wire inlay

[lew wetzel]

i added some wire inlay around my patchbox,the desighn came from a hermann rupp rifle .

[Brian Jordan]

The wire looks good Lew. Is that copper pins at the points of the wire?

[lew wetzel]

melsdad,yes they are copper pins and the wire is silver.fiqured i would add something to take the focus off the bad inlett job i did....lol   i am better at inlay than at inletting...

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

You've been busy!

[lew wetzel]

taylor,ya i have been spending at leasr two hrs a day in the shop.trying to keep my mind busy too.building guns is good for the soul....

[t.caster]

I'm liking it! Very nicely done & not over done! Nice theme!

[J.D.]

Not bad, not bad at all.

I do have a coupla suggestions though. I have done a little wire inlay, very little, but I had a good teacher, and I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express at the CLA show. 

IMHO, the "splices" for lack of a better word, will look better if the ends of the wire are tapered to almost nothing and  the "splice" begun farther back on the previous volute. If properly applied, the applied wire will appear to grow out of the parent wire.  The same thing with the copper dots. Taper the ends of the wire and inlet the wire on a tangent to the dot so the eye follows a clean, smooth line from the wire and around the periphery of the dot.

Check out the  detail of wire inlay on the "silver wire English beauty" thread on the Antique forum, to see what I'm talking about.

IMHO, the abrupt end of the wire, as described by the line at the joint, interrupts the flow of the design, as well as the  visual appeal of the design.

You are obviously a talented builder, and  you are not afraid to tackle new areas of building. I hope that you understand that my comments are intended to help refine your technique so that you can build a better gun.
Good luck,
J.D.

[LRB]

  I would also suggest on another, just a suggestion, that you use something other than copper. I think it's going to turn very dark on you, and not stand out well as time goes on. I could be wrong, but I believe it will.

[lew wetzel]

tom,it coming along.i really like that hermann rupp rifle i got the design from...

jd,thanks for the words of wisdom,i have the basics down now just need to fine tune it a bit....

[ironwolf]

  Not bad at all Lew.  You've got a pretty good eye for scroll work too.  Keep plugging at it.

  Kev

[Feltwad]

Lew I take it is your first try at wire inlaying it is good from there you can proceed on more inticate designs Wire inlay need not be too heavy although some like it and it is only as good as the design.
In the past I did a small amount but today only a very little the old eyes cannot stand up to it ,wire inlaying is like checkering if your eyes are getting tired you should stop at once  because you may ruin your days work.
I have enclosed some images of work that I did in the early 1970,s not fantastic but passable.
Feltwad


These two images are of a 50 calibre Wheellock Rifle that I built in 1972 with a paddle shape stock



The next two images are a 12gage flintlock half stocked sportin gun which I built in 1970.



12gage Flintlock sporting gun

[JTR]

Good start Lew!
And true, as others have said, the devil is in the details!
One thing to remember with wire work is that you’ll need to maintain the symmetry of the scrolls maybe even more so than you might with wood carving.
With wood carving, if you have a little flat spot or imperfection in a scroll, you can likely carve it out to repair the *#*#! spot. With wire, you’re pretty much stuck with it.
Here’s a close-up, probably 3 or 4 times actual size, from one of the pictures of the silver wire beauty thread; Cheek side back by the butt plate.
This pic has a lot of good examples of tapering the wires where they meet together, in several places, three wires at a time. Also notice how all the scrolls flow smoothly from one to another maintaining overall symmetry and balance.
Just a thought regarding the copper pins; You might consider making them with tiny domed heads to add a touch of third dimensional appearance.
Not criticizing, just encouraging! 
You’ve got the devil part down, now you just need to practice on the details!
John

[lew wetzel]

feltwad,very cool,you built that wheel lock the same year i was born.

[lew wetzel]

jyr,how do they make the little leaves that are attached to the wire..i gotta learn this....