I got my screw up repaired I ended up with the best (single) trigger pull so far.

On the first Hawken I built I got WAY out of alignment on one of the tang screws. By the time I got things aligned I had enough room in there for 2 or 3 screws. So I got out the bedding compound, waxed the $#@* out of the screw, tang and trigger plate, put the screw in the hole, injected bedding compound all around it, and screwed  it all together. Compound oozed out and I now need to thread the screw ALL the way out,  but it worked like a charm.

On that same build I had started inletting the trigger plate before I had it totally bent to shape. Well, when I realized this and bent it to shape it was now too short and I had a big gap at the front of the plate. That dang plate was about 1/4 in thick so I made up a mini forge out of scrap steel and my mapp gas torch, heated that thing red hot, and started  tapping on it against my piece of RR track. After a while it was actually a bit too long and a bit too wide so I filed it to shape for a real nice fit. It was now a bit too thin so I, once again, turned to the bedding compound.

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Offline Mike Brooks

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Re: Mistakes and how to save the gun
« Reply #3 on: February 13, 2010, 05:45:41 PM »


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Offline Pete Allan

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Re: Mistakes and how to save the gun
« Reply #4 on: February 13, 2010, 05:56:48 PM »
I won't say I ever make screwups but I will say the MIG welder is one of the most usefull tools I ever bought ;D
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Offline smallpatch

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Re: Mistakes and how to save the gun
« Reply #5 on: February 13, 2010, 06:42:23 PM »
OK Mr Brooks, 

Come on,  tell how how it works.  Acer showed us how he fixed his.

You are such a tease.....Tell us the whole story.... not just part of it.  You know, eye of newt, kimodo dragon tongue, etc. 
(You can leave out the photos of you dancing naked under  the first full moon of spring)


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Offline Mike Brooks

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Re: Mistakes and how to save the gun
« Reply #6 on: February 13, 2010, 07:08:07 PM »
Quote from: smallpatch on February 13, 2010, 06:42:23 PM
OK Mr Brooks, 

Come on,  tell how how it works.  Acer showed us how he fixed his.

You are such a tease.....Tell us the whole story.... not just part of it.  You know, eye of newt, kimodo dragon tongue, etc. 
(You can leave out the photos of you dancing naked under  the first full moon of spring)



Lots of Grain Belt beer. ;D
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NEW WEBSITE! www.mikebrooksflintlocks.com
Say, any of you boys smithies? Or, if not smithies per se, were you otherwise trained in the metallurgic arts before straitened circumstances forced you into a life of aimless wanderin'?

Two Bears

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Re: Mistakes and how to save the gun
« Reply #7 on: February 13, 2010, 07:35:40 PM »
"Primo's"

Dog gone good beer.
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Offline Ky-Flinter

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Re: Mistakes and how to save the gun
« Reply #8 on: February 13, 2010, 10:48:30 PM »
Mike,

Good grief!  That sure looks like termite tunnels to me.  C'mon, tell us how ya fixed it.  Please. 

-Ron
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rdillon

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Re: Mistakes and how to save the gun
« Reply #9 on: February 13, 2010, 11:35:33 PM »
HOW HE DO THAT??????????????? ??? ??? ???
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Offline Eric Kettenburg

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Re: Mistakes and how to save the gun
« Reply #10 on: February 14, 2010, 03:54:27 AM »
Mike I am SERIOUSLY impressed!
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Offline Ben I. Voss

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Re: Mistakes and how to save the gun
« Reply #11 on: February 14, 2010, 04:36:30 AM »
Must have something to do with chicken manure!
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brokenflint

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Re: Mistakes and how to save the gun
« Reply #12 on: February 14, 2010, 04:49:10 AM »
Code: [Select]
by: RDillon  Posted on: Today at 02:35:33 PM 

HOW HE DO THAT???   
 

photoshop  ;D
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Offline Lucky R A

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Re: Mistakes and how to save the gun
« Reply #13 on: February 14, 2010, 02:59:11 PM »
Up here in the colder areas of the world, we have a name for wood that has worm holes like that---firewood!   You must have some real aggressive wood eatin critters down there.  Now I'll have go out to the shop and stop bitchin about the knots and center pith that shows up in my walnut stocks.   
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Offline Robby

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Re: Mistakes and how to save the gun
« Reply #14 on: February 14, 2010, 04:25:27 PM »
Mike, If I was rasping away and opened up a bunch of worm holes, I'd have more than a  few Grain Belt beers myself. Just what is Grain Belt beer, and how the heck did you fix the stock? Nice job, the fix, and the stock!
Robby
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RichardW

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Re: Mistakes and how to save the gun
« Reply #15 on: February 14, 2010, 05:06:38 PM »

I give up…  How did Mike Brooks make that eaten-up stock looks so nice???
As a rookie, I would have never considered using that wood or gone into some long distraction if I was working it down and found it.

Very nice work.

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Leatherbelly

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Re: Mistakes and how to save the gun
« Reply #16 on: February 15, 2010, 08:09:19 AM »
 Sonny,
   See here! That stock got thrown in the wood stove, heated up Mikes beans that day. ;D Then he built a brand new one, like the one in the pitchur! ;D ;D
« Last Edit: February 15, 2010, 08:21:23 AM by Leatherbelly »
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exTNer

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Re: Mistakes and how to save the gun
« Reply #17 on: February 15, 2010, 08:17:01 AM »
hmm...could be.  Do I see the back end of the cheek-piece coming up to a different spot on the buttplate?  Shortened LOP, more cast-off?  New stock like LB mentioned?
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Offline Mike Brooks

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Re: Mistakes and how to save the gun
« Reply #18 on: February 15, 2010, 06:05:57 PM »
All the same stock. The fix is just wood patches glued it, no big deal. You see these kind of repairs on old english and european guns all the time.
 In fact, I built a flint SXS for a fella that had a piece of highly figured Batogne walnut for a stock that was probably worth over 1k or more. Somehow or another I inletted the triggers and the guard about 1/2" of center. :o I think I actually crapped my pants over that one. Same fix, glue in patches and re inlet the parts. The tough part there was matching the curl.
« Last Edit: February 15, 2010, 06:10:45 PM by Mike Brooks »
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Offline D. Taylor Sapergia

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Re: Mistakes and how to save the gun
« Reply #19 on: February 15, 2010, 07:44:36 PM »
Somehow I get a feeling that this is confession time.
Years ago, I made a left hand Isaac Haines rifle for a friend.  To this day, I don't know why I cut the butt stock 1" too short.  I immediately realized my mistake so I simply glued the band-sawed piece back on and re-cut it to the correct length.  I never told him about the mistake, and each time I see the rifle, I check it to see if the fault line is visible.  I know it's there, and now so do you, but it is very hard to detect.

On this same rifle, the rod hole came perilously close to the bottom of the stock, so I designed and inlet a brass piece.  I have done this on several rifles where I felt that the wood was in danger of getting stove in.  On one Hawken, I inlet a piece of maple and re-drilled the hole to fix the same problem.
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Offline Larry Luck

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Re: Mistakes and how to save the gun
« Reply #20 on: February 16, 2010, 03:12:46 AM »
I had a similar problem to Mike's on my first build.  I wish the fix had turned out as nice as Mike's.  I started shaping the buttstock about 13 years after inletting the barrel and cutting away excess forestock wood.  No extra wood from this stock, and the match was fair in some places and pretty horrible in the heel of the buttplate.  Live and learn.









Larry Luck
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Offline Acer Saccharum

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Re: Mistakes and how to save the gun
« Reply #21 on: February 16, 2010, 05:14:57 AM »
Sometimes a piece of wood is really nice, but there is damage or splits in it. Today we discard such pieces, but back in the day, the wood was patched and used anyway.

Look at the patches on this buttstock, a German Fowler.

click on image to enlarge


Then an American patch job.

« Last Edit: February 16, 2010, 05:17:30 AM by Acer Saccharum »
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Leatherbelly

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Re: Mistakes and how to save the gun
« Reply #22 on: February 16, 2010, 06:45:37 AM »
Taylor, nicely rolled over cheek.
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