Colonial on its way...

[Psycho Mike]

It has made it through customs and is winging its way to me. Yay! Now comes the hard part....seeing if I can actually put it together the way I want.

Mine isn't going to be a typical long....I'm after a "fresh from the gunsmith" look with bright finished hardware and a light finished stock (personal preference...everyone is going for aqua fortis / iron nitrate these days and I want something closer to an old Lyman I had). Still going to try to highlight the figure (looked pretty good for "regular" maple....maybe was an in-between grade), but aiming to have an overall honey-brown color. I'm also going to attempt some minor carving (molding lines, patch box lid) and will try my hand at insetting a "coin" in the comb of the stock.

Hopefully the rest of the build will go better than getting that darn coin ready... While not fully period correct (the symbolism of a Maltese cross could have been seen on a select few rifles, depending on the owner), it will reflect me well. I'm making use of a cut-down old hat brass in this case and I figured it'd look period unless you get super close and read the text around the cross itself (which is from about 100 years later than when the Colonial "fits"). It might not be fully period, but neither is a CNC'd stock

I figured using the brass would be a great idea and easy way to try with a first inset...but man alive, did they ever know how to metal plate those old hat brasses! I originally thought it was chrome over brass...you know, strip the chrome and it would match the hardware. Well, HCl / muriatic acid couldn't touch the silver colored plating. Tried cola, tried vinegar, tried caustic....nada. So, I filed the edge to see what I was dealing with and to give it the bevel needed to get ready for future insetting. The base metal looks like bronze, not brass...surprise!! Meh, it still works for what I want to do. So, I ended up trying a variety of the acids we have at work with no joy....until I decided to tempt fate with some nitric acid (will eat away at bronze). Well, that worked like a charm...that plating vanished pretty dang quick and I managed to do it without a loss of much base metal / detail. Now to get this little bugger all polished up so it's waiting when I get to that stage

I'll keep the gang here in the loop, if you are interested, as I build.

 

[RobertIN]

I put mine together last month sometime, not sure what I want to do as far as aging (if anything) yet. I kind of like the steel left bright though. My stock is probably darker than you're aiming for but the bright steel might give you some confidence that it'll turn out looking good if you keep it bright! Following to keep track of your progress I can't wait to see what you do with it.

 

[Psycho Mike]

I put mine together last month sometime, not sure what I want to do as far as aging (if anything) yet. I kind of like the steel left bright though. My stock is probably darker than you're aiming for but the bright steel might give you some confidence that it'll turn out looking good if you keep it bright! Following to keep track of your progress I can't wait to see what you do with it.View attachment 294420

Looks good, Robert. You are correct that I'm after something a bit lighter, but still hope to get some good definition to my curl. That coin is now getting some polish and it is most certainly bronze now that I'm getting it cleaned up. I'll keep you posted

 

[RobertIN]

Looks good, Robert. You are correct that I'm after something a bit lighter, but still hope to get some good definition to my curl. That coin is now getting some polish and it is most certainly bronze now that I'm getting it cleaned up. I'll keep you posted

I saw a couple of photos from @DCAN in the What muzzleloading stuff did you do today thread that had definition in the pattern while keeping a more natural color of the wood, maybe he'll chime in with his process if you like the look.

 

[DCAN]

I saw a couple of photos from @DCAN in the What muzzleloading stuff did you do today thread that had definition in the pattern while keeping a more natural color of the wood, maybe he'll chime in with his process if you like the look.

I messed up about half way through the process and had to backtrack and kind of start over. What I should have done is, a couple coats of Honey Maple stain, AF, then rubbed back until it was light again except for the curl. Then more of the Honey Maple stain with some Lemon Yellow Trans Tint added. Then maybe start with the finish of choice. In the beginning, I didn't rub it back far enough and it was more tan than gold.
Prior to putting the finish on the stock had a yellow look to it, and when the finish went on, I had what I was hoping for. The pic is what it looks like with the sun on it. I learned some hard lessons on this assembly. I got in a hurry to finish and it cost me a lot of elbow work and a couple weeks.

 

[RobertIN]

I messed up about half way through the process and had to backtrack and kind of start over. What I should have done is, a couple coats of Honey Maple stain, AF, then rubbed back until it was light again except for the curl. Then more of the Honey Maple stain with some Lemon Yellow Trans Tint added. Then maybe start with the finish of choice. In the beginning, I didn't rub it back far enough and it was more tan than gold.
Prior to putting the finish on the stock had a yellow look to it, and when the finish went on, I had what I was hoping for. The pic is what it looks like with the sun on it. I learned some hard lessons on this assembly. I got in a hurry to finish and it cost me a lot of elbow work and a couple weeks.

WOW

 

[Psycho Mike]

Mzzldrinpa has already provided some great inspiration for me.

View attachment 271089

The lower one is a little too light (very light finished maple)....but if I can get a good definition of the curl on a stock color closer to the upper one (happens to be cherry) with a light finish to the lock and barrel (I'm thinking of a French grey using mustard), I'd be quite happy.

I'm planning on molding lines along the forestock from ~ 1st ramrod pipe to just onto the space above the tail of the last one, along the bottom of the buttstock from toe of the buttplate to the hook of the trigger guard and a couple in the bump on the back side of the butt. I'll inset my "coin" in the comb and then do a couple lines and a Maltese cross for a "thumb grip" on the patch box cover. The bronze and brass should work nicely with that color, I think. Taken as a whole, nothing too fancy....but some subtle personalization to make it mine.

 

[Psycho Mike]

Ohhh! Got notification....it's in town (nobody was home when they came by, unfortunately). I know what I'm picking up tomorrow

 

[Psycho Mike]

Hehehe... "It has begun!"

 

[RobertIN]

Hehehe... "It has begun!"
View attachment 294880

Gotta love the big brown box!

 

[Psycho Mike]

I peeked

Looking at the butt / comb / wrist area (which feel quite smooth, with no obvious tooling marks), I'd say I'm going to have some figure to play with (as well as some beautiful grain...Hopefully I can keep both in my finished rifle).

 

[RobertIN]

I peeked

View attachment 295025
View attachment 295024
Looking at the butt / comb / wrist area (which feel quite smooth, with no obvious tooling marks), I'd say I'm going to have some figure to play with (as well as some beautiful grain...Hopefully I can keep both in my finished rifle).

Looks promising! Did you rub a wet cloth on it to bring out the figure yet?

 

[Adam in WI]

I put mine together last month sometime, not sure what I want to do as far as aging (if anything) yet. I kind of like the steel left bright though. My stock is probably darker than you're aiming for but the bright steel might give you some confidence that it'll turn out looking good if you keep it bright! Following to keep track of your progress I can't wait to see what you do with it.View attachment 294420

That's beautiful. Makes me seriously reconsider going straight for the aged look.

 

[RobertIN]

That's beautiful. Makes me seriously reconsider going straight for the aged look.

Thanks. I figure it's a lot easier to leave it bright then decide to age down the road if I decide I want to than go the other way.

 

[Psycho Mike]

Looks promising! Did you rub a wet cloth on it to bring out the figure yet?

Not yet. Just seeing that cross-grain wave was enough to make me utter an "oh my..."

 

[Psycho Mike]

Got a start on it yesterday....barrel now drops in nicely and there don't appear to be any "over-dunits" in the breech and tang areas Picked up my "best guess" dyes and some tung oil today....going to give my scrap pieces a little sanding and see if I can firm up my wood finishing ideas sooner rather than later. May start working on removing the sprues and working the buttplate this long weekend.

 

[RobertIN]

Got a start on it yesterday....barrel now drops in nicely and there don't appear to be any "over-dunits" in the breech and tang areas Picked up my "best guess" dyes and some tung oil today....going to give my scrap pieces a little sanding and see if I can firm up my wood finishing ideas sooner rather than later. May start working on removing the sprues and working the buttplate this long weekend.

Very good! I smoothed out my barrel channel and did some finish testing in there as I did not have scrap pieces to play with. I wish I had another kit to work on I'm antsy and computer games aren't nearly as engaging. Happy to hear you're enjoying yourself share pics as you go along I wish I had.

 

[Psycho Mike]

If you say so, Robert

Here's what she looks like and how the breech end looks with the barrel in place...

Good start and it looks like it's in there pretty well. Had to take a little more than I was expecting to get the tang to seat deeply when the breech plug was up against the back wall, but overall I'm happy with where it ended up.

 

[Psycho Mike]

Trigger plate got mounted today...it was pretending to be a rocking horse (but the inletting only needed a "defuzzing"), so a little photocopier blue and some minor work with the chisel and that was quickly taken care of. It didn't take much more depth to fix it, but still took it slow and steady (measure / blue twice, carve once, right).

Starting to clean up the buttplate...I'm not sure if I'll get to fitting it today...did whole blood donation #100 earlier, so I don't want to overdo it with that arm.

 

[Psycho Mike]

Ok...got the sprues out and most of the casting imperfections. The sprues took a fair bit of elbow grease with a six inch half-round file. Overall, the molding lines came out fairly quickly...only a minor offset to remove. There are a couple deeper imperfections I may need to leave, but at least they are small (likely were sand grains that were caught in the casting).

I'll move on to the paper next. I'll likely get it to close to final polish before fitting it.

Pics for posterity...second one shows the two imperfections just right of center (dark pits).