I concaved my lock panel

[HighUintas]

I cut my first lock panel, on the lock side. Before I knew it, I had concaved them deeply on top and bottom. Front and rear aren't terrible, but more than I wanted.

What do you think my options are for a fix?

Finish up everything else and see how it looks.
Glue wood back in... Not sure how I'd do this.
Try the remove wood above and below the lock panel in order to make that concavity more shallow or nonexistent. If I did that and eliminated the concavity I think I'd end up cutting into the existing panel and making it thinner. How would really thin panels look in conjunction with everything else?

[David Rase]

They don't look that bad, I have seen a lot worse.  I would live with them as I am sure you will make a few more mistakes along the way.  That is how we learn.  Don't spend time repairing them, finish this gun up and move on to the next and enjoy the progress, it is time better spent.

[rich pierce]

Tell us what you’re building. The top and bottom edges of the lock panels can and should be shaped by slightly rounded wood removal. Your choice of a combination of tools- spokeshave, rasps, files etc. The only concavity will be the slope around the lock nose. Smart Dog gives good illustrations on how to do this whole area which is full of transitions.

[Mike Lyons]

I’m in a similar part of the build process as you.  I don’t cut in the bottom or top panels.  I rasp from the tang or trigger guard area strait down to the panel line I’ve drawn with a pencil.  The only place I use a round file is on the front round portion of the panel and maybe a little at the point area at the rear that blends into the wrist.  Here’s a tutorial that makes it fool proof.

https://americanlongrifles.org/PDF/tutorial.pdf

[smart dog]

Hi,
It would probably take me about 15 minutes a side to fix your problem based on what I can see.  First, do not cut your lock panels in until they are mostly shaped by rasps and files when forming the wrist.  This is the eternal "new builder mistake".  First, you have a lot of wrist shaping top and bottom to do before ever even thinking about the lock panels. Get rid of that flat bottom, get rid of that ugly notch for the flint cock, round the top more until it gets close to blending with the barrel.  Just ignore your current molding because if you shape the wrist and lock panels correctly, I believe they will just disappear.  Here are photos that should help.

















The photos show the level of shaping before any detailed moldings are cut.  The only place to use a gouge is around the front of the lock.  The rest can be shaped with half round rasps and files, and round files to bringt hte stock contours right up to your line marking the edges of the panels.  Once you get to this stage, then you can cut more detailed and concave moldings if you wish.  Note in the photos, no need for the ugly notch.  I taper the flat behind the pan inward to clear the flint cock and by making the flat very thin, there is no need for a notch.  Also, the flats do not need to be even all the way around the lock.  In fact, they look much better if they are thinner along the top of the lock and wider along the bottom.  Examples:





dave

[HighUintas]

Thanks for all the replies.

Dave R, thanks. I may be able to live with it but not sure.

Rich and Smart Dog,  the general style of this rifle was going to be something inspired by Creamer's rifle built for William Clark. Not a copy, but a few features like patchbox, lock panels, cheek piece, maybe trigger guard. 1820s rifle built in southern Illinois near the river.

For the lock panels, I was going for the same general shape as Creamer's original. They look a touch thinner than what Louie Parker did in his copy, so my are thinner than Louie's.

I have read many tutorials (including that Mike brooks one!), watched videos, looked at older posts on here.... But for some reason I still goofed it.

Smart Dog  I had considered turning these panels into one like what you've shown, but have only seen that style on golden age LRs in the Eastern US. Would that style be totally out of place with my rounded tail late ketland lock, mountain style buttplate, and thicker wrist or would that work out ok? The wrist by the way is nearly final height, I need to do a little more shaping to round it out.

[bob in the woods]

What Dave said. You've got lots of wood that still needs to come off.

[M. E. Pering]

Honestly, I don't really see a problem.  There is still lots of wood to remove, and corrections can be made along the way.  Worst case, you have to file down the bolster a bit to compensate, which will change the geometry of the lock area, of course.  I am assuming this lock is fully inletted?  It is not time to worry, just make progress to the final shape, and see how it comes together.

[Bob Roller]

They don't look that bad, I have seen a lot worse.  I would live with them as I am sure you will make a few more mistakes along the way.  That is how we learn.  Don't spend time repairing them, finish this gun up and move on to the next and enjoy the progress, it is time better spent.

What David Rase said says mirrors my opinion as well.I am NOT a wood worker but I would not get my shirt in a knot over this.
Your are far too deep into this to scrap it and NOT ONE person on this forum has ever made a perfect one,only some much better
than others.We ALL learned by our mistakes and in my case,the gray in my beard is from 86 years of life and NOT from worrying about
anything done in the shop.
Bob Roller

[Steeltrap]

It's a "rookie" mistake as was pointed out to me when I posted a picture of my first build. I "fixed" this mistake as best as I could considering I removed to much wood to begin with.

I did fix this as much as possible using IIRC a flat file and gingerly, not touching the fine flat left around the lockplate managed to get that deep concave look out of it.

[smart dog]

Hi HU,
I just looked at a Creamer rifle and I better understand where you are trying to go.  My earlier advice still holds about shaping the lock panels naturally when forming the wrist rather than cutting them in too early.  You will be able to shape the panels with a sharply defined molding later in your project.  However, by cutting in now before the overall contours of the wrist and lock panels are defined limits your options.  Once the moldings are cut in it is difficult to round and contour the top and bottom of the lock area and the cross section of the stock through that area will tend to look like a 2x4 with the edges rounded over rather than a well rounded oval with flat sides.  I also recommend shaping the fore stock before detailing your lock panels.  I would ignore the lock moldings for now until the entire stock is shaped  to the point of being ready for the final finishing and detailing before stain.  Then go back and do the details.  I believe you still have enough wood left to be able to redo those lock moldings later.

dave 

[Gaeckle]

Just somewhat curious, but what tools did you use to make those panels. Was this a pre-carve, or a blank?

[HighUintas]

Thanks all. I tend to get anxious when I think I've screwed something up after spending so much time on it. I took Smart Dog's advice above and below the panel. Above is now much thinner and nearly flat from the tang to the panel and the panel is narrower on the top (no more concave), removed most of the cock notch, and rounded the bottom more because I knew I'd need to do that anyway. It looks MUCH better.

I started the sideplate panel, keeping in mind to leave my gouge and round file on the bench, and just rasped down to my lines. It looks awesome. After consuming so much information here as a novice, sometimes I end up forgetting what I read and think I know what I'm doing. That's how I ended up starting with my gouge on the lock side panels instead of rasping. I'll leave the panels as they are now, finish up the rest of the shaping, and then go back to the panels later for refinement.

Just somewhat curious, but what tools did you use to make those panels. Was this a pre-carve, or a blank?

Gaeckle, this was from a blank. On the lock side shown, I already had the wrist on that side mostly formed but did so 1/2" back from the lock panel. So when I went to do the lock panel, I rasped off the bulk (but not down to my line like I should have) and went in with a gouge and round file. I went much too far with the round file... that's the real culprit.

[Steeltrap]

Nice fix!