next gun

[billd]

I started my next gun today. Got the butt plate almost on. My first using curly ash. Is all ash this hard or did Wayne sell me a petrified piece?      

Bill

[J Shingler]

My smoothbore is curly ash. I liked working it but with the open grain I did not try any carving. It is hard and your tools have to be really sharp but the wood dont mush when you try to cut it!  Hey they don't make baseball bats out of it for nothing!

[Roger Fisher]

I started my next gun today. Got the butt plate almost on. My first using curly ash. Is all ash this hard or did Wayne sell me a petrified piece?      

Bill

Hey Bill "started one today and have the plate near on"   

Holy Kats - Am I walking backwards or wot??    I started the plate on a smoothy 2 days ago; but this is after setting in the breech, the lock and tang and bolt, the trigger, the lock nails, pinning the barrel , some shaping around the barrel tang and comb!

[J Shingler]

Well If you are starting from a bandsawn blank I too like to start with the barrel, lock, ect and work backward but Bill may be working from a precarve and the butt plate spotted and can not be moved. In that cas I sometimes get the butplate on to protect the tow early on.

[billd]

Yep,  protect the toe. I learned that lesson many years ago.  Yes and no it's a precarve. It is but it'sgetting totally reshaped.

Bill

[northmn]

Usually do the barrel inletting and ramrod channel on the blank first, lock,  buttplate then whatever in that order.  Hardest part, which I am now in the process of is getting started or making that first cut into the wood.  Have one layed out but need to decide if I want to use a walnut blank or my birch blank cut off the back 40.  Been dealing with holidy company and plowing snow and putting up with subzero temps.  -15 this morning supposed to get -25 tonight.  Heating my outdoor shop kind of gets to be a pain.

DP