Author Topic: Blunderbuss #4, ...DONE !!! (Read 45087 times)

Craig Wilcox · « **Reply #100 on:** March 01, 2019, 08:37:32 PM »

Man, Dave - that is sure a LONG trigger guard! Great job on the inletting, BTW.
Will PM you on another project.

davec2 · « **Reply #101 on:** March 11, 2019, 05:08:39 AM »

Time, tide, and formation have slowed down progress again, but I have all of the parts in place now. The stock is still just a profiled block of walnut, but before I finished the engraving, I will knock off anything that doesn't look like a blunderbuss. This is one of the parts of a project like this that I like the most....releasing the fine lines and artful shape that have been silently trapped for many decades inside that piece of walnut. As it is today:

davec2 · « **Reply #102 on:** March 16, 2019, 11:14:45 PM »

I had a little time (between midnight and zero three hundred hours) to have at the stock with a spoke shave and gouges. Not done yet but much closer to a finished shape that it was a few hours ago. All that stuff on the deck is the walnut that had trapped this blunderbuss inside the plank....and it is all the stuff that didn't look like a blunderbuss to me. And I will not be repeating the mistake I made on the very first of these that I built and that was succinctly pointed out to me by John Ennis. When I showed him the first 4 gage blunderbuss I built some 15 or so years ago now, I asked him for a candid critique. The very first thing he said was, "Well....it's OK but you left enough wood on the stock to build two of these."

I have been very careful to not leave too much wood on any build since John was kind enough to be honest with me.....

Daryl · « **Reply #103 on:** March 17, 2019, 02:52:45 AM »

Looking nice - coming a long.

D. Taylor Sapergia · « **Reply #104 on:** March 17, 2019, 03:06:45 AM »

Now you're cooking! Bench and floor in chaos!

davec2 · « **Reply #105 on:** March 17, 2019, 07:00:20 PM »

I took off some additional wood ......and I cleaned up the bench and the floor. I like the chaos for a while....makes me feel like I'm making progress. But then it starts to drive me even a little nuttier than I already am...

Daryl · « **Reply #106 on:** March 17, 2019, 09:52:44 PM »

What a beast!

davec2 · « **Reply #107 on:** July 29, 2019, 09:14:09 PM »

OK.....with all the recent talk about a blunderbuss, I really need to get this one finished for Andrei. I have a break between rocket test contracts at the moment so I will be finishing this project to clear the decks for a few others that have accumulated over the past year. There is a fair amount of wood still to come off the stock. I will start there and then proceed into engraving all the remaining metal that needs engraving. No bayonets on this one though ...

smylee grouch · « **Reply #108 on:** July 29, 2019, 09:43:21 PM »

Wow Dave, you and Runner could sweep alot of streets with those beasts! I love e,m.

Daryl · « **Reply #109 on:** July 30, 2019, 04:25:33 AM »

Lovely, Dave - pure art!

davec2 · « **Reply #110 on:** July 30, 2019, 05:05:44 AM »

I started in this afternoon refining the stock.....I thought it was nearly done with shaping it when I left off back in March. But in looking over the contours, I remembered a piece of advice I saw here on ALR one time. Someone was asking how much wood do you remove when shaping the stock. The best answer was, "take off everything you think you need to....then take off more until you start getting nervous that you have removed too much......and then take off even more."

So, looking at the floor in these photos, I apparently found more wood to take off........

runastav · « **Reply #111 on:** July 30, 2019, 02:36:45 PM »

Hi davec2! You build beautiful delux guns for the officer, I build simple working guns for the soldier

Runar

davec2 · « **Reply #112 on:** July 30, 2019, 07:21:19 PM »

Runar,

There is nothing simple about your guns ! Your posts and your work are always fascinating because of the skill and ingenuity you show in making components out of whatever material comes to hand. As much as the pictures of the guns you make, I enjoy seeing the tools and set-ups and raw materials you start with. I am an assembler of parts. You, Sir, are a gunsmith !

All the best.

David

P.S. Oh, and by the way, your English is far, far superior to my (non existent) Norwegian ! (Alle de beste ønsker)

runastav · « **Reply #113 on:** July 31, 2019, 11:56:05 AM »

Thank you David, I am humble!
Runar

davec2 · « **Reply #114 on:** August 02, 2019, 08:28:27 PM »

Been scraping and smoothing out stock contours. Not much to take a picture of, but time consuming. However, I did cast the sterling silver thumb piece (along with a couple of others) and am getting ready to inlet it. Slight problem do to lack of planning on my part.....I usually retain the thumb piece with a screw from the underside of the stock hidden under the trigger guard inlet. Was planning the same thing this time around, but the through hole for the screw will be right where one of the trigger guard pin lugs is. I will have to drill deeper for the head and use a shorter screw so that the trigger guard lug has room under it. Should have thought a little further ahead...

Tim Crosby · « **Reply #115 on:** August 02, 2019, 08:41:44 PM »

Hi Dave,
Are those as cast? Great work all around as always.

Tim

davec2 · « **Reply #116 on:** August 02, 2019, 10:15:13 PM »

Tim,

Yes, those are as they come out of the casting investment. They have been pickled in HCL and then scrubbed with a fine wire brush to get all the investment off. I will polish them up from here.

Dave C

Metalshaper · « **Reply #117 on:** August 02, 2019, 11:49:25 PM »

Dave,

are you centrifugal casting them? or just doing a pour into a burned out investment 'tree' ??

Thanks

Respect Always
Jonathan

davec2 · « **Reply #118 on:** August 03, 2019, 12:53:27 AM »

Metalshaper,

Centifugal cast. Very precise. This is from an old post of mine......

I have been making a bunch of sterling silver castings lately (the sterling silver flint charms). I just ran a dozzen centrifugal investment castings like this one that include some 19 or 20 small items per cast. Thought I would post a picture before I cut them all off the sprue and finished them. The ring gate the charms are sprued to is about 3 inches in diameter. Thought you might be interested in seeing this.

Dave C

Metalshaper · « **Reply #119 on:** August 03, 2019, 03:14:50 PM »

Dave,

Thanks for the picture and explanation. Your castings look great!

Respect Always
Jonathan

Tim Crosby · « **Reply #120 on:** August 03, 2019, 05:15:07 PM »

Quote from: davec2 on August 02, 2019, 10:15:13 PM

Tim,

Yes, those are as they come out of the casting investment. They have been pickled in HCL and then scrubbed with a fine wire brush to get all the investment off. I will polish them up from here.

Dave C

Thanks Dave.

Tim

Justin Urbantas · « **Reply #121 on:** August 03, 2019, 05:16:59 PM »

Do you sell your castings, Dave?

davec2 · « **Reply #122 on:** August 04, 2019, 07:08:00 PM »

Justin,

I do a lot of castings in both silver and gold including a lot of muzzle loading jewelry. And yes, I do sell some specific castings.

davec2 · « **Reply #123 on:** August 09, 2019, 07:54:05 PM »

Well.....no matter what, the one thing I can count on with this project is interruptions ! At any rate, I finally got the stock whiskered and the sterling thumb piece inlayed last night. Because of the size of the piece and the curvature of the stock, this one is a little tricky to inlet without gaps . Here are a few pictures.

Initial layout for location and drilled hole for threaded bolster:

Placement on surface:

Taping the bolster for the attachment screw:

Outline cutting:

Inletting:

Finished:

Now for the stock carving.....

Craig Wilcox · « **Reply #124 on:** August 09, 2019, 09:39:52 PM »

As usual, Dave, very nice work - from carving the thumbpiece, casting, inlaying - all superb! It is good to see that sniffing rocket exhaust has not affected your precision any.
I didn't realize, until seeing the thumbpiece photos, just how narrow the comb is at the front. Pretty neat.

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Author Topic: Blunderbuss #4, ...DONE !!! (Read 45087 times)