Hawken-esque Plains Rifle Build - Pics of Finished Rifle Added

[Curtis]

A little scrub plane work to bring the width down on the non-cheek side of the stock:





Then a little more tuning up on the cheek side -







Now time to make some underlugs and sink then in the barrel channel:





The scrap metal I am using has a coating on it so I burn it off - do this in a well ventilated area and don't breathe the fumes!



Beginning the folding operation:



I like to put a little solder paste in the fold in case I end up filing through the fold when shortening the lug:



Finishing the fold and bending the flanges:



Heating the solder:



Filing the dovetails on the lug - I like to raise the lug off the vice a little when I cut the dovetails in order to provide a tiny clearance for the barrel dovetail and the lug projection.  A piece of sandpaper does the trick here 'cause it was handy.





Next I start to cut the dovetail in the barrel where I have laid it out and marked the dovetail length.  I recommend using a fresh blade when cutting dovetail slots in the barrel, it makes the job easier and tidier. Yep, you can see where I changed my mind on the position of the underlug:



That's all for now,

Curtis

[Curtis]

Continuing onward....  After sawing the slots in the dovetail, I use a cold chisel to remove all the extra material:



Then file to finish depth:



I use a piece of the same material the lug was made from as a gauge for the correct depth - quick, easy and accurate.



Next U use a three corner file with a safe edge (or a dovetail file) to cut the actual dovetails:



And keep checking for fit with the underlug....  when it wants to start in, I tap and fit, tap and fit till it will go in snug most of the way, then tap it home.



Center it,



Stake it,



Then file  it flush wit the barrel sides:



Curtis

[Curtis]

I paint some inlet black on the lug and mark the barrel channel, then excavate the hole with a mortising chisel.



Next I spot drill the lug for the barrel key:



Then slot it with a jeweler's saw



And file the slot to fit the barrel key:





Thanks for looking, Curtis

[Curtis]

Next I locate the barrel key with a jig I acquired from TOF several (lots of) years ago:



Then I drill a marker or location hole.  (just look at that curl in the wood!)




Then I will utilize some tools I made  in one of George Suiter's tool-making class at the NMLRA Gunsmithing Seminar:



Then I drill a reference hole as a starting place for my mortising chisel:



Curtis

[helwood]

Greetings,
I like following your work.  Your tools are so familar like being back in class.  Keep on posting.  Later, Hank

[Curtis]

Thanks Hank!  Always good to hear from you!!

Next I go at it with the mortising saw and mortising chisels:





I work the mortising tools from both sides until I have a rectangular hole almost the size of the key all the way through, then I heat the tip of the key just enough so it "melts" through the remaining wood.  If it smokes a lot it it probably too hot.









Now it's time to tackle the lock inlet:



Thanks for looking,
Curtis

[flatsguide]

Hi Curtis, it’s a true pleasure seeing your work and how you accomplish things…always a tidbit of info to store away. What a nice piece of wood too. I don’t see, except for cost, why anyone would put in all the effort to make a stock from a plain piece of wood…the effort is the same plain or fancy.
Cheers Richard

[rich pierce]

I found that lock inlet against the bolster to be tricky but only built 2 Hawken-esque rifles 40 years ago. Maybe those who have built a lot find it easy.

[Curtis]

I agree with you about the wood, Richard!  Might as well have purdy wood for all that work.

Rich - I don't know what part of the lock inlet may have given you trouble, but one of the things I do with this type of breech and plug is epoxy the tang to the breech and barrel before inletting the barrel and tang.  While they are glued together I file the breech and the bolster top for a good fit before I inlet the lock.  If it is a lock that has not been cut to fit the breech, I smooth the breech with a file, then file the top of the bolster until it is close to fitting, then use inlet black on the breech/tang bottom to fit the lock much like you would an inlet to the wood.  Once the lock and breech mate well together, it makes for an smoother lock inlet as you can push it up against the breech and inlet straight down like you would for a flinter.


Curtis

[Curtis]

I like to mark the approximate center-lines where I want the lock ends to line up with:



Once I am happy with the positioning, I cover the bolster with inlet black or smoke, the replace the lock where I want it and clamp it down firmly with a C-clamp.  I also scribe the sides of the bolster that I can reach with a scribe.



Next I begin excavating the bolster inlet:



After I had the plate contacting the lock panel, I took a closer look at the lock and decided to file a bit off the area marked with a black sharpie and indicated by the blue lines and arrow.





The lock is then put back in place and I scribe around it amd begin stabbing in the straighter lines with a small chisel



On the tighter curves I use a "lens shaped" homemade tool to roll stab in the lines:





And then begin removing wood for the plate inlet.







Once I am down a bit I like to remove wood where the guts of the lock will be so I don't have to carve away at the wood a little at a time.  I roughly mark where the tumbler, springs, sear etc will be and start quickly removing wood.  The areas will have to be enlarged later when I make more accurate inlets.









Once I get some of the extra wood out of the way I can inlet the plate to depth more efficiently. 





When I have the bolster against the barrel I like to drill and tap the lock before I start adding parts to the inside of the lock and finish the inlet.







Thanks for looking,
Curtis

[hortonstn]

Curtis glad to see your still building keep up the great work

[A Scanlan]

Maybe one of the most interesting pictorial stories on building I have ever seen.  Also confirms why I never did and never will build.  It takes skill and talent which I have none of.  THANKS!

[Curtis]

Curtis glad to see your still building keep up the great work

Good to hear from you Stan!  I have been busy with projects, a few of them too modern to post here.  What are you building these days?

Maybe one of the most interesting pictorial stories on building I have ever seen.  Also confirms why I never did and never will build.  It takes skill and talent which I have none of.  THANKS!

Thanks for the kind words Scanlan - you could build one if you really put your mind to it.... it really just takes as much tenacity to build a rifle as anything else!

Curtis

[Ian Pratt]

Some good tips on ways to work efficiently Curtis! Folks complicate things sometimes.

[Bob Roller]

Out lining the lines for the lock plate with that tiny chisel would take the patience of a cigar tore Indian.
I's like to make one more simple rifle,maybe a target rifle with no rib and rod and a shotgun butt plate.
a K-I-S-S* gun.
Bob Roller
*Keep Lt Stupidly Simple"
Bob Roller

[Curtis]

Thanks Ian and Bob!   I am a simple kinda guy.    Ian, I am waiting to see if I need to run my rifle through the truck wash, lol!


I add internal parts to the lock, paint then with inlet black and then do some more excavating until it all fits and the lock cycles all the way through without interference.  When I installed the bridle I had to do a bit of filing to make the top flush with the lockplate.











When it's all done I take all the parts back off the lock plate and then draw file the lock panels flush (they were too high still) and in the process put a file finish on the lock plate.





After that I start with the set trigger plate...  I heated the plate with a torch and did a little bending until I was happy with the shape, then locate the plate and scribe around the edges of the "bulge":



Then take things down until the rest of the plate is closer to the wood.



Then scribe some more where it is close to the wood and repeat, getting lower each time.







Curtis

[Curtis]

As the trigger plate gets closer to going all the way in, I carefully scribe up the the edges near the rear finial with a blade, then around the curved finial with a round scribe.





For an added measure I like to blacken the back of the finial with inlet black and smack it with a rawhide mallet in order to leave a nice impression:



Then stab in the curves with a lens-shaped chisel:









And start removing more wood:



Keep going down with the inlet until the trigger plate is all the way down.







Then I center punch for the rear screw, drill the hole for the screw and countersink (forgot to take a picture of drilling the hole)



Then comes the mortising for the triggers, inletting for the springs and other innards of the set trigger.  I read one very good carving book that said to ALWAYS start a mortise in the CENTER of the hole, and NEVER at the ends.  I also read a different carving book that said to ALWAYS start on the ends and work your way the the center!  So even the authorities disagree on these things.     I personally don't think it makes much difference either way....













Thanks for looking,
Curtis

[Curtis]

Now it is time to install the tang bolts. I had previously located the holes on the tang and put some small temp screws in to hold the tang in place.



I use a square to help locate where the front bolt will penetrate the trigger plate - an angle where the bolt head will squarely contact the tang is desirable,  as well as missing any critical trigger components.



Then I punch a mark:



I do the same with the rear tang bolt, but I cheat the mark back a bit to try to avoid hitting the trigger mainspring.  I will also use a number 8 bolt for the rear (as opposed to a number 10 bolt for the front) so the hole will have a smaller footprint to help with missing the spring.



Then I drill and tap the holes sized appropriately for each bolt:









Then screw them in place.



The bolts are then marked and cut closer to length:



I didn't quite miss the mainspring, but a little filing and I will be in the clear.





Squeaky fit....



Curtis

[J.D.]

Excellent tutorial. Excellent work. I'm impressed. This thread could easily inspire those of us with little confidence in our abilities to tackle a square chunk of wood.

[Steeltrap]

Agree!!

[flatsguide]

It’s interesting on how you you used the rear tang bolt to prevent the trigger main spring from rotating off center ;-).
Nice photography Curtis.
Cheers Richard

[Jeff Murray]

Great to see old style craftsmanship on the site.

[parve]

I really appreciate the extra effort you put in to take good photos so we can follow along - looking forward to the next update.

[Curtis]

Thanks for your comments good fellows!  I will try to get some decent photos of the stock shaping process, and will post them coming up shortly.  I certainly hope these postings will be helpful to some of you out there.  Also, anyone with questions along the way should ask them - either me or someone else here will be happy to answer.  The only stupid questions are those that are not asked! 

It’s interesting on how you you used the rear tang bolt to prevent the trigger main spring from rotating off center ;-).
Nice photography Curtis.
Cheers Richard

Richard - due to that happy accident, the trigger mainspring will certainly not rotate one bit!!!  It almost looks like I planned it that way...

Curtis

[Curtis]

Unfortunately the only tang bolts available when I ordered parts were of the domed head variety, which are not really suitable for this type of rifle.



So in order to to make the domed bolts work for this project I will deepen the screw slots with a slotting file made from a cheap needle file - I simply ran ground off the teeth on the flats with a belt sander, and left the edge intact.  I made this several years ago a,s well as another one from a small warding file and have gotten a lot of use from them.  Be sure to make the slots deep enough that you can safely unscrew the bolts after the heads are filed flush with the work-piece.





The bolt heads are then filed nearly flush and the draw filed the rest to the way.  This is a photo of domed screw used on the trigger plate that received the same treatment as the tang bolts.  I will post a photo of the tang bolts later... didn't get one taken yet. 





Some of you may have spotted this in earlier photos, and now here is the story.  When I made my saw cuts in shaping the stock, I ended up with a transition that was too abrupt where the bottom of the wrist meets the bottom of the butt-stock, and it needed a little help.  So a took a slabbed off scrap from adjacent to the area needing to be patched, and cut a couple of small pieces keeping the grain orientation the same as the area in question.  I used a dark wood glue and clamped the two pieces in place.











Some say the mark of a good gun builder is the ability to fix their own mistakes...  The patches are sinfully ugly at this point , but will virtually almost disappear as the stock is shaped and will be completely UN-noticable by the time the stock is stained and finished.  Getting the wood orientation correct is very important to help that to happen.  And YES, they don't look wide enough to adequately do the job, but when the bottom is shaped towards the lock panels they will prove sufficient for the task as well as change shape.

Here are a few photos of working the area down, you can already see the patches are looking better.  We will keep an eye on them in future posts.









The last thing I want to tackle before beginning to shape he stock is to inlet the nosecap.  Some folks may also want to inlet the entry pipe, but I like to get some wood out of the way before I start to mess with that.



Thanks for looking,
Curtis