Hi,
Our work slowed down a bit owing to Maria's schedule. She inlet the trigger guard and here lies a tale. The selection of trigger guards for English fowlers has hit rock bottom these last few years particularly ones cast in steel. The selection from the main suppliers is very limited and I don't know what hardware they copied, but it doesn't look like anything I've examined on original guns. The trigger bows are too large and misshaped. I found one supplier that had steel guards with small ribbed bows and the husk finial. They used to be readily available but no more. I bought 3 and now they are no longer listed. Anyway, Maria inlet the trigger guard. Before she did, we had to shape the bow into an egg-shaped loop rather than an even oval. The top guard is the current commercial offering that is large and has no ribbing on the bow. The middle guard is the smaller version we used to be able to get. The bottom guard is the same but reshaped and prepared for inletting.
Cast steel guards are a pain because the steel remains springy even when fully annealed. Unlike brass guards, you really have to bend them in vise, often using heat while bending to get them to set down on the wood and even then the steel fights you. With annealed brass, you can usually push the guard down on to the wood with your fingers. We start by filing a recess on the bottom of the front of the guard where it overlaps the trigger plate. That allows the guard to set into the wood mortise despite the trigger plate being almost flush with the surface of the stock. Then we cleaned up the guard and filed draft along the edges. We also curved the front finial slightly in cross section, and hollowed out the underside to conform to the stock. Finally, we moved the front lug further forward to avoid the trigger plate.
We start by cutting in the the slots for the lugs. She drills 3 holes in a line, cuts the ends and sides of the slot with flat chisels and then removes the bulk of the wood with a router bit in a Dremel. It is best to cut the rear 2 slots so there is excess length in the forward end because as the guard is pushed into its mortise, it tends to migrate forward. Maria inlet inletting the front finial first.
I know this guard gives some folks pause but it really is not hard to inlet with the aid of small stab in chisels and small skew chisels. The mortise is only about 1/16" deep, just enough to mostly cover the edges of the guard. It is foolish to inlet this kind of guard before the stock is pared down to its final profile. Once the front is in and pinned, she begins to cut the rear mortise. It is best not to outline and stab in the edges of the entire rear of the guard in one shot. Just do the forward 1/3, set the guard in a little, then trace the next 1/3, cut it in, and leave the rear 1/3 of the guard until last. That way, as you push the guard into the mortise and it migrates a little forward, you don't end up with a gap at the end.
We pinned the rare lug but did do so for the middle lug. Unfortunately that lug sits right where the screw should be for the wrist escutcheon plate. We are going to consider 2 options for anchoring the plate. The easiest would be to just pin the plate to the wrist and pin the guard lug. However, another option is to install the screw entering from under the trigger guard that usually attaches wrist plates on English fowlers and have the rear guard lug simply hook on to the head of that bolt. Maria has to cast her wrist plate so once it is made, we will decide on our course. In the meantime she finished most of the stock shaping.
Then we took a tea break, sat down, enjoyed the scene and talked British guns while examining a pair of original Wodgon dueling pistols.
Green Mountain Girl trying to decide if the pistols fit better in her left or right hand.
dave
