A rifle ready to carve

[David Price]

I thought that this might be interesting to some of you.  This is a  single barrel rifle that I am building for my son that will match the swivel breech rifles that I built for him and myself two years ago.  The rifle is all together with the carving drawing in place ready to start to carve.  If you find this interesting I will continue to show the carving as it progresses.

[HistoricalArmsMaker]

Beautiful David!
Susie

[Tom Currie]

That's beautiful work. What are you using to cut in your carving ? A V parting tool or are you stabbing in ? or other method.

[Larry Pletcher]

David,
I always enjoy looking at your work.   It's even more fun to actually handle it as I did at Friendship and CLA.  I hope you contimue to take pictures.
Regards,
Larry

[David Price]

Tom,
I use the stabbing method that Wallace Gussler and John Bivens taught me years ago.
If you are wondering what those brown streaks  are in the wood, they are not bark.  Whatever they are they are very hard.  I took a chance on buying this piece of wood because it was stump wood and I thought that I could eliminate most of them which I did.  I also tried staining a piece before I started to see if they would show after and I don't think that they will be noticeable.

The only part of the drawing that is missing is the patch box lid.  Here is a picture of the swivel breech butt stock that I am duplicating.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Grand stuff David...only wish you were building it for me.  What you are seeing is likely mineral deposits, and they are as hard or harder than the surrounding wood.  They add character and do not detract from the finished rifle in my opinion.  As I like to say, "Good stock wood just doesn't grow on trees, eh!"
Thanks for this photo treat David...more?

[elk killer]

very very veryyyyyyy nice...!!!!!!!!!!

[Eric Fleisher]

Fantastic Work!  Thank you for posting those photos.  It is great to see the carving in progression.

[billd]

Beautiful!!!!!  Can I call you dad?     Yes, please keep the pictures coming.

Bill

[Ed Wenger]

Dave...

     I love your work and thanks so very much for the photos!  The tutorial you did helped me greatly with my carving, and this is more excellent material.  Excellent design and layout, not to mention the inspiration.  Keep 'em coming and thanks again!!

Ed

[volatpluvia]

David,
By all means, please keep showing the pics of your work!  It is lovely carving. 
volatpluvia

[Paddlefoot]

Thanks for the pictorial David. I really enjoyd the pics of the swivels when you were building them. It amazes me how detailed your carving is but it still doesn't seem over done.

[lew wetzel]

david,i love looking at your work....truly grand !!!!

[Ohioan]

Thanks for the pictorial David. I really enjoyd the pics of the swivels when you were building them. It amazes me how detailed your carving is but it still doesn't seem over done.

 

I concur!

That is beautiful.  It's inspires me to draw.

[don getz]

Wow Dave, you really get carried away with that carving.  I have also noticed that you must like those investment cast
"Isaac Haines" hardware sets.    They have been around for many years and are what we used when we designed the
first Isaac  Haines kit.  Since then, I have come to detest that butt plate.  I know, it is a creation of John Bivins, who I
greatly admired, but that butt is just too thick, and it takes a heck of a lot of filing to get it thin, if you so desire.  I have
noticed that you also use it on your swivel guns, you are a brute for punishment........Don

[Ky-Flinter]

David,
Wonderful!  Just wonderful!  I always enjoy the opportunity to see and study your work.  It continues to inspire me.  Please continue to photograph and share your progress.

-Ron

[acorn20]

David,

Beautiful work!  Thanks for the photos.  Now how many hours would you estimate you have in the carving between photo 1 and photo 13? 

Dan

[Jim Filipski]

Dave ,
Love the flow of your carving designs. Truly excellent! Thanks for the previews
Jim

[David Price]

D.T. Sapergia,
You are right the streaks are harder than the wood itself.  The worst one is in the wrist but I intend to stain the wood fairly dark, hopefully it won't show. We will find out, I will post the pictures of the finished rifle when it is done.

V. Aririflegun,
I am glad to hear that the TUTORIAL on carving helped you out.  This posting is not intended to be a tutorial, more for entertainment for the forum, and myself.  I find that if I know that I am going to post pictures of my work I try a little harder to make it right.  By the way, the TUTORIAL is not on ALR anymore, if you want to see it you can click on to my web site and it is there.  There are other TUTORIALS there also, and I am going to do another one on silver wire, which will be done on this rifle that I am working on now.   It will be the complete job that is on the swivel breech rifle that is included with these pictures.

D.Getz,
You are right I do use a lot of the Bivins Butt  Plates and they are a bear to thin down.  The first thing that I do is take about  !/16 off the inside of the plate, there is not much metal there and it comes off fast.  Then I put it on my one  inch belt sander with a very course paper and thin it down some more.   There are a number of reasons why I like that particular butt.  First it is the correct one for the  style of rifle that I build, and it is just heavy enough to add enough weight to the back end of the gun to put the balance of the rifle in your left hand when aiming.  It is also wide enough to distribute the recoil against your shoulder if you load it up for hunting.  Also I just like the look of it.  What I should do is to thin one down and use it for a pattern and get a mold made for it.

Acorn 20
I stopped keeping track of the hours that I spend doing any particular part of the build. A typical complete carving usually takes about  two weeks to complete, start to finish including the drawing.  This particular rifle I started building Oct 6/08.  I normally put in a 50 or 60 hour week, not a twelve hour day,  but I do work  a lot of Saturdays , Sundays, and holidays, accept during hunting season. Deer season opens here in N.H. next Sat. so that will cut down on my work hours considerably.

[Tim Crosby]

 Another beauty David. You know what I am waiting for...the wire.
Thanks for posting the pictures and keep them coming.

Tim C.

(@!*% I like that speel check!)

[Marty]

WOW!!!!!!!!

[w4zmb]

Thanks David, very interesting and appreciate  your taking the time to show us how its done! Looks great!

S.J. Owen

[Ohioan]

Hey Dave, if you get a chance, can you post a close up of the cheeckside wrist.
I'm intrigued to see how you handle the area where the upper cheek piece carving blends into the comb.  Don't know if I explained that clearly.

Thanks!

[t.caster]

As always David your work is an inspiration! Where do you buy such beautifully figured wood? Seems like every project you've posted came from the same tree!
How much does such wood cost when it becomes available?

[David Price]

Ohioan,

I have more pictures that I am just about ready to post. I don't have time tonight but I will try to get them up tomorrow night.  I will however post one picture that I believe will answer your  question.  The carving is not finished in this area but you will get the idea.

t.caster,

No the wood did not come from the same tree.  I hunt for wood all the time and buy it whenever I find it.   A  good piece of stump wood for a full stock rifle could cost six or seven hundred dollars if you are lucky enough to find it.  I have a number of wood suppliers that have a standing order with me for that type of wood.  The piece that I am working on for these pictures only cost me $150.00 because of the inclusions that were in it.    I think I have worked around  most of the bad spots, except for one which broke out like a knot, in the middle of the carving around the entrance thimble.  I fixed it which I will show on the next posting.