David, yes it is a precarve. I went to Tip Curtis's last July and picked out what I wanted on this gun. Of course being a precarve certainly does help, but it also means there is still much to do. I hope to shoot it allot and the idea is mostly for a turkey gun, though I will try it as a smoothy to see how well it could do on deer.
Tim, after a whole bunch of testing of all kinds of stain combinations, ended up going real high tech. I used no stain at all. I bet a spent 2 weeks testing this and that on scraps and then just went back to using Tru-Oil straight out of the bottle. The last couple coats were thinned with turpentine and a Japan drier, to get a more satin finish. I could have dulled the finish a little more though and I still can, easy enough. Same with the metal work.
Now to sign it, Sign it on the lock or sign it on the barrel? My name is so long, will need a bigger lock if I sign it there.
