Norm,
It would be great to ear your tips on pouring a pewter nose cap for the Kibler SMR. I am getting ready to start mine and am torn with trying to it HC to the original that Jim pictures on his website or add some simple HC type embellishments like Eric is considering. I have thought about an upside down 1/4 moon for a sideplates and the rounded end "banana" patchbox like the original. I thought about a 1/4 moon cheek piece inlay but after studying all the photos of Appalachain School rifles that I could find, I never saw a cheek piece inlay on them. I want to try to stay HC with any additions but there comes the dilema as others have probably often had. Where is the line between a HC rifle and a fantasy rifle? Decisions, decisions. Looking forward to hearing more on the subject as well as your tips.
elkhorne
Elkhorne,
I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I will answer your question in case Eric chooses to do one.
I think the tutorial that Tim Crosby linked is excellent. That is essentially what I did ( I did not mark the wood with pencil, maybe should have), but I made a few mistakes.
I had previously poured a non-chevron pewter nose cap on an Ohio rifle, and a major lesson learned was not to make it too thick. Good advice, but there is such a thing as too thin, especially when the molten pewter has to wind it's way through the chevron pattern.
When I did the chevron one, I don't think I relieved enough wood (in depth) and so the end result was thin pewter. Not that big a deal, but when it is that thin, it cools too quickly. Mine tended to cool during the pour, which means it doesn't make it through all the channels. I had to re-do it a few times, and then fix mistakes with a soldering iron and pewter scraps when I got a result that was close enough.
Norm
