Ever build a gun you're just not "proud" of????

[smallpatch]

I need to vent a little.

I'm in the finishing stages of a very plain, late Lancaster style, percussion "hunting gun" for a friend.  First of all, it's percussion.  Second, the owner didn't want to spend the money for a swamped barrel.  The barrel is a 15/16, .54 cal.  Kind of feels like a steel fence post on a 2x4 to me.
The piece of maple is so soft, and fuzzy, that I whiskered it at least 8 times, and it's still furry.  I used Ferric Nitrate, it stained up rather nice, but spent the next 2 days trying to get the raised grain knocked back down.

When it's completed, I just don't think it's going to be a gun I can say...... "Look what I just finished"

As you can tell, I just wasn't all that thrilled to build it from the beginning.  But I needed the cash, and he wanted me to build it for him.

Should I just have held out for what I like to build.  My heart would have surely been more into it, or do you just buck up, and build what your customer wants??  This one is in the neighborhood of 40 to 50 guns, and I don't ever recall another one affecting me like this.

OK, I feel better now!!

How would you have handled this??  I don't want my building to ever become a "chore"

[wvmtnman]

As a small business owner, I often take jobs because I "need" to.  There is nothing wrong with that.  It make economic sence.
   I say point out the exact points you did not like about the experience and learn from your mistakes.  Personally, I would not have setteled for that piece of wood.  If I build a gun, I need to be the one who pickes the parts.  That at least gives me the incentive to build.
                                                      Brian

[Cory Joe Stewart]

I have made some custom horns for folks that I never want to see again. And hope noone else does.

Coryjoe

[bama]

There are the guns I want to build, guns I like to build, guns I hate to build and there are the customer guns. I try to impart to the customer what would be proper and correct and some times they listen and some times they don't. Most all the time they have a budget in mind and they won't exceed it regardless how much you tell them what it will do for the value of their gun.

A while back I did some work that I did not feel was up to par because I did not have my heart in the project. After I released the gun I thought about who might see the gun and associate it with my name engraved on the barrel. I decided right then that I would never let a gun out of the shop that I did not feel I had done my best work on. If it is a plain rifle with or the best carved and engraved rifle I will put the same effort into it - or I will not do the rifle.

I am not saying that you did not do your best quality. I am talking about my attitude during a build. I will not take a job that I can't put my heart into and turn out my best work for the price of the build. Now with that said the customer usually gets more than he paid for. But I think in the long run that pays for itself down the line.

[Acer Saccharum]

Do the best you can, and move on.

[KentSmith]

Yes I have.  Needed the money so accepted the commission and did the best I could.  Same deal nasty big straight barrel, wrong for the style of gun and lock, stock nothing went right.  Ended up probably losing more money than it was worth but what can you do but move on

[AMartin]

Dane

I have built a lot of rifles that never made it back to my shop ........ whew !!! I promise your new Lehigh is one that I wish would never leave !!!!!


Allen

[Don Getz]

I thank God I am retired and am not doing this for a living.   Had a guy stop in the shop the other day and apparently had
enough money to have me build him a gun, but, when he said he wanted a nice long flintlock, barrel to shoot sabots,
some nice silver inlays, I just shook my head......told him, nope, don't want to do it.   I am glad I can be choosy.....Don

[Berks Liberty]

I was looking over my first ever build and just laugh.  I believe I am going to recycle the parts and use them to make something nicer looking.  Right now its a rifle I just don't want to bring out in the open. 

Jason

[Mike R]

One has to decide if he is building for profit or for art [I know, some can do both]. 'The client is always right' is an old saw that does not resonate well with artists. Many folks have to toil away all their lives at jobs that do not satisfy any artistic feelings...some poor souls have to work at jobs that don't satisfy any feelings of accomplishment.  Count yourself lucky if all you have to do is build a plain jane hunting arm, which the owner will no doubt love and use well.  Didn't even Dickert live to see the straight barrel? [and hear of a percussion lock?]....

[Mike Brooks]

I can build a dog every now and again. It helps now that I turn down all orders that I don't want to build. I used to build everything that came down the pipe....made me miserable actually.

[smshea]

Dane

 I know exactly where you are coming from! This may be one of those times we can honestly connect with the original makers.  

[Dphariss]

I am very seldom completely happy with what I make. I know where all the warts are.
If the grain won't lay down glue it down with finish.
Apply a finish that takes a day or so to dry and then lightly burnish the wood.
This will iron out the fuzz and the finish will glue it in place. Should work.

I am very picky about wood.
Soft maple is a nightmare. Like pine with curl.

Dan

[Captchee]

OHHH ya  been there .
 from the start i didnt like  that piece . liked it even less when i was finished .
 it has zero to do with strait vs Octagon barrels or wood quality .
 i just did not like the piece  period
 but it was what the customer wanted .

 

[smallpatch]

Sorry Allen,

You "gotta give it up"

[Dale Halterman]

Yeah.

Built one for a hunting buddy. Tried to talk him into something different, but he knew what he wanted. Did it for the cost of parts since he was a friend.

He is actually proud of it. The hardest part is, when we go to the local range together he will show it off and tell everybody that I built it. I want to crawl under the bench every time he does that.

Dale H

[FL-Flintlock]

First off, if you're trying to build a "perfect" gun or anything else ... lots-o-luck!  Only God is perfect so unless you consider yourself above a mere mortal, it's best to learn how to fix boo boos and eat some losses.

My first question would be is if you counseled the client on the physics of mass, balance and how well, or not, the client's physical aspects will interface with the style of gun desired as well as the associated options available to optimize the feel of the gun before you accepted the contract?  As for the wood, it's a natural product, something you have to deal with especially when choosing a finish that is compatible with the wood. 

[Pete G.]

Good thing about a plain hunting gun is that they are relatively quick to knock out, fewer places to have to correct mistakes, and you don't put your soul into it, so it is not like losing a child when it goes out the door. Now when you do an artistic gun it's another story. I usually keep those and I'm about to the point of having to add a room to the house to have more corners to stand guns in. Of course there are also more places that show up as less than perfect too, so sometimes you don't want those on the street for that reason either. Good thing is that the vast majority of folks don't really recognize the difference between good and great work. I suspect that if I ever get to the point where I can't find something that I could have done better, then I would probably get bored and move on to something else for a while. Doesn't look like a chance of that happening anytime soon though. I can still find a lot of room for improvement.

[wattlebuster]

I have a full time job that i like an wont give up so i guess i can still choose what i build but if you are eating out of your shop then you done what you felt you needed to do. maybe as time goes on you can pick an choose. wish you the best!!!!

[Leatherbelly]

Good thread. Kinda humors me at the mistakes I haven't done yet!  As a buyer and not a builder, I still appreciate the woes of the builder. My last rifle purchase/trade, I just asked Taylor to build me a good shooter that is light, (bad shoulder and wrist on a worn out body), slim and graceful. All I added was a color I liked and said fly at 'er!  You choose the school. I ended up with a sweet little JP Beck that holds perfect (for me),loads and shoots like a house on fire, and looks "@!*% fine". I'm with Mike Brooks. If I were a prominent builder, I'd build what I liked. If others like it and want to purchase it, so be it.If not, they move along. Artists do not like being stifled in their work, and who am I to stand in their way? (I have an "eye" for the art, just haven't acquired the skills to apply them ,yet!)

[northmn]

I got burned out doing that very same thing and laid off of building for maybe 15+ years.  Last rifle I put together for someone else took far to long and it was definitely work.  Also it showed in my last builds as I just wanted to get them shooting.  Still have to fight it a little, and only work on them when I feel like it.  Doing more shooting with unfinished guns.  But I will not do anymore custom work.

DP

[smallpatch]

Well guys,

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one. I have 3 more waiting in the wings that I really WANT to build.  I guess I'll just push on, and get to what I like.

Maybe just be a little more insistent on what will produce the rifle that I like.  But then, that may not be what the customer likes.  So the real question.... do I put up with the unpleasant task of building something not to my liking, just for the money.  Or, do I hold out for what I like to build that will be a better gun for my customer ( whether he likes it or not??

Wow is this getting confusing.

[Leatherbelly]

Dane,
  I think in a lot of instances, the customer needs "coaching" in a gun that will fit his/her needs as a shooter. Sizing up the customer to fit a certain school/gun might be an answer. For me, the Lebanon(Beck) or the Lancaster(Haines) fit me well without messing up the architecture of the the piece. ie:LOP,drop, etc... Just my $.02 worth.

[Flinter]

smallpatch

I cannot speak from a builder’s standpoint, but I can say something from a buyer or customers prospective.

I sent Ron Scott a two page instruction letter on how I wanted a Bonewitz to be built. I mentioned I would like the barrel breach to be 1-1/8th inch. Ron sent me an e-mail about a month ago with a barrel measurement of:

I/8 from breech joint .958, 2" from breech joint .946,  4" - .936,  6" - .919,  8" - .905,  10" - .884,  12" - .868,  14" - .851,  16" - .834,  18" - .820,  20" - .807,  22" - .793,  24" - .791,  26" - .789,  28" - .786,  30" - .776,  32" - .767,  34" - .762,  36" - .759,  38" - .766,  40" - .769,  42" - .774  and at the muzzle  .787.

When I read his e-mail I thought, “My gosh! This is going to be a sleek... keen looking rifle.”  You are right Leatherbelly, sometimes we need some coaching.

Mike

[smylee grouch]

I dont build for others any more, too stressful. I just build and if some one wants to buy and has the cash he buys as is. Its alot less stressful. That way I can build what I want.    Gary