Kentucky Flintlock Pistol Build: To go oak or go ???

[Swede Creek]

OK,

Have ordered a Swamped 12" barrel (Rice) and accoutrements from TOW.   

I have some seasoned 1" blanks of Live Oak (came from a tree off our Daughters property in Houston).

This wood has some crazy grain in it (which also means it's tougher than Woodpecker peckers).    But I am just fascinated by it.
 


Other challenge is that my blanks are 1" thick, and to make a  blank, I'd need to glue two pieces together.     Did some work with the thickness planer this afternoon and think I have two " Bookend" blanks that could be glued together to make a solid blank that should be pretty uniform.   I plan to put a buttcap on this build, so there would only be an inch or less of the glue line visible.



This final shot is showing the (very) rough outline of the pistol..... and where I was thinking about placing the outline!   There are some cracks in the blank, that I'll need to finesse around, but should have a couple options for getting a good solid blank outline.



There it is!    So is this a quixotian quest or does it have a chance of success??

Swede

[Swede Creek]

Reply to my own post:    NOTE:   The individual blanks are @ 1" thick, so that when they are mated, and cleaned up, we should have a clean parallel blank with minimum width of 1 3/4".

?? So would that be thick enough to work for a Kentucky Pistol? 

( btw: Swamped barrel is 15/16 at breech, 3/4 at waist and 13/16 at muzzle)

[rich pierce]

Dimensionally, it could just work.

[Marcruger]

Sounds like a patience-challenging project , working with oak.  Love live oaks.  Don’t think it would make good stocking material.  Maybe pretty shelves?

[Top Jaw]

There is a reason our forefathers- who had access to more varieties of wood, in better quality than we do - made 98.75% of rifles and pistols from maple, walnut, and some cherry.  I understand the draw of using wood from a family farm.  However, in this case, I think it’s too much of a stretch.  Especially when you have to glue up boards to make a blank of appropriate thickness.  For a project like you are undertaking, you would be better served to procure a more suitably thick pistol blank in one of those 3 woods listed, with decent figure.  Your going to invest a lot of time in building it from a blank.  And starting with marginal wood for the purpose (difficult inletting, wood stability, weight, a visible glue joint, etc.) is not a good plan for success.  IMHO. 

[Bob Gerard]

Nope gets my vote as well.

[Daniel Coats]

I admire your courage in taking on something like this but it's always going to show spliced together no matter what. Other projects like knife handles might work out better. Still a neat use of wood that has personal meaning to you.

[smylee grouch]

Yep, I like the shelves idea or the fire place, pretty shelve or pretty fire. When you consider the time and frustration aspect I'm thinking you will be happy if you use a nice piece of sugar maple, JMHO

[Rawhide Rick]

I’m certainly no expert, with wood in general, or building muzzleloaders, but I have a couple years of experience with sawing my own slabs, drying them, and using them for various projects.  My first thought is that the grain would have a tendency to separate along those dark grain lines.  I have unfortunately experienced this with white ash and maple.  The way you have the pistol laid out, puts one of those lines right through the top of the pistol grip, where the force is strongest upon firing.  Just my I could be wrong.

[davec2]

As others have noted, I would build the pistol using more traditional stock wood and use the oak to make a nice case for it.

[Robby]

I say, scratch that itch!!!! I shouldn't take much work to get you to a place where you can be confident that it's a go or no go. Good luck!!!!!!
Robby

[Swede Creek]

Still tilting at windmills!

Appreciate all the comments (mainly ones to "Drop the board and run..."), but being of unsound mind and sound body and a wealth of free time, have decided to keep riding this horse to see how far she can go.

SO, ended up gluing the two panels together (titebond III and every clamp in the shop).    Then cut a rough outline to see how the seams look.   Was pretty pleased.   Seams seem pretty tight... and managed to get the grain fairly close.   So here are pictures of what it looks like... (Still have some shaping to do on the butt, but am waiting on the trigger guard before final shaping.  (Should be here in a day or two).



Here's a view from the butt end.    The butt area has some nice grain to it, so if it doesn't explode as I start carving... I think it might look kinda purty!



This is a view of the "Belly"   (Stock upside down).   You'll note the right blank shows the one dark vein of wood.   There's still a 1/8 or more that can be taken off the bottom, so I think that different grain will be carved away.   And that saw blade burn...(dang that is hard wood) will go away.




and finally, here is top view.    Of course the front 12" will be covered by the barrel.   There is that knot/inclusion on the right side, but I think that is about where the lock will go, so I can deal with it.




Well, that's it till later.

Swede

[ed lundquist]

Good luck on that, I mean that with best wishes.

[smylee grouch]

Just curious if the ramrod hole will wonder ( follow the seam ) if its in line with it.

[Swede Creek]

I should be able to make the seam line the center line of the stock.   So that may help. 

General question back at ya, have drilled a ramrod hole on my Hawken halfstock.    Would there be any benefit of using a smaller drill  ( ie: 1/4") and then use the 3/8" to enlarge it?  (with the shorter range... I have more options on drill bits!

[Daniel Coats]

Turned out good!

I think a pilot hole would tend to chip out when drilling the finished size. Depending on thickness of the surrounding wood and the seam.

[Eric Krewson]

You have a lot of wood, perhaps gluing up a "back-up" wouldn't be a bad idea, that knot may be a problem.

[bama]

No reason not to try it, it's your build. Is it traditional, no. Will it work, yes, if you have the skills to pull it off. What will you have lost, nothing but your time. If it makes you happy that is what counts. Now if it all so goes south, take your parts and spend $30 for a maple blank and start over, no harm done.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Use a ramrod drill appropriate for the calibre right off the get-go.  A pilot drill is more likely to wander than a substantial one, in 3/8" for example.  Be sure to get the entry spot perfectly square, your drill sharp, and take 1/2" bites, clearing chips as you go.

[Top Jaw]

You didn’t say what caliber, but a 5/16” ramrod will make for a slimmer gun.  And for a pistol, which uses a much shorter rod, that’s what I would drill it, unless your over 54 caliber. 

[Swede Creek]

It's a .50 swamped rice barrel.