Chamber's York build

[LawrenceA]

Hi,
Every kit gun I've worked with over the last 5 years required the barrel to be moved back. Lawrence, you are using too much inletting black. Dip a tooth brush in the stuff to get a little bit on it then use that brush without recharging the blacking for a long time. Your thick blacking along the edges of mortices makes it very difficult to see gaps forming. About gaps, don't fuss with them right away. First, finish the inletting task and then clean up the wood so you can see the edges of the mortices. Then wet it with water with the inlay in place and see if the gaps close up. If they do, you can expect them to disappear when you stain and finish the gun. If the gaps remain, then consider gluing in a sliver of wood but don't rush into doing that. Be patient and stop using so much black.

dave

I had moved the barrel back already but did not have the lock to see how they lined up so only took it back far enough to fit it to the stock.
Yes I have realised the overuse of the black and amended my ways. Was using an earbud on the lid. Will reduce further.
Thank you greatly for the pointers.

For what it is worth I greatly admire your work. It is inspirational. Shame I am so far away.
Have you ever sent one of your fowlers over seas? I would dearly love one but not sure how to progress.

 

[LawrenceA]

Regarding the 'armory bright' on your barrel: consider knocking off the sharp edges on the flats and softening the edges. Then cold-brown the barrel (or however you prefer to brown it). When you have a nice brown surface and the 'rust' comes off onto your fingers, rub it off with a grey Scotch Bright scrubber (not the green one, it's too course). It will give the metal an aged look and also will help control rust.

Yeah done a bit of browning but I was under the impression it was not right for these early guns. I like a new gun to look new.

 

[Buckskinn]

I wouldn't worry about the surface rust until you are done with the gun and ready for finishing. Cold blue the barrel instead of browning, imo.

 

[LawrenceA]

I wouldn't worry about the surface rust until you are done with the gun and ready for finishing. Cold blue the barrel instead of browning, imo.

If by Cold blue you mean rust blue then again I don't think it fits the period. If you mean like Oxpho blue then not me sorry.
Yes I will have to finish the draw filing which will clean it all up and I guess I wont be sweating on it as much when it is in final assembly.
Just a nuisance I have not had on other guns. I recently finished a Matchlock and no dramas with surface rust with that one. Also refinished the barrels on 2 last year with no issues but I did brown them soo who knows what went unseen.

 

[smoothshooter]

I have never seen a pre-carved stock that did not require moving the barrel back. Get the lock positioned first then adjust the barrel accordingly. Groove the plug if you have to; there are thousands of guns with plugs that are cut for the vent and/or the liner.

Why don’t the people running the stock duplicators change the masters slightly and eliminate the barrel set-back problem? Should be easy enough to do.

 

[LawrenceA]

Well been doing a fair bit.
Pretty much in the white now as I have shaped the forend.
I have been practising my carving and just do not feel comfortable to give it a go yet.
I spent the last hour trying to draw in the line above the ramrod groove but cannot get it straight so gave up for now.
It sure is purtty!

 

[Buckskinn]

I got one of these. Made cutting in the straight line a breeze...
https://www.amazon.com/Pittsburgh-9...ocphy=9018935&hvtargid=pla-394052977915&psc=1
I recommend posting lots of pics to get critiques from the masters here (myself excluded...). It will save a lot of cringing after you have gone past the point of no return... As far as the carving, I did the same thing and decided that I am was not going to be able to make it look like it should, so did minimal carving. There are lots of beautiful guns out there with little to no carving and lots of not so beautiful guns our there with carving...

 

[LawrenceA]

I got one of these. Made cutting in the straight line a breeze...


I recommend posting lots of pics to get critiques from the masters here (myself excluded...). It will save a lot of cringing after you have gone past the point of no return... As far as the carving, I did the same thing and decided that I am was not going to be able to make it look like it should, so did minimal carving. There are lots of beautiful guns out there with little to no carving and lots of not so beautiful guns our there with carving...

Yeah I couldn't find mine so will have to jimmy something up. Thing is I had them marked perfect then sanded them off and andc ant remember how I did it.
Spot on about carving. You can see what I was planning for the butt.
I am now planning on just the lines on the bottom of the butt, the cheekpiece and the forend

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
Lawrence, check out my latest post on the Edward Marshall rifle. I show how I cut fore stock moldings.

dave

 

[LawrenceA]

well been fun and games but I think we are just about there.
Barrel did not bed down such that the touch hole lined up perfectly so the white lightning liner didn't work.
Had a new liner made but ended breaking off a centre drill trying to drill it in situ so ended up drilling the touch hole with diamond burrs.
Also in the move from Qld to NSW I lost the , already fitted, trigger. Lucky I had something floating around so had to fit another trigger etcetera.
Anyway finally have a functional and fully licensed firearm.

I think it looks kinda purrrty!

 

[Brokennock]

Nice work. Good job overcoming the problems.

 

[LawrenceA]

Nice work. Good job overcoming the problems.

Thanks
Looking back there were a few but nothing seemed too serious. Well retrospectively anyway.
I think reading about how problems are overcome by others is my favorite part so I have tried to include few of these.