E Tenn Tang

[billm]

Question on E Tenn. tangs,Been looking at the over the comb tangs from the tutorial and wonder if any origionals had a two piece tang?would seen to be easier with a shiplap joint to hold in the extension,or were they all one piece?
second question ..were there an equal number of guns with a tang that stopped just shy of the comb?I am doing an e tenn and want to be as close as I can be to representing the origionals. Thanks Bill

[cmac]

I'm interested in this one too. The build I have coming up has an over the comb tang and the customer likes to remove the barrel once in a while. I'm thinking of filing an undercut tab on each end of the skinny section of tang so it will tuck under the butt plate and under the shorter wider tang. This way the thing stays in the stock when removing the barrel and you wouldn't bend it or have to worry about chipping the wood....

[bgf]

I've seen at least one in two pieces that looked as if it were made that way, but I looked for a picture last night and haven't found one yet; if you do it nicely, who will know, though -- or make it look like it broke .  I think its more than fine and common NOT to go over the comb.  Also, just to put it out there, not all E. Tn. rifles have the same tang.  There's the Soddy-Daisy rifles and others (e.g. Selvidge, and I think Kellers) that have thick long tangs that end before the comb and have 3 screws.  You could probably also get away with long pointed tang with 2 screws or any number of other variations. 

The best thing to do is find an original that you like and copy it (or use as inspiration) in these sorts of specifics -- there is a lot of individuality even among rifles from just E. Tn, or even just Upper E. Tn. 

[chuck c.]

I'm getting the stuff together for the same type of build right now. I'm using Dave Byrd's book "Gunmakers of Buffalo Valley and Greasy Cove as a reference. This books shows a majority of the rifles from this area to have tangs that extend about 3-4 inches over the comb. I think that the ones that extend all the way back to the butt plate are not nearly as common, but there are a whole lot of people here that know more than I do! Jerry Nobles books are a good reference also. This will be my first attempt at this and I'm pretty nervous!

[Sequatchie Rifle]

I have never seen on two-piece tang on one of these long-tanged, over the comb or exteneded tang rifles.  I think I woul be more inclined to just build a shorter wide NC style tang.