Update on pair of swedish officer pistols.

[Rolf]

Runastav was kind enough to send me a blue print he drew last year for the beautiful flintlock officer pistol he made. I've been working on parts for a pair of pistols in between other projects.
I've finished the barrels, locks, triggerguards, triggers, butt caps and thimbels.  Only parts left are the side plates and pistol stocks.
Finished the spurred butt caps  today and written a tutorial I'll be posting later.











Which brings me to my next problem, finding good quality wood. Since these are scandinavian pistols, I want to use highly figured
norwegian flame birch. Below is a rocking chair I made, showing the quality I'm looking for. Been searching for over a year now with no luck.
Hoping for tip from scandinavian readers

Best regards
Rolf

[Angus]

Gorgeous! The chair would make for an easy evening on the porch.
At the rate Runar is haulin' through his rifle, he should have a couple pistol stocks whittled out in half and hour.

[Mark Elliott]

That is a gorgeous chair!

[Chris Treichel]

Try contacting Bell Forest... they stock all kinds of birch exotic stuff

 http://www.bellforestproducts.com/flame-birch/#.VBhOmZh0yig

[Robby]

Looking good so far Rolf!!! I always enjoy seeing your work, the chair too!
Robby

[Curt Larsen]

We'll assume that these are replicas of a matched pair of Swedish pistols relieved from some Swedish officer in a border campaign with Norway.  Right?  Otherwise there are some pretty nice Norwegian pistols as well.
Curt

[P.W.Berkuta]

Rolf, you are a true artisan. You workmanship is second to none - keep up the good work and post many more pictures - again thanks for your posts.

[Glenn]

Beautiful work indeed.  These are no doubt going to look great when finished.  Thanks for sharing !!!

[Acer Saccharum]

Take a couple of stock blanks out of the chair seat. They could be 'decorative cut-outs'. Or a ventilated seat.

[Acer Saccharum]

That wasn't very helpful. 

[kaintuck]

That wasn't very helpful. 

Nope.....but was funny......
This fellow has talent, I KNOW how hard it is to get furniture symetrical !!!

Where did you get them brass locks from?


Marc n tomtom

[Rolf]

[Where did you get them brass locks from?
Marc n tomtom

I made these two banana shaped bridelless pistol locks using the guts, hammer, pan and frizzen from a small siler lock and making a new lockplate.
To get the banana shape, the tumbler hole had to be lowerd in relation to the frizzen.

To lower the tumbler hole, use a compass to measure the distance from the middle of the tumbler hole to the frizzen screw. Place one compass leg on the frissen screw and draw an arc on the lock plate. The center of the new tumbler hole has to lay on this arc. Lowering the tumbler hole will require adjusting the, frizzen toe, cock shoulder, mainspring hook(that rests on the tumbler) and the tumbler beak(where the mainspring touches the tumbler).

I've test fired the locks with powder and they work fine. It's surprising how far it's possible to lower the tumbler hole without messing up the locks function.

Best regards
Rolf

[kaintuck]

 
very good!
i am looking for a built lock like this.......doing it myself is next to impossible......

marc n tomtom

[eddillon]

Rolf, PM sent.

[Rolf]

Thank you for your kind comments. I found some flame birch. The guy who had it makes fancy rolling pins.  Not the same quality as I used on the chair, but
acceptable. The board is about 6' long and 4"thick. More than enough for both the pistols and pistol case.  Sadly it is not completly dry. I've cut out a pair of pistol blanks. Hopefully these will be dry enough in 6-12months.

Best regards
Rolf

[eddillon]

Rolf,
No walnut?   

[Rolf]

Rolf,
No walnut?   

I'll be using hopefully Turkish walnut on a pair of horse pistols, with the Dolep lock castings from Kibler. 

Best regards
Rolf

[smylee grouch]

Good luck trying to find that kind of wood again.  Great looking chair too.

[Old Ford2]

Hello Rolf
I really do enjoy your work, and look forward to your progress on these pistols.
That grain on the beautiful chairs is exceptional!
On another post I was questioning the feasibility on making a flint Hawken rifle & pistol with curly yellow birch.
Seeing the chair and your choice of wood for the pistols, encourages me.
Here in North America regular birch is not the preferred wood, however something with the flame and burl of the beautiful chair, inspires me to use this wood as a contemporary build.
Once again, I look forward to your fine work.
Thank you!
Fred

[Rolf]

Here in North America regular birch is not the preferred wood, however something with the flame and burl of the beautiful chair, inspires me to use this wood as a contemporary build.
Once again, I look forward to your fine work.
Thank you!
Fred

I never quite understand why brich is not regarded  suitable for gunstocks. It'been used for highend guns in scandinavia. Carves like walnut, is harder than cherry. It's main problem, is that it is hard to stain. Use water based stains. Do not use alcohol based stains.

Best regards
Rolf

[tallbear]

I never quite understand why brich is not regarded  suitable for gunstocks.

Rolf

My experience is that the birch available in Scandinavia is superior to what is available here in the States.


Mitch

[DaveP (UK)]

I understand that a well known American manufacturer of a popular line of small bore carbines has extensively used birch alongside beech for stocks.
I wouldn't expect to see grain figure in this application and indeed the one I have is quite plain, but a pleasing close grained blond wood when stripped. With sharp tools its nicer to work with than beech. Unfortunately its almost unobtainable as timber in my vicinity.

[rick landes]

I had redone a finish on an old Remington (no collector value) and discovered under the factory stain/poly mix a beautifully tiger striped piece of birch some what like this. Many older stocks (say 50 to 100 years back) have a layer birch stock (about 3 layers in most).

I have also seen this quilting/curling in poplar.