Build Question

[Timberdog]

  Hello All
 I made a post sometime ago about a kit project. I check the forums often but honestly, I lack the knowledge to reply with an answer to most questions.
 My question with a build, be it a kit or wood blank, is where do we draw the line for ourselves? we've all seen the fancy carving, silver inlay, research of the perfect gun you "Would" like to build. $#*!, I find myself looking and admiring at guns from the past and also ones that ya'll have made.
 I would love for my first gun to come out as nice as the ones I've seen on here. Do I need to set my sights that high. Do I have the ability to achieve my goal. Can I really do a relief carving. Do we learn the basic steps and then go forward.  Maybe this is a question that just answered itself?
 We all want a finished gun to ohhh and awww our friends. A gun we can show off and say "yeah, I made that, it took me x hours to finish." We fall in love with  the "Looks of a gun" but the looks is not shot down range to the target.
 

 
 
 

 

[LURCHWV@BJS]

Timberdog,

   Take it from someone working on his first buid from a blank.  There is SO MUCH to learn to get to the OOOOOH AAAAAAAWWWW stage and from the blank forget it. My second build will be a kit.  Hopefully there is an experienced builder near you get help.  I am trying to do it all from the advice of the knowledge shared here and what I see in pictures or by handling a nicely built rifle.  Not having someone to show me how to correct mistake has been trying at times.

  But don't take my word,  I'm sure the general consensus will argee. Goodluck and welcome to the forum.

   Rich

[Harnic]

Timberdog,

Go for the kit.  It will provide all the challenge you'll need & you'll be much more likely to end up with a gun you'll be proud of.  I gunsmithed professionally for over 20 years (not muzzle loaders) & was still more than adequately challenged by my Track fullstock flint Hawken kit.  I am very proud of the rifle & plan to build another kit soon.  It'll be several more kits before I feel confident enough for a "scratch build".

[Timberdog]

 If  these pics come out??? this the the current rifle I'm shooting
This rifle was made by a 70 year old young man. May not have all the fancy
carving but it will castrate a fly at 50 yards.
 

[Birddog6]

 Hello All
 I made a post sometime ago about a kit project. I check the forums often but honestly, I lack the knowledge to reply with an answer to most questions.
 My question with a build, be it a kit or wood blank, is where do we draw the line for ourselves? we've all seen the fancy carving, silver inlay, research of the perfect gun you "Would" like to build. $#*!, I find myself looking and admiring at guns from the past and also ones that ya'll have made.
 I would love for my first gun to come out as nice as the ones I've seen on here. Do I need to set my sights that high. Do I have the ability to achieve my goal. Can I really do a relief carving. Do we learn the basic steps and then go forward.  Maybe this is a question that just answered itself?
 We all want a finished gun to ohhh and awww our friends. A gun we can show off and say "yeah, I made that, it took me x hours to finish." We fall in love with  the "Looks of a gun" but the looks is not shot down range to the target.

To me there is nothing prettier & nicer than a plain well built longrifle.  Good clean lines, nice inletting, and the natural beauty of a nice piece of wood.  Learn to build & learn to build correctly first. The carving & etc.  don't mean anything unless the rifle is clean built first.....  take baby steps, make the correct steps & if they are not correct, don't just go on.......  get that step Correct first, then go on......  Don't get ahead of your skill level.......    Most want to go fancy before they learn the very basics.  You can't learn to do it correctly it in one or two rifles, IMHO.  Ya can't build a Nascar engine if you have never built a engine.  I believe ya should go slow, build something simple & plain, then go to the next one. Then go on from there......  As for time to build................   it doesn't matter how long it took............     take your time & enjoy it, it's not a race...........

Keith Lisle

[Tom Currie]

The line you draw on what you build is only determined by what you want to build and how much time you put in to learn the more decorative skills ...relief and incised carving, wire inlay, engraving etc...if you choose to apply them.

My first few builds l took forever to complete as I worked on these skills in order to apply them without embarrasing myself.   

A fine rifle is never "made" by these decorative touches, only enhanced by them.

[keweenaw]

A good job from a good kit, without extensive carving, is going to take a beginner about 80 to 120 working hours.  Starting from a blank, without a gun in hand and an experienced eye to look things over and keep you on the straight and narrow, is a difficult thing to do and will probably add another 60 hours.  Rifles of different schools also vary in their degree of difficulty.  A Lehigh rifle is much more difficult to get just right than a Lancaster or York and a Bucks Co. rifle looks fabulous with its extensive decoration but doesn't look like much as a plain rifle.  Of course bad carving is just that and will always look bad while a nicely done uncarved rifle will always look like a nicely done rifle.  Just things to think about.

Tom

[rich pierce]

My advice is to build a factory kit like the lyman GPR etc first.  This will teach you about final fitting, some small operations, and finishing wood and metal.  When you are done you'll have a reliable, good shooting rifle that you can really enjoy and be proud of.  Then build a plain musket or trade gun where more operations and shaping are required.  Now you've got 2 good shooters, a rifle and a smoothbore, that you assembled and finished.  Bet the second one looks better.  Then decide whether you want to plunk down $800 or whatever for a prime kit with the confidence that it will be worth more than $800 when you are done with it.  Or get the high end quit and take a class on how to make it into a longrifle.  But if on your own, probably 20% of inexperienced first time builders can make an expensive kit "shine".  But 95% can turn the expensive kit into a good shooter.  There's a great temptation to carve and engrave the first gun but there are so many other skills to learn, and most folks are not willing to do all the practice blocks they should do.  The temptation is to think we're concert violinists w/o learning to do scales first.

[Long Ears]

I have built 5 TVM rifle kits and one TVM Fowler kit as well as 2 TVM pistol kits. I purchased 2 of the building books that are advised on this forum. This has been in the last 5 years. I am now working on a Chambers Lancaster Kit that has a wood patchbox. How I approached my builds have been to start plain and simple to learn the basics. Than the next one I would add moulding. The next add tang and thimble carvings. That way I would not get frustrated and I always have one to shoot. I now have a blank I purchased at  Dixon's being shaped and the barrel and RR cut in. I can learn how to lay out the locations for the lock,trigger and all of the furniture myself. Next will be totally from a blank. I am lucky to have a builder fairly close when I get to the blank to help me with the layout. I am still not to the level of most of the builders on this forum but I am getting better every build. The real cool part is I still win regularly in our local matches with my first rifle and smoothbore. These things really shoot! Just don't set your goals too high and have fun. It is very rewarding.

Bob