Lock/ Sideplate panels

[Nordnecker]

Maybe I'm completely wrong about this, so I'd like to hear your input.
On most original long rifles that I've handled, the lock panel is not surrounded by a concavity (for lack of a better word), it is a very subtle transition. I would describe it more like the panel is defined by a tiny incised line with very little change in contour.
I know this a generalization that there are many exceptions to, especially later percussion guns.
I notice on many modern guns a pronounced concavity around the lock panels. Is this correct? Or maybe I should ask, What is the correct radius of this concavity, 1/4" or 1 inch or what?

[smart dog]

Hi,
I don't think many were radiused.  I shape my lock panels to the finished dimensions without moldings. Then I incise a line demarking the moldings and either leave it at that or slightly relieve the background so the molding is elevated slightly. The contour is basically the same as the stock unless I  round the molding slightly.  My moldings are subtle such that a few passes with a scraper would wipe out all traces of them.  The only place where I typically have detectable concavity is around the front of the panels.  My observations are the same as yours.  I have not handled an original long rifle with heavy radiused lock panel moldings, but I bet there are some on this site who have.

dave   

[Mike Brooks]

Maybe I'm completely wrong about this, so I'd like to hear your input.
On most original long rifles that I've handled, the lock panel is not surrounded by a concavity (for lack of a better word), it is a very subtle transition. I would describe it more like the panel is defined by a tiny incised line with very little change in contour.
I know this a generalization that there are many exceptions to, especially later percussion guns.
I notice on many modern guns a pronounced concavity around the lock panels. Is this correct? Or maybe I should ask, What is the correct radius of this concavity, 1/4" or 1 inch or what?

All I can say is look at my tutorial and see the way I do it. I end up with lock panels that look like the old ones.

[Captchee]

 Depends on what you consider concave .  If you  transition from the tang , following the  barrel flats , then out onto the mortise you will naturally obtain a concave transition . How drastic that transition depends on how closely you blend to the barrel  and at what point you move out on to the mortise. Add into that  a molding  that’s often times not incise but relief , you then create  the appearance of the   transition being even more concave .

[Acer Saccharum]

How much definition depends on the school of rifle.

This rifle does not yet have the outline of the lock panel cut in yet. But this is basically what you start with before you cut the lock panel lines in. You can see some pencil marks where I'll be stabbing in the moulding line. I won't relieve the stock much more than .02 or .03" of an inch. Similar to the trigger guard moulding relief in depth.


Here's a top view, showing the slight relief up to the line. There is not a dramatic change in contour between lock panel and stock, just a slight lowering of the stock material leading up to the line. This is like doing a drywall tape job, you have to feather the relief way back, or it will look like the stock surface dives in toward the line.




Another stock before lock panel definition lines. (#2 gun)



#2 gun finished. See how the lock panel and wrist are running in parallel planes? The wrist does not dive under the lock panel.

[Nordnecker]

Thanks everyone, this has been very helpful.

[Pete G.]

Don't forget that most original moldings have a couple hundred years wear on the raised edges causing them to be more rounded than they were when new.

[RAT]

My understanding is that early guns were pretty much flat. Later guns (1830's) from the Appalachian region... what I'm going to carefully call "southern mountain rifles" had the concave shape. So it depends on region/school and time. I think a lot of people have adopted the concave shape to avoid exposed end grain behind the breech of the barrel. There are other techniques people use to flow the stock into the oblique flat. This is a modern trend. The original makers didn't seem to be quite as concerned.

[kaintuck]

Acer....TRICKERY TRICKERY..........

marc n tomtom