LANCASTER IS FINISHED

[hortonstn]

54 cal green mountain barrel 13/16
davis dst, chambers large siler,white lighting torch hole,pipes,sideplate,toeplate,inlays hand made
grade 3 curley maple stock
engraveing by smitty
dangler orange with red then tru-oil
sorry for the quality of piks
paul

[TgeorgeZ]

Indescribably beautiful.  It looks like a true masterpiece.

[alyce-james]

Outstanding work. I like the color, turned out well. Turkeyfooter.

[mjm46@bellsouth.net]

Really nice! How does it change from dayglow orange to a nice rich brown with red overtones?

[greybeard]

very nice indeed.   Bob

[Curtis]

Paul,

You have a great looking gun there, nice work.  The colors worked out great too!

Curtis

[wattlebuster]

Well done. A true masterpiece.

[Glenn]

Now aint that something for sure ... is that the "orange" stock you were posting photos of?  That is truly amazing how that finally came around.  Nice and deep.  Very good job indeed.

[Don Steele]

Your earlier pics of the stock as a "work in progress" had me wondering OMG...where is this going...??
Obviously YOU knew....which is all that counts, and you got a gorgeous rifle for your efforts.

[Odd Fellow]

Very nice!

[Don Getz]

Here are some things to do on your next gun.    When you install the buttplate, make sure the top line of the buttplate
is in alignment with the topline of the comb, on this gun you missed it.    I also believe you built this gun from a preshaped
stock, and the ramrod hole was too low.   In order to get a good looking gun, the web between the barrel channel and
the top of the ramrod hole should be about 1/8", when it is bigger than this it becomes difficult to build a nice, sleek gun.
It appears that the web is rather big on this gun, thus ending up with slab sides in the foregrip area.   I merely wanted
to point out some areas that you should work on, on your next rifle.    The last gun I finished was a fowler and I used a
preshaped stock.   The ramrod hole had a web of over 1/4" and you just can't build a nice sleek gun when this happens.
By the way, that was gun number 89 for me.  I knew the problem was there but had no way to correct it...............Don   

[stuart cee dub]

Hi Don ,
There is a fix for the thick web problem ,and that is to deepen the barrel channel.Not much fun .
If the lock is preinletted,well that may or may not work.Good looking long rifles need good basics.The web really does make a big difference.Pre carved stock makers are cautious ,thicker webs mean fewer rejected stocks.
Preshapped stocks can save a lot of work but don't always fit the hardware one picks.By eliminating the buttplate on your barn guns Don,you can make better use of the existing  shape of the stock instead of trying to get it to work with a buttplate that may or may not have been intended for that particular precarved stock.I think it is a very sensible solution to a common problem .
Pre carved stocks I think require some  departures from the usual order of building to get them to work.
 
Paul,Everyone loves your color.I will have to try the orange to red staining on some blanks .By the time I get to the staining part I tend to be too cautious as at that point as redoing a bad finish is replowing  old ground  ?Also it looks like the patch box has some engraving on it as well.Is that your work also?

Regards Stuart



  

[hortonstn]

don,
you are correct, this was a precarved stock,the thickness of the forearm is definetly due to the way the ramrod was drilled , i tried to do the best with what i had to work with,
thanks for the advice, thats the last precarve for me.
paul

[longcruise]

I like that color, very nice.

Am going to digress in the area of photography.  Avoid the use of a bright background such as your white one.  It throws the light on the subject (da gun!) way off.  I'm betting that your stock is actually a bit lighter color than it's appearance in this thread. 

Use a more neutral background.  Avoid using a flash. 

Many of us learned our photo skills in the old days when the advice was to get the subject in the sun and put the sun at the back of the camera.  Ok for some condtitions, but not so ok for others.

Try this;  go for a neutral background.  Put the background and the subject in the shade.  Shoot without the flash.

[hortonstn]

thanks for the advise, it was 100 degrees outside or i would have tried it outside thats a good idea,
stewert the engraveing was done by smitty's engraveing he advertises in muzzleblast he's done several rifles for me very reasonable,fast
paul