Small mistake,... how much side barrel can I expose?

[JohnTyg]

I am always making a new mistake to help me forget the last one.

Decided that I needed to reveal more of the barrel. Modified my swagged nose cap and started to block sand down the sides of the forearm.  Didn't draw any reference lines.  Got it down to midline and then went just a little further.  When I sat back and looked at what I had done found that I had sanded down too far just in front of the lock.  Worse on the side-plate side.  The flats in this portion of the barrel are 1 cm and I am just at 1.4 mm below midline (about 1/16") in this part of the forearm.

Question is do I leave it or bring down the rest of the forearm sides to flatten it out? It might be acceptable for a Lehigh but for a 1770-80s Lancaster?

How much barrel can I expose??

Thanks,

John






(Just preliminary sketching behind the cheek piece.)

[rich pierce]

Show more!  You're fine.  Plus the rifle is looking great.

I usually use a fine rasp or file for that sort of shaping rather than sanding, can't stand the dust.

[Acer Saccharum]

Show more barrel side flat. It makes for a slimmer looking gun.

Here's an example of a lot of barrel showing...maybe it was a mistake on the builder's part, but just kept right on going and finished up the gun.

[David Rase]

John,
I get frequent requests when I am inletting a barrel to have the top of the forestock 1/32" to 1/16" below the barrel centerline.  Same with the ramrod channel, 1/32" below the centerline.  As Acer states, they look good. 

From your photographs, I don't see any problem with the forestock barrel centerline.
David 

[Acer Saccharum]

I'd just blend that dip over a longer distance. Invisible. Also adds visual intrigue that only the most discerning eye might be conscious of. My guns are full of intrigue, but it's purely accidental: I'm recovering from a mistake.

[Dennis Glazener]

I keep a 2 inch X 18 inch of flat wood that I stuck 100 grit self adhesive sandpaper to. I use it to make sure the top of my side rails are flat/even. I also use it to bring the top of the rails down to well below the center line.
Dennis

[T*O*F]

If using a contemporary swamped barrel, you can go no lower than the bottom of the narrowest part of the barrel.  This will give the slimmest possible forestock depending on the amount of reveal on your thimbles.

[Randall Steffy]

If using a contemporary swamped barrel, you can go no lower than the bottom of the narrowest part of the barrel.  This will give the slimmest possible forestock depending on the amount of reveal on your thimbles.

Do any originals go this slim or are you joking? Seriously!

[JohnTyg]

My guess is that was a technical/rhetorical statement as to how low you can go. Technically T*O*F is correct..........I was just trying to see  if builders commonly reveal the barrels to 1/16" or more below midline and if that would look OK.

Thanks guys,

Below centerline it is then, probably about 1/16" throughout if that doesn't seem too extreme. 

John

[bgf]

1/16 below centerline of barrel is fine.  I am enthusiastic about originals, and they seem consistently inconsistent, both in how much is revealed and in being level or not.  Most seem to rise or dip a little toward the lock, and it is not uncommon to see them undulate subtly all the way to the muzzle (not to mention ripple), and I think it is a key visual marker for original work versus modern/contemporary interpretations that emphasize perfectly level and straight lines (via block sanding).  You seem to be in safe waters no matter which way you go to "fix" this mistake. 

[Acer Saccharum]

One of the Lehigh rifle attributes is 1/3 of barrel side flat in the wood. Points off if you don't follow that rule. 

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I deliberately bring the channel wood way down below centre, as it makes for a slimmer forearm that shapes up nicer into a non-slabsided stock.  More barrel exposed and less vertical wood is good.

[T*O*F]

One of the Lehigh rifle attributes is 1/3 of barrel side flat in the wood.

As measured from where.  Given the radical swamp of today's contemporary barrels, exposing 1/3 of the side flat at its narrowest point will expose more than 1/3 of the breech and nose flats.  C'nest pas?

[Acer Saccharum]

Yeah, I get what you're saying T*O*F, but I don't think that hard about it, nor make the exposure exactly 'such and such' the whole length of the flat. The reveal on my guns will often vary from breech to muzzle.

[smallpatch]

The centerline of the barrel, is the center line of the barrel.  Whether swamped or not.  So, removing wood to the same level on the center line, while the actual measurement will vary, will give a straight line, at what ever level you decide to go with.

Wow, did that sound confusing.