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Author Topic: "FREE BORN" Project Update  (Read 6744 times)

Offline t.caster

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"FREE BORN" Project Update
« on: December 24, 2016, 08:19:53 PM »
I started this Patriotic rifle (RCA-114) project last year, and then two consecutive custom orders jumped in front of it. I just dusted it off again the 1st of Dec. and have been buzzing away on it since then. I thought maybe some of the new guys would like to see the start phase of the carving on it, as all of the outlines are incised into the wood and some of the background has been relieved. I started around the lock panels and tang area and front of the comb and worked my way back from there. I use a little 1mm v-gouge I purchased in a little 600 yr. old mountain village (wood carving store) on the east side of Japan years ago, on a business trip. Sorry I can't tell you  where to buy one like it, and I don't know what I would do without it!
Pics also show my attempt at the domed lid patchbox with the die forms I made to form it. Much more work is still ahead, but this is my FAVORITE part of any build!
This is an early Virginia rifle known as the FREE BORN rifle because of the inscription engraved on the bottom of the patchbox...."I WAS FREE BORN  ACTS 22-28" from Paul to the Romans in the Bible. 
Pictures below show my progress...




Album http://s203.photobucket.com/user/REXTHOMAS2/slideshow/RCA-114%20RIFLE

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and blessed New Year!
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Tom C.

Offline oldtravler61

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Re: "FREE BORN" Project Update
« Reply #1 on: December 24, 2016, 08:59:50 PM »
   Tom nice work. Will be following this a lot. Carving is something I'm still struggling with. Have a Merry Christmas Mike
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Offline P.W.Berkuta

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Re: "FREE BORN" Project Update
« Reply #2 on: December 24, 2016, 09:13:50 PM »
It looks very good so far and I like the "character" of the wood's grain. I think it will add "pazazz" to the overall look. Nice design lay-out also. What "style"/"school"  are the trigger guard & butt plate?
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n stephenson

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Re: "FREE BORN" Project Update
« Reply #3 on: December 25, 2016, 10:07:03 AM »
The original is such a neat piece and, it looks like your well on your way to having an equally impressive result !!. Please keep us posted   ..         Nathan
« Last Edit: December 25, 2016, 10:08:20 AM by n stephenson »
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Offline SingleMalt

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Re: "FREE BORN" Project Update
« Reply #4 on: December 25, 2016, 06:39:29 PM »
Very nice!  What lock and barrel are you using?
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Online rich pierce

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Re: "FREE BORN" Project Update
« Reply #5 on: December 26, 2016, 12:22:51 AM »
I know a guy who owned the original for a number of years so if you need details per me know.
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Andover, Vermont

Offline Telgan

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Re: "FREE BORN" Project Update
« Reply #6 on: December 26, 2016, 02:23:21 AM »
Rich - I have always been a bit puzzled as to why the trigger on the original is so close to the front of the trigger guard bow. My guess is that there was a rear trigger as a set for the front. Do you know if that was the case on the original?  I know that when the original was restored it was done with a longer barrel.
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Offline t.caster

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Re: "FREE BORN" Project Update
« Reply #7 on: December 26, 2016, 07:39:52 PM »
Thanks to all of you! No worm holes on this one ;)
I was puzzled by the trigger placement as well. To me, it screamed dbl. set, but the set tricker is missing and without any photo evidence of the trigger plate with a slot for said tricker....I decided to use a dbl. set (not shown) on this build regardless. Hey, it is a contemporary interpretation, not a bench copy after all. You probably have noticed, a lot of originals have the single trigger way forward in the guard like that. Maybe they had a reason, but it looked like poor planning or something to me. That is open for discussion.
Rich, can you shed some light on this?

The guard is a Bivins Classic Lancaster Co style/Isaac Haines, that I picked up at a gun show, slightly used. TOTW number is TG-BIVINS-L-B.

The buttplate is a generic pre-Rev/Bivins/Haines style I got from Jim Kibler a while back, from this sight.

Lock is a Chambers early Ketland flint (not shown).

Barrel is a Coleraine 1770, I. Haines (again) .54 cal x 38" C-wt.
This has a really nice, comfortable weight and balance to it so for.

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Tom C.

Online rich pierce

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Re: "FREE BORN" Project Update
« Reply #8 on: December 26, 2016, 07:54:58 PM »
From this morning, the Free Born rifle was a hard used rifle in its lifetime and had some in use and restoration work.  It's not possible to definitively say whether the trigger in their now is original.  The lock is period but may not be the first lock in the rifle.
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Andover, Vermont

Offline t.caster

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Re: "FREE BORN" Project Update
« Reply #9 on: December 26, 2016, 08:27:49 PM »
Rich, thanks. I suppose the trigger and plate could have been replaced. I have even changed them out on a couple older rifles I built.

I am also curios about the pb release that goes through the lid. There was a large break through the patchbox area that was repaired, and most likely the original release & spring was lost! But how was the current one made? Without that information, I will design & fab my own release....that may or may not be HC, but it will work.
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Tom C.

Offline SingleMalt

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Re: "FREE BORN" Project Update
« Reply #10 on: December 26, 2016, 08:50:58 PM »
Thanks for the info.  Did you adjust the LOP to fit you?
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Never drink whisky that isn't old enough to vote.

"The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men."- Plato

"The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms."

Offline Telgan

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Re: "FREE BORN" Project Update
« Reply #11 on: December 26, 2016, 09:34:02 PM »
I believe it was Tom Patton ( if memory serves me correctly - which it may not ) who brought it ( the original ) to the CLA show a few years back ( probably at least 5 years ago ). I don't think he owns it anymore. He brought it by the Getz's table and it was a sight to behold. It had been restored to a more appropriate barrel length. I think Ned Hipp did the fore end restoration - And I have never seen two pieces of curly maple joined together in a way that was nearly undetectable to the eye. Even with a magnifying glass, it was had to tell. I think the box lid may have been cast.
« Last Edit: December 26, 2016, 10:31:12 PM by Telgan »
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Offline Shreckmeister

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Re: "FREE BORN" Project Update
« Reply #12 on: December 26, 2016, 10:24:19 PM »
Thanks for sharing. I'm a new guy looking forward to seeing the progress.
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Offline t.caster

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Re: "FREE BORN" Project Update
« Reply #13 on: January 11, 2017, 12:54:26 AM »
Hi, I'm back :o   Had to take time off for the holidays and some much needed rehab on my right shoulder, which has been extremely aggravated by all the filing and shaping involved in this latest rifle. Can't spend as many hours at a time on it as I would like. Oh, I had a couple rifle repair jobs for club members, too. Rehab will now become part of my daily routine :(

Here are some updated pics of the "free born" rifle.





here's the pb embedded in bondo ready to engrave:



patchbox engraved & installed today:





Now I have a lot of final scraping and cleanup to do all over the stock, especially around the carvings.
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Tom C.

Offline oldtravler61

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Re: "FREE BORN" Project Update
« Reply #14 on: January 11, 2017, 02:10:25 AM »
  Tom very nicely done. Mike
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Offline Curtis

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Re: "FREE BORN" Project Update
« Reply #15 on: January 11, 2017, 05:50:04 AM »
It's looking very good!  Nice work.

Curtis
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Curtis Allinson
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Sometimes, late at night when I am alone in the inner sanctum of my workshop and no one else can see, I sand things using only my fingers for backing

Offline t.caster

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Re: "FREE BORN" Project Update
« Reply #16 on: February 14, 2017, 09:09:17 PM »
Here is a link to pics of the finished rifle as requested:
The pics above the fireplace are closest to the real color.

Slideshow:
http://s203.photobucket.com/user/REXTHOMAS2/slideshow/RCA-114%20RIFLE%202017



« Last Edit: February 14, 2017, 09:21:33 PM by t.caster »
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Tom C.

Offline PPatch

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Re: "FREE BORN" Project Update
« Reply #17 on: February 14, 2017, 09:22:12 PM »
Extremely nice!

dp
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Offline Daryl

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Re: "FREE BORN" Project Update
« Reply #18 on: February 14, 2017, 09:39:09 PM »
Nice - my kind of rifle!
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Daryl

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Offline Tom Currie

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Re: "FREE BORN" Project Update
« Reply #19 on: February 15, 2017, 01:58:24 AM »
Nicely done Tom. I'm curious did you some artistic license to fill in the gaps in carving detail as shown in RCA or did you get better pics that showed more detail ? I've always wondered about the worn down carving.
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