Confessions of a wood butcher

[Liver eatin’ Johnson]

My name is Johnson and I butcher wood... well not recently but after building multiple commercial kits, all customized to look more "authentic" I tried my hand at scratch building. ( my one finished gun in the Photos forum was completed for me by a pro ) Here are some of the ways I butchered perfectly good stock blanks:

Drilling the ramrod hole too close to the bottom ( actually came through the bottom near the lock )

Band sawing the blank too small - not enough room to make the parts work together - barrel tennons inside of ram rod space.

Runaway Dremel tool while inletting parts - nasty!

I solemnly swear to leave scratch building to the experts and buy the best pre-inletted kits available from here on out.

LEJ :redface:

 

[musketman]

Welcome to W.B.A... (Wood Butchers Anonymous )

I once was building a percussion pistol for a friend of mine, unbeknownst to me where my left hand's index finger was at the time, I drilled a 1/8 inch hole through the wood and right on through my finger at the first knuckle...

It went clear through my finger, missing the bones at the joint, taking out my cartilage...

I could look through the hole in my finger and it almost had to be removed, lots of wood chips and splinters left inside...

I was banned from building anything from that day on...

 

Another W.B.A member!!
I read once that some fine Kentucky rifles have nice thin forstocks. So I rasped,filed and sanded till I had really nice lines to it. I applied several coats of finish to the stock,,beutifull! The Depth and Glow of the stock was choice!! Hours of work!! Perfect!
I dropped the barrel in the first tyme after finish,, and blew both sides of the foresock out!! :curse:,,,the kit became a half stock Hawkins,,kinda,,, ::

 

[Birddog6]

Musketman: I know that must have been quite painful, but I have to admit I am laughing my a$$ off about it !

Kinda reminds me of meself sometimes. I have drilled & wadded up more tee shirts in a drill than you can immagine & drilled the sleeve of a brand new longleeve shirt about a month ago. I used to have the grip of steel in my hands & I seldom used a vice to hold things, I would just hold whatever in my hand & drill it. Well, that grip is gone & I just can't seem to get past it. So now before I even realize it I have something in my hand & am just a drillin away, grabs the piece, it grabs the shirt & & the shirt tries to take me too, but so far I have refused to twist up with it ! ha ha !

One time I was cutting some insulation off some 400 MCM cable & it was outside in the winter & about 20 below zero & things were not going well. I had on insulated coveralls, pants, longjohns & underwear. Kinda windy & I was about half numb, insulation would not cut as it is hard as a nail being so cold, so I am putting allot of pressure on this big box cutter knife, and sorta had the cable held with my left hand & supposted my my left leg at my crotch.

So I have allot of pressure on this box knife & when it breaks thru in a downward push it suddenly gives & I cut thru the coveralls, theu the pants, thru the longjohns & thru my underwear.... Man I was doing some frantic strippin to see if I had detached a very important part of me, cause I knew I was too cold to feel it.... WHEW... that was just Way Too Close for comfort !! ha ha ha ! Funny now but dang sure wasn't funny at the moment ! ha ha ! I could just envision me going in the ER & having to ask some gal half my age to sew my goober up ! ha ha ! Man that would be embarassing...

Birddog6's Custom Muzzleloaders & Custom Skinning Knives

 

[gordy]

This incident has nothing to do with guns,but it's about cutting trees,and it was a dumb thing to do so maybe it qualifys.I worked for a County Highway Dept.Just after getting out of the Army in 1958.The Rural counties had received moneys from a Gov.program to strighten and pave the dirt roads in their boundrys,it was durring Febuary of a real snowy and cold winter and in the mountains.I had been running chainsaw cutting right of way trees to take out some of the bad curves and widen the roads.There was about a total of three foot of snow on the level.There had been a foot of snow and then a freezing rain that made a crust that You could "almost" walk on,then came two more feet of powdery sow on top of the crust.I was wearing cotton longjohns,quilted insulated drawers,and Carhart outer pants.Because it was so damn cold that we'd have to set the saws by (on) the brush fires in order to get them cranked in the morning,(this was before they had banned doing this).The saw I used was and old Mac.weighed near forty pounds and carried a 32" bar.Sometimes the trees were 30 or 40 feet apart,so You'd have to buck the snow walking from tree to tree,I'd keep the saw running except to put gas in it as it only took a short time for it to cool down and then it cranked hard.We'll while struggleing on to another tree my left foot broke through the crust under the new snow and my right leg bent as the left sunk the foot or so to the ground level.The bar came down across my right thigh causeing a cut in my duds about a foot long before I could shut the saw off (no blade breaks on them at that time)Anyway I thought I'd down some serious damage to my leg.there was blood but being so cold couldn't tell how far it had cut in.As it turned out the chain had gone through the Carhardts,the quilted underwear and the cotton longjohns and the chippers had just skipped along the skin,looked like a dotted line.After that act of foolishness I shut the saw off whenever walking.And You know that Foreman never complained about how long it took to get started again! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif Over the years ,this is just one of many things I lucked out on. Experience "is" a good teacher !if you survive.