Christian's Spring rifle inspired by RCA #43- Photos Fixed

[Curtis]

Good to hear from you Wayne and Wolfshead!  And I'm not old, I just smell that way sometimes....   

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Time for another installment!  I had mentioned earlier I would post some mistakes and what I did to fix them.  Got one here to share.

On my entry pipe carving I had made a bad cut in a tight space, then another to try and fix it, and bad went to worse.  I cleverly positioned tools over the mistake when I took a photo that showed it well.     Here is what my boo-boo looks like without the camouflage.  I finally got around to fixing it today.



To make a patch looks like it belongs, you need to carefully select a piece of wood that matches the grain structure and orientation of the area to be repaired.  I used a similar tool to the one I made the mistake with to cut the repair wood.  If your luck is better than mine perhaps you can find a good piece on the shop floor!



In order to blend well you need a good fit that won't show any nasty glue lines.  It need so fill the void - don't try to fill gaps underneath with glue.  Showing a test fit:



Use adequate and appropriate glue, but not too much.



Then clamp in place.  I used painter's masking tape here, started working elsewhere on the rifle and let is sit overnight.



Then removed the bandaid.  It's not too pretty now but things will get better:



Now moving on... bringing the patch down to the stock surface by cutting, scraping, and whatever worked.







Almost there:



Re-draw some carving lines:



Then a little stabbing in:





Some v-gouge work and cleanup with a eXacto knife:





Now I can draw my crosshatch design back in.  I probably don't need to mention it, but for this type of design your lines need to appear parallel and straight or your end product will look like, well, doo-doo. 



The surface is curved here so the angle of the v-gouge will change during the cut.  If you make light cuts initially you can do some minor correction when you deepen them, the operative word being "minor".



Whew!  Finished with the repair now.  Not perfect, but definitely an improvement and should be unnoticeable when the stock is stained and finished.





Now back to relief carving!

Curtis

[Curtis]

After stamping in the butt molding, I back cut the wood and did some scraping with the flat nosed chisel.



Then filed a corresponding notch in the butt plate.



The secondary molding was drawn and cut.



Then the other side.  I did a slide-stamp cut for both lines:







After stamping, the secondary molding was chased with a v-gouge.



Jumping to the lock moldings:











I had to trim my cheek piece transition area some because it ran through my C-scroll. 





Stabbing in the carving forward of the cheek using various tools and techniques.







Relieving some background, then a few modeling cuts:









Now starting behind the cheek.  I changed the design a little before starting to cut, primarily tweaking based on what I have learned from previous carvings on this rifle.







Then it was quitting time before I knew it!



I'll post more when I finish up the carving.

Thanks for stopping by,

Curtis

[SingleMalt]

Maybe it's the picture, but the repair looks invisible to me. Well done.

[Chowmi]

Nice work, Curtis! 

[oldtravler61]

   What repair! I .....don't ....see... nothin........! Oldtravler

[Eric Smith]

Very instructive. You don't spare the pictures or the info. That's what I like about this thread. Thank you for allowing us to follow you on this build. Looking forward to more.

[Curtis]

You fellers are way too kind, but thanks!

I had an offline conversation with a friend and mentor, and it came to light that I made an error in my cross hatching on the tang and entry pipe carving.  I stated that the lines should be straight and parallel, and that is not the case.  The lines in the design should somewhat follow the curved outline of the area, and the distance between lines may vary from top to bottom. Very few things are straight and parallel on the old guns!  Here is one of the pics I had previously posted showing parallel lines:



Next is a photo of an engraving practice plate that shows the lines curved more like they should be:



And here is a picture of a similar design on RCA #42, that shows the lines curved.  RCA #43 likely had curved lines as well.



I though I should bring this detail up and point out my mistake so nobody ends up making the same mistake by following my example!

Curtis

[Curtis]

I have a few more progress photos of the carving to post.   

 



Using a shop made tiny gouge here, forged out from a hex tool originally made for working on printers.  It is good for cleaning up areas, stabbing, and of course gouging!  I used a metal bar as a mandrel, hot forged it, ground it to refine the shape and then heat treated it.










Removing yet more wood:





Stabbing some lines:



Small chisel made form a hobby knife blade, good for getting in those nooks and crannies:





One of my best friends, an erasing template.  It is useful for erasing lines without obliterating the ones you wish to keep.



Detailing cheek rest:



Some modeling:



And now I'm finished with the cheek side...  except for a bit of cleanup, and perhaps some tweaking.





Thanks for looking,
Curtis

[SingleMalt]

That looks really good, Curtis. I can't wait to see it with stain and finish on it.

[BOB HILL]

Very nice work. A pleasure to follow. Thanks.
Bob

[Curtis]

Thanks Guys!  I hope this helps some folks to get in the shop and go for it, yet while not leading anyone astray!  When I am in doubt about what to do next, I always think back to a class when Jack Brooks said to me....  get after it!  IMHO making a mistake and having to fix it is two lessons learned, when taking no action because you are afraid  - is NO lessons learned... and nothing gained!

Curtis

[Joe S.]

very nice Curtis,learning a lot from this,thanks

[Foster]

Thank you for documenting and sharing. I'm hoping to see more of your progress.

[Curtis]

Many thanks Joe S. and Foster!

I spent a little time altering the carving design for the patchbox lid, then set to making chips fly.  Okay, maybe they didn't exactly fly off but I managed to cut some wood away at least.     Didn't take a whole lot of photos but will share what I have.  I don't have a device for holding the box lid, so the lid was carved using the next best thing - the rifle itself.  At first I used some tape to help keep the lid from moving, but found it was really unnecessary and eventually just removed it.

Here is the final drawing of the design:



Doing some stabbing and carving:











A variety of different sizes and shapes of gouges were employed to to scoop put the shell design and the ovals.  I used numerous cuts from a plethora of different angles, removing small amounts of wood with most cuts.  It takes a keen edge on the tools to make clean, smooth cuts.

The finished product:







Thanks again for looking.

Curtis

[SingleMalt]

You continue to astound.

[Marcruger]

I really like the recessed flower petals on the patchbox.  Nice indeed. 

[Curtis]

Thank you very much Singlemalt and Marcruger!  Marc, those are not actually supposed to be flower petals, just my version of the shell-shape carving found on some patch boxes.  Hope you still like it, lol!

Curtis

[Curtis]

There have been some other things going on the past few days, but I managed to get in the shop long enough to engrave a signature on the barrel.  I practiced a couple times on a scrap of barrel before I started on this one.  Naturally the steel cut quite differently on both barrels, and the rifle barrel fought me most of the way.  Here is what I ended up with:





A number of the early Moravian rifles have a bit of decorative filing at the muzzle that also provides a function similar to coning a the muzzle.  Below is my rendition of the muzzle treatment and the steps that were taken.

First I drew a circle around the bore to serve as a boundary, and marked the center of each groove for a guide. I also made a pencil mark about a half inch down the bore for a reference to file to.



I started each semi-circle with a 5/32" chainsaw file to establish a arc in the center of the groove, then completed the semi-circle with a 3/16" file.  This rifle is a .58, so for a smaller caliber it may be appropriate to use a smaller file.  The tip of both files was ground a bit to round of the corners, an then some masking tape was applied to prevent scratching the bore in case I got too rambunctious. 



Once all the grooves were cut the lands must be rebated.  They could be filed as well, however I decided that cutting a cone would probably provide to be more conducive to accuracy.  I do not own a coning tool so I looked around the shop to see what could be found to improvise (MacGyver) one.  I settled on a tool handle I had in a drawer.  I purchased a number of these at five for a dollar in a flea market so it didn't cost to much to re-purpose.



The ferrule was cut off, the a slot was sawed into the handle.



A bit of emery cloth was inserted in the slot, staring with 120 grit and ending with 320.  Once the desired cone was cut I moved on to 400 then 600 grit wet or dry sandpaper.  The tool was turned by hand with firm pressure, and the barrel was rotated in the vice every so often.  The bore was frequently checked for consistency of material removal.





The finished muzzle:



After that was complete I began to stain the stock with some aquafortis.  Below is an after-blush photo.... it appears much browner in person than it does in the photo but this is the only one I took so it will have to do.



I'll post more when I have something else to show!  Thanks for looking,

Curtis

[SingleMalt]

Looking good!  I've wanted to do a similar treatment on the muzzle. I think the Edward Marshall rifle has a ring engraved on the muzzle as well.

[n stephenson]

Curtis , Very Nice Work!!!       Thanks for showing!!         Nathan

[Curtis]

Thanks Singlemalt and stephenson.  Singlemalt, I have see photos of the Marshall rifle muzzle and it has rings engraved on it, however I have not seen any photos of #43 so I am on the fence on whether to put any on this rifle or not.

Curtis

[SingleMalt]

I forgot to ask, what finish are you planning to use on the stock?

[Curtis]

Singlemalt,  I am using tung oil on the stock.  I stained the stock with aqua fortis, blushed it then whiskered the stock with some fine steel wool and burnished with a grey scotch brite pad.  I applied one coat of tung oil, then the next day rubbed on some Laurel Mountain maple stain, which will penetrate a thin coat of oil.  I rubbed back some highlights with 400 and 600 grit sandpaper lubricated with tung oil.  Then I re-applied some of the stain in areas I thought could use it.



I used some bone black and oil to highlight the carving details, applied with an artist's brush and rubbed off with my palm and /or fingers.  Then I rubbed back some of the carving with 400 or 600 grit dry paper.



I don't know a whole lot about applying finish, but one trick worth passing on is the use of a soft tooth brush to clean out any excess oil from the carving and molding lines.  I do this pretty quickly in each area after rubbing the oil as thin as it will go.  It will help to keep your carving lines from filling up with finish.  Clean the toothbrush well between uses!  I chase the carving with the toothbrush with each coat of oil.



I'll post some more photos when I get all the coats of oil on it.  Tomorrow I plan on charcoal bluing the barrel.

Curtis

[Curtis]

These vent pic or feather holders are a little bit late in the game, but I simply forgot to make and install the earlier!  First I took a scrap of brass from my scrap can:



Then filed it pretty much octagon:



And continued to file it till it was round.  Then I filed a flat on it to make a "D" shape.  I bent an hammered the brass bar until I had an eye on one end, then silver soldered the eye closed.  I used brass colored solder wire, it can be seen in the photo below.



After soldering:



I then ran a drill bit through the eye, and started to clean them up with files.  I have some more refinement to do bu there is what they look like at this point.



Thanks for looking!

Curtis

[Curtis]

Just a small update - I have been conversing with a friend and I think the vent pic loops may actually be more like a staple, so I may have to change my designs accordingly when I find out for certain.

Here are a couple photos of the stock as it looks so far, I will add a coat or two of oil yet. 





And below is a pic of the barrel emerging from the pipe after charcoal bluing today in a fire pit.  The barrel is hanging overnight to cure and I will clean and oil it in the morning:



Curtis