This should be fun.

[Mike Lyons]

Here's the progress.  I've had to make some 1/8 and 1/16" chisels.  I also took a piece of the tool steel and made a 45 degree Square graver and bought some copper sheet to practice on.  The jewlers saw showed up today so the patchbox will be hacked on soon.  I still have a star to inlay.  It's unreal the time that goes into one of these builds.  I've always looked at muzzleloading as a cheap pointless firearm.  Man, do I have the respect now.  I can't wait to sling lead at deer. 

[BarryE]

I think you are making good progress. I am sure others on the forum do have better skills Than I and hopefully make helpful observations.  Are you following a particular maker or school?

[Clark Badgett]

You certainly are moving along a whole lot faster that I am. In my defense, my garage is unbearable in the winter and I work crazy OT during the less cold months.

[Iktomi]

 Looks good to my unschooled eye. Is your carving behind the cheek going to be incised or relief carving?

[Marcruger]

That incised volute to terminate the fore end moulding looks super.  Clean.  Rather Salem NC looking.  God Bless,   Marc

[Mike Lyons]

I plan to relief carve it with the v gouge.  I was sweating the curly q and finally took a double shot and dove in. Lol

[TommyG]

Great looking drawing behind the cheekpiece.  You did a great job with the C scroll on the forestock as well and kept your tool moving, no flat or straight spots.  The only thing I see that will get you in trouble is I hope you have your forestock in the vise clamped that way for pictures.  I always work with the barrel in and a scrap piece of dowel in the RR groove when clamping the gun for working at this stage.  If the barrel needs to be out, I have an octagon shaped piece of softwood that I insert in the barrel channel and clamp onto.  I would never chance clamping on the forestock sides at this point, they should are and should be very thin & fragile. 

[Mike Lyons]

Thanks for the comment and advice.  I keep telling myself to put the barrel in.   You probably saved me a split forearm.   I'll stick it in tonight.   Keeping the gouge going forward, correct depth and perpendicular is a challenge.  If the thing tilts,  it makes more advanced cuts that I'm not ready for.  I'm still tweaking the drawing.  Some of the ends are pointed and some are round.  I need to stick with one or the other and flow the lines more. 

[Mr. Bubbles]

The edges of your scrolls all seem to be about equidistant from your margins--either the butt plate or the belly bead.  It looks nice, but maybe you might try cutting out the designs on paper and varying them a little to move around, and see if you like them oriented a little differently.  Not saying it doesn't look nice as is though, it does.

[Mike Lyons]

I played with it a little more.  They are going to have to be a mixture of pointy and rounded.  They just look better to me sometimes pointed and other times rounded.  I have some tracing paper.  I'll give it go. 

[Mr. Bubbles]

The thing you want to avoid with volutes if you can, is parallel sides for any distance,  Generally, they tend to look a little better if the relationships are always changing.  Many of yours get fatter toward their heads (which looks nice) but a few of them are pretty parallel through the middle of their stalks and toward the base.  You want to avoid a lot of repetition, (and yours does not) which can make a design sort of boring.  On my last gun each major carving design took me a week to draw and be satisfied with it before I took a chisel to it, and even then it took 3 weeks to cut in and be happy with it.