A Workmanlike Manner

[Swampwalker]

I can see how this is shaping up - I'm imagining the Gahagan - Kibler carving classic!  Get your tickets early, it's sure to be a sellout!

[Joe S]

Jim, how long would it take you to finish this carving to your usual standard?

[Jim Kibler]

I'd guess likely in the range of four or five hours.  Perhaps even a little more.

[Tom Currie]

Somewhat like Rich Pierce does I finish about a gun a year very part time. What I am trying to do better is rough removal of wood/metal quickly to get  close to final level and not spend so much time doing fine removal of material.( Too much fussing)  The confidence level required to do that efficiently most likely is only gained with experience. I'm trying but it's a bit scary. So I'm trying to cut my build time in half without sacrificing what level of finished product I am capable of. This is my excersise in working in a " Workmanlike Manner"

[Paddlefoot]

I do wonder if the process for making those Springfield stocks is documented anywhere. Sometime I think we ignore or are unaware of some of the methods the olds masters might have used. For example, my dad tells a story of my grandfather breaking the stock on his shotgun(an H&R single shot). He found a piece of suitable hardwood and chopped out the shape with his belt hatchet and finished shaping it with a rasp and smoothed it with pieces of broken window glass. Finished with BLO and back in action. Dad didn't say how long it took him but he sure made it sound like it was done quickly. On you tube you can find a video of a couple dutch (maybe Danes) woodworkers making wooden shoes using an ax to chop out the outter shape and a special auger to bore the opening for the foot. It's a pretty darned fast process. I wonder what they really thought was a workman like manner.

[James]

I would not be surprised if once basic lines were laid out on the stock, that the drawknife and spokeshave were used for most of the removal of "waste" wood. They are fast and efficient in the right hands. I'm sure I have read on this forum about the use of the spokeshave, but don't know your opinions about the drawknife. After all the tool handles I have made, I'm still amazed at how quick these tools can be used to advantage. Enough so that I feel I come out ahead by having a shaving horse and stockpile of ash and hickory, split and dried, so that any handle needs I have can be quickly and cheaply taken care of. When we see someone working well by hand, it truly is poetry in motion. Now I need to get as efficient with stock shaping. Just my opinion, backed up with no facts  . Thanks, James

[valongrifles]

I just read in MuzzleBlasts, from about April 1946, about a guy that does most of his stock work with a HATCHET! He was good at it and it didn't take him long to do the work.

[omark]

i saw pictures of an original that looked like the guy (wont call him a gunsmith) had used a hatchet and farriers rasp. definitely not in a workmanlike manner.   mark

[rich pierce]

I'm a big fan of the spokeshave, planes etc.  I use the spokeshave for the buttplate inlet (part against the shoulder) with big success too, but it really has to be sharp to but end grain nicely.  I'd use a drawknife more if I had a shaving horse.

I don't have much trouble being efficient in shaping a stock.  Maybe it's bowmaking that has given me skill and confidence in roughing things out quickly.  The "workmanlike manner" areas for improvement for me are inletting parts (I take at least 4 hours to inlet a lock on a good day), shaping moldings around the lock and fore-end, making and installing nosecaps, carving and engraving.  That's a lot of room for improvement.

[fm tim]

Mark Silver's DVD - Traditional Gunstocking with Mark Silver - shows him using predominantly spokeshaves and planes for rough work and final finishing.  He starts roughing the blank with just a hand saw.

[Jim Kibler]

Some of Mark's work in the stocking video are great examples of a "workman like manner"  Don't remember the exact times but I do remember the lock and butplate inlet were done extremely fast.  If you haven't seen it, I would recommend it.

[keweenaw]

And Mark's locks look like the grew into the wood - beautiful clean lock mortises with no extra wood removed.  Mark does most of his stock roughing with a lie nielson scrub plane.  Takes off loads of wood in a hurry with little effort.  http://www.lie-nielsen.com/catalog.php?sku=40_5  One just has to know when to stop.