Yet another Woodsrunner!

I, like so many others, have completed my first Kibler. It's a Woodsrunner 54 in fancy maple. I'd like to thank Mr. Kibler for his work bringing these affordable and fantastic kits to market.

Now realistically it took about 3 hours to assemble it ramrod and all. The lengthy 13 month bit about this project was choosing the various finishes and changes of plans based on results. The stock was mostly scraped and burnished followed by brushing to reveal the grain as much as the figure. Iron nitrate was chosen and boy did that come out as a surprise. The tried and true oil turned the stock so dark...amazing. This resulted in my choosing other than in the white and bright for the metal. The barrel draw filed nicely and the lock did take quite a bit of time to scrape and file the mill marks out as did the CNC butt plate. Laurel Mnt brown worked great on the barrel but the lock didn't like it as much so BC plum brown fixed that. Jax Black applied to the brass work after polish and soda blast for a sort of matte finish...much more durable than Jax on a polished surface.

Part of that 13 months was dealing with little things like dings or chips in places that were unacceptable or even breaking the stock in half! Yes you heard that right. One session while separating the stock from barrel the stock snapped in half right in front of the rear pipe. I've kept this pinned together to mitigate stock warping as it was want to do but yes the very last time before browning was disastrous. The stock has been repaired with titebond and the crack is not visible but I know its there. So be careful even when you think your being careful!

It is now done. And as of yet unfired. I hope the stock crack remains sound under recoil. I have no plans to sell this considering the stock. What surprises me are the amount of people building these just to turn around and sell. I would be holding on to them....

The finish came out gorgeous. That is to bad about the stock breaking like that. Hopefully the repair holds for you.
I would have used a few choice words if that had happened to me.

Wow, I don't think I've ever seen such ugly pictures of a broken stock. Amazing work to get that repaired and put back together so that you could actually finish the gun. Well done!!

Very nice finish on both metal and wood!

One other thing...my iron nitrate treatment really required neutralization. I had rust forming on lock and barrel while in the white. Boiling water with ammonia solved the issue nicely. However doing so ensured I had to keep the barrel and stock together to negate the warping.

Thanks for the comments on the finish!

Here is a video link showing more of the rifle and the area at the rear pipe where the break happened. I left a tattle tale of missing wood under the pipe...I could not find the fragment. At some point I'll put colored beeswax in there maybe.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/C5m62G2gWyyxkjBx6

Polecat_Tom said:

The finish came out gorgeous. That is to bad about the stock breaking like that. Hopefully the repair holds for you.
I would have used a few choice words if that had happened to me.

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I was at a loss for words at the time.

Cyknife said:

I was at a loss for words at the time.

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Like my grandmother said “Hurts too much to cuss”

This quote came to mind shortly after the broken stock:

Cameron Frye: “Ferris, my father loves this car more than life itself.” Ferris Bueller: “A man with priorities so far out of whack doesn't deserve such a fine automobile.”

it brought some clarity to the moment...

very nice recovery

Cyknife said:

One other thing...my iron nitrate treatment really required neutralization. I had rust forming on lock and barrel while in the white. Boiling water with ammonia solved the issue nicely. However doing so ensured I had to keep the barrel and stock together to negate the warping.

Thanks for the comments on the finish!

Here is a video link showing more of the rifle and the area at the rear pipe where the break happened. I left a tattle tale of missing wood under the pipe...I could not find the fragment. At some point I'll put colored beeswax in there maybe.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/C5m62G2gWyyxkjBx6

Click to expand...

I’m careful about not getting iron nitrate into any mortise. Plus I seal those areas with Permalyn.

I think my next build, if ever, wont use the iron nitrate. It came out darker than I imagined it would.

Cyknife said:

I think my next build, if ever, wont use the iron nitrate. It came out darker than I imagined it would.

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You can steel-wool it back to some degree.

More to the point....I think the color from the alcohol stains would be nice opposed to the dark results from nitrate.

One bit of dandytude regarding the Kibler's shooting pieces is IF that stock DOES fail, a new'n should be a "drop in" no problem. The trick robot-controlled CNC wizardy allows as such. Not so with some other brands!