Lollypop tang wrist shape?

[Turtle]

 Guess I should ask this separately. Due to the width of the lollypop I need to leave a flat in the round wrist for it and it looks funny. Also the flat section of wood would need to continue up the wrist to the tang base unless I transition it somehow. Or do O round the metal lollypop top surface? Am I missing something here?
                                            Thanks,Rich

[PPatch]

I've never faced the problem simply because I have never done a lollypop tang.

However, I have just looked through Byrd's "Gunmakers of Buffalo Valley and Greasy Cove" and Whisker's "Gunsmiths and Allied Tradesmen of Tennessee" and from what I see the thicker tang coming off the barrel is left flat and the longer, thinner, extension is either also left flat or given a very slight radius.

If I were making the gun I would do what I considered aesthetically pleasing, and if something "looked funny" I would somehow address that.

dave

[kaintuck]

Flat metal, the screw hole is countersunk with enough meat around it to look right.....now big screws that overpower the lollipop, nor tiny ones that make it look like a big washer!
All metal flat, the wood will start its taper 1/16" after.....
Marc n tomtom

[Mark Elliott]

I always taper right up to the metal as I file the tang and wrist together.    I have never intentionally left a flat area of wood.   I have left a little flat triangle of wood behind a regular tang and was called out for it.   Don't leave any flats except for some very thin lock panels.

 As a general rule, flat spots on guns are not good.    There is one exception I should note; some early Virginia rifles had faceted combs and I have made a couple of those.

[Turtle]

 I guess I'm not describing my concern well. The lollypop is much wider than the narrow tang leading up to it. if I taper the wood right up the the metal all the way along the tang there will need to be a kind of swollen wood section at the tang. The wrist won't be a consistant cross section. Sorry to be so dense,but I still don't understand.
                                                 Rich

[Mark Elliott]

This is no different than inletting your triggers and trigger guard.   You don't leave flat spots around them even as the widths change.  Round the stock up to the metal no matter where the metal falls.   You may have to round over the metal ever so slightly just like you do with the front extension of the trigger guard.  It is the very same thing.

[Turtle]

 I shaped the wrist so the diameter increased toward the cheekpiece and it looks much better.
                                                                                    Turtle

[Daryl]

Here's a lolipop sight on a 'pair' of Hawken rifles - the original and Taylor's version.
The wrist is no different than any other - the boss on the tang holds the lolipop sight - in this case, 80 TPI. Try not to cross thread that one!

[redheart]

  Daryl,
Turtle is talking about a "lollipop" tang on a Tennessee Mountain Rifle, not a lollipop tang sight.
I sure enjoyed the nice Hawken pictures anyway.

[c deperro]

Turtle ... You round the wrist. I use the word round loosely it's more oval than round.Do not taper the stock directly to the tang or your wrist will be the shape of your tang and that will look funny. The wrist is oval and the tang sets down into it.

[c deperro]

Jim Kibler's web site has a nice picture of a lolly pop tang inlet. The virtual museum also has several examples.

[Daryl]

Daryl,
Turtle is talking about a "lollipop" tang on a Tennessee Mountain Rifle, not a lollipop tang sight.
I sure enjoyed the nice Hawken pictures anyway.

LOL - there ya go - maybe too much medicine when I compiled THAT post.  tks for settin' me straight.

[redheart]

Daryl,
Turtle is talking about a "lollipop" tang on a Tennessee Mountain Rifle, not a lollipop tang sight.
I sure enjoyed the nice Hawken pictures anyway.

LOL - there ya go - maybe too much medicine when I compiled THAT post.  tks for settin' me straight.

Daryl,

Thanks for being able to laugh about it and for not taking me too seriously.