Apprentice desires carving critique and suggestions

[Ky-Flinter]

This is the CVA make-over project I have discussed here previously.  Since we last visited, I reshaped the applied cheekpiece and reworked the carving design.  I think my efforts are improving but would appreciate input from my many mentors.  What else might I do to improve the carving on this piece?  Thanks.



-Ron

[Ben I. Voss]

Holy cow!! Talk about a sow's ear being turned into a silk purse!! Gotta be the fanciest cva I've ever seen. Keep up the good work! 

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Ron, your carving adds a lot of grace to an otherwise pretty uninteresting piece of beech.  The wood does not lend itself to great detail, so I'd call it finished.

However, I would do some filing on the butt plate.  I'd start at the heel and round the plate so that there is a much much thinner flat section tapering down to only 1/16" at the toe.

Nice work.

[Ron Brimer]

Done Good.. He is right about the BP,You know when you whisker it, the grain will raise , or use a good spirit stain, like Chambers stains.
    Very clean, good job.  RON BRIMER

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

Ron the carving is terrific..very clean and nicely shaped!! The only concern I have is that it looks like the mating of the top of the cheekpiece and the stock is pretty abrupt...Is it just the camera angle??

Seal it and burnish it carefully to keep the grain down

Hey I got a Pederso;i PA rifle you can practice on next!!!!!

[bgf]

Ron,
My suggestion is teach me how to carve!  Looks sharp, but I thought it looked good before, too. 

[Jim Kibler]

You've done some good things.  Neat and careful work.  A few suggestions...  If you progress from the lower left bit of the carving and proceed towards the upper grouping of leaves, this line is pretty sttep and flat.  An option would have been to not tie this grouping of leaves to the scroll, but rather have their origin fade into the slope of the cheek piece.  A few more leaves below this group would help the transition from the cheek piece plane as well.  If this group of leaves were dropped a touch it might help too.  Good job and keep on carving.

[clockman]

Ron,
That's some nice crisp carving.   I got a CVA just like it that got me hooked on this stuff.  Wow, you got me thinking to redo mine.   Keep posting your work.
Kevin 

[Daryl]

Ron - that looks super to me. Taylor's suggestion on the butt will make a big difference in appearance as well.

[A.Merrill]

    Very, very nice, to nice for a CVA. Taylor is right, thin down the butt plat give it some curve, after all it is a she .    Good Luck    AL

[Ed Wenger]

Ron,

Very nice job!  Well executed and clean looking carving.

My only 2 cents would be what Tim and Jim were getting at.  You might want to extend the top line of the "C" scroll (on the left) down until it intersects with the incised carving.  That should be pretty simple and will make things "flow" a little better.

The glue line where the cheek piece meets the stock, between the leaves and scroll, throws things off a bit.  With a little reshaping to the end of the cheek piece, you might be able to extend the lines of the leaves down to the "C" scroll.  Shouldn't take much.  If not, you might want to use some glaze or lamp black on the glue line during the finishing process to "hide" the glue line.

At any rate, it looks really nice.  Please keep us posted.  I'd really like to see what it looks like with some finish on the wood.  Again, very nice, and excellent job!

              Ed

[J. Talbert]

Ron,
Other than the left hand side as mentioned, which seems to me, somewhat the result of the applied cheekpiece, I'd call it a fine effort.
Looking forward to your next effort.

Jeff

[bjmac]

Ky-Flinter... I was just about to give up on a similar project (CVA beech stock, et. al.) because I'm just not having the kind of progress that I was expecting, but after seeing your results so far, I'm not going to quit yet. Thanks
BJ

[Mike Brooks]

Better than my carving...

[bama]

The carving is great and well done. I am with Jim about where the C scroll and the leaves start, I think that design would flow better if it flowed out of the cheek rest instead of looking like it is flowing under it. Reguardless it will be a much nicer rifle when you get through with it. I say stain it finish it and start making plans for a little nicer rifle in the future, you have the talent.

[greybeard]

Shucks; I wish my last carving were that sharp.   Bob

[Dennis Glazener]

Ron,
Nice job, I envy you, I can't get the scroll's drawn out that good much less carve them that well!
Dennis
 

[Jerry V Lape]

Nice carving!  You made quite an improvement over the last time you showed us the rifle.  Forces me to get back to practicing my carving before I get into it with my current build. 

[Ky-Flinter]

Thanks to all for the comments, compliments and suggestions.  This is my second attempt at carving on a rifle and I want to continue to learn and improve.  I appreciate all the help.

Taylor and others, I hear ya on the thickness of the butt plate edge.  It's on my to-do list, just haven't gotten around to it yet... carving is more fun!

Tim, the transition from the top of the cheek piece to the stock is actually smooth but the glue line makes it appear sharp.  Hoping to hide that with dark stain and finish.

Jim, Ed and Bama, thanks for the critiques and suggestions.  Compliments are nice (and appreciated) but critiques are how one learns.  Thanks.
-Ron