Carving Advice

[120RIR]

I'm engaged in my first restoration project, a busted-up John Parks Sr. rifle and need to replace about 10 inches of forestock which is missing.  I've been silversmithing, engraving, etc. for many decades but really, wood is new for me so I'm hoping some of you builders can help.  I'm inletting the curly maple with chisel only (I'm not much of a power tool guy) and while my chisels are razor sharp, I've noted that I'm not so much carving out the barrel channel as I am chunking and splintering it out even when I try to take out just minor shavings at a time.  Okay, this may be fine for initially hogging it out but pretty soon my work is going to have to be much finer and smoother.  What, if anything, might I be doing wrong?

[Rich]

I would not use a bench chisel. I would suggest that you stab in the line you want to cut and then use a curved gouge to cut across the grain to the stabbed in line. Stab in again and cross cut to the line again. Make the cuts shallow. The idea is to not pry the wood or give it a chance to splinter. I keep the ends of the curve of the gouge above the level of the wood. Once your near the depth that you want, a scraper can be used to smooth the surface.

[Adrie luke]

https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=46011.0

Adrie

[bama]

You must always work in the direction of the grain of the wood never against the grain. Sometimes you have to work across the grain which can be done carefully. If you have to work against the grain do it in very thin slices and you might get away without tearing out a chunk of wood. Wood grain can change directions in a very short distance, learning to read this change is a skill that must be learned to be a successful wood worker.

[rich pierce]

As Jim says about grain, that’s the main thing, and you’ll find you need to go one direction right here and another direction pretty soon. Imagine a barrel channel with the wood having diagonal grain relative to the barrel axis. If cleaning up the sides of the inlet you’ll need to cut in one direction on one side of the inlet and the opposite direction on the other side.


I got it exactly backwards!

[t.caster]

Rich, your sketch shows cutting INTO the end grain which will cause divots. Your direction arrows would be OK on the if shown on the respective outside of the stock. I think...correct me if I'm wrong.

[rich pierce]

Rich, your sketch shows cutting INTO the end grain which will cause divots. Your direction arrows would be OK on the if shown on the respective outside of the stock. I think...correct me if I'm wrong.

Dude, you’re right!  Needed more caffeine!

[JTR]

For that type work, I leave the chisels in the drawer, and start the heavy removal with a good sharp round wood rasp. I have one with the tang bent up enough so I can clamp a pair of vice grips on it, and use that for the handle. Considering that a lot of these old guns have a round barrel channel with flats only on the sides, the round rasp takes out most of the wood. If the Parks has flats in the channel, use the chisel to finish them off.

Any way you look at it, it's not a fun job.
John

[120RIR]

Interesting... rounded bottom, eh?  The Parks rifle isn't like that of course - wouldn't want the project to be easy but there's plenty of good input here - thanks!.  In the end there's nothing like practice, practice, practice but I went into this thinking I was all hot stuff from decades of hand engraving, silver smithing, etc. I knew I could rely on y'all to put me in my place!    Once I get past the wood, I'll be more in my comfort zone but many lessons will be learned for next time.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Rich's drawing is a view looking down on the top of the barrel channel, and though the grain direction can be tricky there, in my experience, the grain usually flows along the length of the wood without too much run-out.  Where it gets tricky and important, is along the side grain where the grain normally or often at least, runs unhill from the butt to the forend tip.  In this case you must cut in the same direction, that is, from the breech end toward the muzzle.  If you try to cut in the other direction the chisel will follow the grain and not shear the wood off, but rather, split and chip out the wood sometimes catastrophically.  I use a large gouge and a large wooden mallet to take out most of the wood, then flat and skew chisels for the flats.

[J. Talbert]

When looking at these type growth rings on the stock, think of them like the elevation markings on a topographical map. As such always carve “downhill” when possible.

Jeff

[ettoreR]

Quite a few barrels have the breech area matching the octagon shape of the breech and the muzzle, then a deep round gouge or molding plane can be used to hog out the remaining barrel channel out and either be left round, or given a very slight octagon profile. This is a quick and efficient way (imo) to get that otherwise massive carving job done.

[mikeyfirelock]

You might consider making a scraping  tool similar to this.  I ground it out of a derelict file to,a dimension just smaller than the barrel cross section.  The longer handle gives a great deal more leverage and increases the effectiveness greatly.   A fairly robust bevel ( remember this is a scraper) makes it particularly effective, and useable in both directions  (with care.)