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

[Squirrel pizza]

Not only do you have mad skills at rifle building, your photography and tutorial is outstanding! Thank you so much for the effort it not only took to build this rifle but to document it's progress.
 A couple of times I've thought "Why go to all that trouble", but it dawned on me. How would you build one back then if you couldn't get parts from TOTW, or some such place.
 I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product. An heirloom to be sure!

[snapper]

Well, I hope you can make it.  Would love to shoot the woods walk with you and TOF again this year.

With a rifle like that you can paint the front sight any color you want.

fleener

[T*O*F]

Would love to shoot the woods walk with you and TOF again this year.

If we do, I might bring a rifle that will actually shoot this time.

Norm, I can't say I have any more skills than the next guy

Actually, you do.  Manual skills are fine and many even lack those.  What sets you apart are your visualization and problem solving skills and a can-do attitude.  When I first saw this tall, grinning goober stride into camp shod in his suede Minnetonka mocs, I remember thinking, "Geez, here's another one."  You've come far, Pilgrim and given your age, you still have the potential to become one of the great builders!! 

[Curtis]

Thanks Squirrel, as I have said before it's comments like yours that make the effort worth while.

TOF,  You were there for me to answer questions when I built my first rifle, as well as any I have asked since.  It's folks like you that have helped me along by sharing information these past few years.  You've done a lot to help me along.  Even if you are an old curmudgean.

BTW, If you need to borrow a gun that actually fires, give me a holler and I'll try to fix you up.  I'll be more than happy to loan you those mocs as well....

Curtis

[jrb]

Wonderful and clever stuff Curtis and THANKS very much for taking time to photograph and share!!!
John H

[Eric Smith]

This is a very interesting and informative thread. Thanks for taking the time to photograph and explain in such detail.

[Curtis]

JRB and E. Smith,

I'm very happy to hear you are getting some good from the thread!  Thanks for your comments.

My wife and I have been traveling in the southwest for the past couple of week plus.  We made it home this evening. and hopefully I will get the opportunity to make it back to the shop in the next few days and have some more to post.

Curtis

[Curtis]

Today I began to carve the rifle.  This will be my first rifle with relief carving, and it has been a couple of years since I did an incised Bucks County rifle.  In order to ease into the task, I am starting with (in my opinion) the easiest part, the forestock molding.  I drew most of the planned carving on the stock before my trip so I would see it with fresh eyes when I returned.  It took me two or three days to draw out my carving lines, and I erased more than I kept.  Years ago when I was a draftsman we had a saying: "Never draw more in the morning than you can erase in the afternoon."     Remember I am a novice at this, so this is again intended as information sharing and not as a tutorial.  I developed a few techniques and tools for incised carving as I progressed on that rifle, and will use some of those here.  Drawings may be modified anytime up to the point of carving...

I used a V-gouge to cut the drawn line on the fore stock.  The photo shows only one hand, however I used two hands and a vigilant grip when incising the line, one on the handle and one gripping the shaft and resting on the stock.  Kinda hard to photograph when it takes one hand to hold the camera.



Then wood was removed on the high side of the cut to create the molding edge.  It should be gently feathered and blended with the forestock above.



I had re-watched my Jack Brooks' Beginning Carving video before I started this morning and decided to grind a double bevel skew chisel from and old cast steel chisel to assist with such tasks.





The line needs to be cut with care, but if you have a bit a waiver do not despair, it can be straightened some with a triangular file or a checkering tool.  I think this is called a liner, but don't hold me to that.





Next I proceed to the transition area of the forestock.  This rifle has a bit of a "knob" around the entry thimble as do most Christian's Spring rifles.



Proper size gouges would work well for this however I chose to stab in with a small tool made for wire inlay.



I had left the knob oversized so there is more background material to be removed in this area than usual - so I stabbed and cut deeper here.







Next I jumped to the C-scroll on the patchbox side.  I used a combination of gouges and a double bevel rounded chisel I had ground, to stab in the scroll.  The rounded chisel can be stabbed and rolled along a curved or straight line.  I have one of these and two single bevel rounded chisels of different sizes I made for the last rifle.  Feel free to use the idea, just remember it comes with no warranty.   







Sometimes instead of stabbing a secondary cut I chase the stabbed line with a V-gouge.  I find if you are careful the stabbed line helps guide the tool.



Here I am removing wood from the inside of the C-scroll.




The accents off the C-scroll were stabbed with gouges.



I roll-stabbed up to the leaf, and then stabbed the leaf with gouges.  Background is then relieved.



I then roll-stabbed my way around the comb with a larger single bevel round chisel






...and started to relieve the area below the molding with the double bevel skew chisel.  The double bevel allows you to lever in or out of a cut from either direction, the skew helps slice through the grain.



That's it for a few days!  Until then.....

Thanks for looking.

Curtis

[Heavies]

Beautiful work!

[SingleMalt]

Incised carving...  My problem area. Please go into as much detail as possible!

[davebozell]

You may  not call this a tutorial, but this is very comprehensive and really good stuff!  I'm sure there are many of us that will vote for moving this thread to the tutorials when it's completed.

[Joe S.]

very informative, nice work on both,the how to as well as the work itself.

[WadePatton]

You may  not call this a tutorial, but this is very comprehensive and really good stuff!  I'm sure there are many of us that will vote for moving this thread to the tutorials when it's completed.

]x[ tutorial section vote.

[oldtravler61]

  Curtis thanks for doing this. I'm all for this being a tutorial. To bad you didn't video all your work. Would be one CD that I would buy for sure!!! Thanks a million.  Mike

[David Rase]

I used a V-gouge to cut the drawn line on the fore stock.  The photo shows only one hand, however I used two hands and a vigilant grip when incising the line, one on the handle and one gripping the shaft and resting on the stock.  Kinda hard to photograph when it takes one hand to hold the camera.

Maybe we can get the ALR members to chip in and buy you a go pro camera.    Keep up the great work Curtis.  You are doing a wonderful job and I enjoy seeing how other builders perform the myriad of tasks involved in building a longrifle.       
David

[Curtis]

Thanks guys!  Oldtraveler, I would have to edit out a whole lot of head scratchin' scenes if I made a video. and at the pace I work it would be a snoozer for certain!  Dave,  I'll send you my address when you get enough cash in the go pro fund, lol.

Curtis

[Curtis]

Back again!  Just wanted to mention something I forgot to say earlier -  if you have never done any relief carving before, A wiser man than I would be well served by practicing with one of Jim Kibler's excellent carving kits and/ or scraps of stock wood instead of a rifle you spent months working on.  Even better enroll in a carving class at the NMLRA Gunsmithing seminar or one of the other fine places that teaches gun building classes.  I have to confess I may be a bit of an adrenaline junky, but learning to carve in this fashion pushes my adrenaline dosage to the limits!    I will most certainly take a carving class when I get the chance.

Most of the photos should be self explanatory so I won't include a lot of comments unless I encountered a particular problem, or have a special tool to discuss.  That being said, if anyone has a question I'll do my best to answer it.

I left off working on the molding around the comb, next I cut a secondary molding line on the forestock using a small v-gouge by Dembart.  They call it a viener.  I purchased this on advice from TOF and have never regretted it, and have seen Taylor demonstrate using one with excellent results as well (via postings).





Now the other side of the entry pipe molding:











This is the purpose the single bevel tools I use for roll-stabbing were originally made for, cleaning up carving background.  The tool was featured in one of Jack Brooks "Ask the Master" columns in Muzzleblasts magazine about ten years or so ago.  If sharp it serves well for that function, being less grain sensitive than a chisel in my opinion.  I ground two of different sizes several years ago, and a third smaller one yesterday.  The double bevel tool was made after I found them useful for "roll stabbing" and is not good for cleaning background.  The one below was ground from a vintage Stanley chisel.  An old fasioned hand crank grinder is great for this type of grinding, as you can remove a lot of steel quickly without overheating the steel.  I have three of them of different sizes that were purchased at swap meets and such for ten to twenty bucks apiece, all with good stones.









Using the next size smaller.  These are great for working up to curved surfaces:





And the latest, smallest one, ground from a rusty pitted relic that now has a new life!







Checking level, more to go:



Now for the entry design.













This little tool was made from a small screwdriver for inletting objects with a tight radius.  It works well for carving also, here I am going a bit deeper around a previously stabbed element.







Another example of how a raking light can help you see imperfections.  All I did here was re-position my lamp.





Doing a little cleanup with a tool that Acer posted here once, it is a flat scraper made from a cheep Chinese chisel.  The tip is ground flat and pushed flat to make a very clean scrape.  Not so good for curved surfaces, but can be used there with some caution.  I ground the handle flat on the bottom to help with the desired angle.  These Harbor Freight chisels are actually pretty good steel and are great for making special tools from. 









Trying to keep things around 1/32", almost there.



Starting to do some modeling:





Small viener made from drill rod.  I filed a flat spot on one side, used a small round file to shape the inside curve, then hardened and sharpened it.



Modeling some more.... you MUST be very mindful of the grain for such small cuts, and magnification does not hurt here at all.
In the first pic I am correcting a curve that didn't look right after the initial stab in.













Doing some modeling on the leaf on the butt.  I had to cut from two directions because of the grain.  If you even think you have a grain issue STOP and think it over.







Moving on to the side panels and a bit of the tang carving... used a combination of roll stabbing and stabbing with gouges here.















That's all I have for now.  See ya soon I hope!

Curtis

[SingleMalt]

Thanks for this, Curtis!  I'm really learning something about carving.  For a lot of it, I'm applying palm to forehead, " why didn't I think of that?".

[Chowmi]

Nice work Curtis,
Sure doesn't look to me like the first time you've carved a rifle. 

You mentioned Jim Kibler's carving practice stock.  I got one about a year ago, and will start work on it here shortly.  I like the tools that you have made, I think I will do the same and see how they work for me on the practice stock.

Cheers,
Norm

[Shreckmeister]

That's fantastic photo and narrative tutorial for someone like me who is just beginning.  Thank you so much.  I bookmarked this
for the future.  Thanks again.

[Daryl]

Thanks Curtis - beautifully photographed - unless one actually sees this done, as you have shown us, realization of what is actually involved in relief and incised carving, escapes us mere mortals - well, this mortal at least.

[Curtis]

Thanks guys, your comments are truly appreciated! 

Norm, I got to thinking, I actually have done a bit of relief carving on a rifle once.  About eight years ago I was building a Tip Curtis precarve and did a bit of horribly non traditional carving on the tang.  After posting it here and getting some input I made an attempt to fix it, maybe it improved a bit then.  A week or so later I attended my first class at the NMLRA Gunsmithing Seminar.  It's been sitting in the corner of the shop untouched since then.  Gotta finish that gun someday, and fix a lot of problems when I do.

Curtis

[Curtis]

I have a few more progress pics to post.  As I progress many of the pics will become somewhat repetitious so I will likely cut back a bit on the volume of photos posted.

When I returned to the shop this the morning the first thing I decided was to make a modification in the tang area, as it didn't look quite right to my eye - In photos of the original there seems to be a slight recurve in the molding behind the barrel.





Stabbing around the tang carving:



Using a crude shop made scraper to level background.  This was made by simply forging out a piece of drill rod, bending 90^o hardening and sharpening.  Also I put a handle on it.  The blade is somewhat convex which helps to avoid digging the corners in and creating more work.  SO far all backgrounding has been done with edged tools and scraping.







Moving on to the beaver tail background:







A little cleanup on the tang carving:



Penciling back in some modeling details, then cutting them in.  All  the "scoops" had to be approched from both ends because of grain runout.





Modeling the outline with a double beveled skew chisel.  The height of the tang carving is less than 1/32" so it takes a steady hand with some magnification.  I wore an Optivisor while modeling.



Single bevel skew:



Running the Dembart v-gouge in a previously stabbed arc.



Same tool used for decorative cross hatched elements:





Roll-stabbing part of front beaver tail.  This tool can actually be slid along a pencil line where grain permits.  Would that be called slide-stabbing? lol.  With care it makes a clean continuous cut.





Stabbing in the lower buttstock molding with a straight chisel:



I will have more after I make it back in the shop in a few days.  Any questions, or constructive criticisms are always welcome!

Thanks for looking,
Curtis.

[SingleMalt]

Keep it up, Curtis!   

[Wolfshead]

Curtis,
Thank you so much for spending the time to document your build.
I am just beginning my first ever parts assembly and this is a great help for me.
I truly like the ideas you give for making your own tools. To me that seems almost as much fun as the carving itself.
This reminds me of when I was a young boy watching my Grandfather work in his shop. (Not calling you old... )
This is very inspiring, and I will definitely be following this very closely.
Thank you