Sawing Pstol Stock

[frogwalking]

I had a cabinet maker down the road plane my walnut stock blank for a smooth bore English style flint pistol.  I have the stock drawn out and plan to saw it at my son-in-laws house on his bandsaw.  Today I picked up a Craftsman 16 inch scroll saw for $60 at a pawn shop and wonder if I should use it to cut the curve at the back of the barrel, where the top of the fore stock curve up to take the recoil of the barrel.  How do you guys cut these out.  I could square this area off and cut it out with hand tools. 

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Before you think of introducing that to a machine or a chisel, I think you should beg, borrow, or buy a book or two on building muzzle loading guns.  Advice from this forum can only take you so far.  It appears you need to start at the beginning.  Education comes first.  Then a plan - a blue print in fact.  Then we can talk.

[frogwalking]

Thanks Taylor.

I do have a number of books on the subject, and have made a number of guns over the years.  Most were using precarve stocks, and a few were pretty basic as I have made a few locks.  Having said all of that, I managed to make a large number of mistakes, some consistently.  Now that I am old(er) I am attempting to learn how to do it right.  I even have two drawings of this type of old English pistols. 

I do appreciate your advice as I have the capability to mess things up without regard to personal knowledge and number of guns having been created in my shop.

[heinz]

Power tools make power misakes. I would stay at least .25 inch away from the line of the pattern. The result will depend on the saw power, having the right blade, and your skill with the tool. Go slow, trial and error can be a tough teacher. PS. I only tried a hand scroll saw once, years ago. No disaster but did not seem to save much time but I was definiely short on that skill thing
 

[Dphariss]

If you have a good stock pattern you can cut to the line or very close. But experience helps here.
The problem with leaving excess wood is most people lack the determination to remove all the excess. So I cut to just show the line or less. Leaving a 1/4" on a pistol stock is far too much and will require a re-saw at some point or a lot of work with a rasp. Its WAY to easy to leave too much wood on a pistol.
If you don't have a pattern you need to make one. Its possible to scan and enlarge photos from books to get the proper outline then print  and then tape together if printed in 2 pieces. Or draw something out till it looks good. Allowing for underlugs, ramrods etc, draw these in to give the proper stock dimension. Many precarves and factory made entry pipes require too much wood in the forend. Wood covering the rod hole.
The full size parts photos in the Track of the Wolf catalog help here. Copies of the lock photos and other part will give a full sized part to use in drawing the gun out for making a pattern.


Dan

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Where the barrel channel finally comes to the breech of the barrel, you must be careful to cut a gentle curve upward to the top of the stock.  Where the barrel is inlet into the wood at the breech, the wood of the channel is full depth, and as you go forward, the wood along the sides of the barrel drops down to about the middle of the bore, or a little less. As you inlet the lock, this curve of wood is chiseled away to accommodate the fence behind the pan of a flintlock, or the top of the bolster of a percussion lock.

It's good you're asking questions before making shavings.

[whitebear]

If you are not proficient with your scroll saw buy a pine 2" X 8" X 6 or 8', draw out some patterns and practice cutting them.  Better to ruin a pine 2X8 than a nice piece of walnut.

[frogwalking]

The iea of using a pine 2X for practice is a good one.  I bought the piece of walnut from Rich Pierce and want to be as careful as possible on it.  I am thinking to saw the long lines that are either straight such as along the top of the barrel or a gentle curve with my son-in-law's band saw and make the sharper cuts with the scroll saw.  I have bought a package of new blades (assorted) for it.  My grandson seems anxious to help so I want to take the opportunity to encourage his enthusiasm. 

[twistedtree]

The band saw would work well for this with a narrow blade with a lot of teeth. Go slow about a 1/4 inch from the lines and then start sanding.