Don't Carve That Stock!

[mikesto44]

Carving you have to have an eye for the finished product. It has to be well planned out to make it flow with the architecture of the guns style.
Anything done outside of that. Makes it look out of place.
But if your willing to practice and do research your gun will look fine. Even if it has a few flaws. It shows originality. You don't get that with the CNC kits.

 

[Polecat_Tom]

Buy the KRA CDs. You'll learn what carving looks like in 100x magnification. I highly recommend them.

And note that not all guns need to be carved! It’s a matter of taste and talent in many regards.

Comfortably_Numb, thank you for suggesting the KRA CDs. I will order them.

PathfinderNC, I agree that not all guns need carving. At this point I only want to carve one to show myself I can do it. I have the ability to carve I just haven't done serious carving on a gun. And I definitely don't want to say to my wife that I need to order a replacement gun stock because I screwed this one up.

Also, PathfinderNC congratulations on getting this post up to five pages.

 

[PathfinderNC]

Comfortably_Numb, thank you for suggesting the KRA CDs. I will order them.

PathfinderNC, I agree that not all guns need carving. At this point I only want to carve one to show myself I can do it. I have the ability to carve I just haven't done serious carving on a gun. And I definitely don't want to say to my wife that I need to order a replacement gun stock because I screwed this one up.

Also, PathfinderNC congratulations on getting this post up to five pages.

I like your approach in not doubting your abilities and also in taking a careful approach to a new task. Koodos to you and best wishes naturally!
As to the length of this discussion, I guess it is a topic worth discussing, agreeing and disagreeing upon and in exploring.

 

[oreclan]

Sometimes just a simply inscribed design carved well can be enough to add a nice touch of flair, so I do what I can with some confidence. I am not proficient in skills to carve the incised and relief carvings that I dream of doing one day. But staying in the boundaries of my skill level I can pull it off to some degree and not distract from the overall appearance of the gun.

While your stock carving may be elementary, but your horn engraving is fantastic.
You should transfer some of that skill to the wood, although working in a three dimensional plane rather than two dimensional is different.

 

[Mulemauler]

Bnewberry...Here is my attempt at it, feel like I did pretty good on the carving but not as good on the background cleanup...View attachment 256038

Background clean up is the HARDEST part! Time consuming and tedious but makes all the difference.

 

[oreclan]

I suspect that a lot of early carving was done by bored fellows personalizing their guns while sitting around campfires, so wouldn't necessarily be very well done.

I have an original example of that.
This mid 19th Century percussion rifle is incised carved and chip carved behind the cheek piece in a very crude manner.
It even has a homemade copper patch box, but I consider it folk art.

 

[Mulemauler]

Many old time builders only did certain parts of the build and then let good woodcarvers such as cabinet makers do the embellishment same goes engraving. Have seen many rifles from the same builder with obviously different engraving or carving styles.

 

[oreclan]

Are completely uncarved rifles from pre 1800 historically correct? For example, would a Kibler colonial with no carving be right, or was there a base level of carving that the kits don't have?

Yes, but they were probably used up over the years as important, but valuable tools.

 

[TobJohn]

Yes, but they were probably used up over the years as important, but valuable tools.

Thanks. I wasn’t sure if it was a case where the rifle was already so expensive that additional decoration would be an insignificant cost.

 

[user 34300]

Everyone is entitled to decide what looks good to him and how to decorate his gun.

For me, crudely done carving is ugly. Ugly, in the same way a child's attempts at drawing are not beautiful. Or, an adult with no artistic ability who draws a picture or paints a painting but badly. I don't want bad carving on my gun. I would never copy bad carving. Some justify it by saying it is HC. That may be true in some cases. I also think some people who do not want to put in the effort to learn to do good work use it as an excuse to be lazy. But, the original gunsmiths that are worth emulating did beautiful work, by any standard. They were true artists. I choose to emulate them.

Before anyone gets upset please re-read the first sentence.

 

[Polecat_Tom]

Buy the KRA CDs. You'll learn what carving looks like in 100x magnification. I highly recommend them.

When I first googled KRA CDs I got this
"selection of Pop Rap, Gangsta & Hardcore, East Coast, West Coast, Experimental Rap, Southern Rap & more" and thought this won't help.

Then I found Kentucky Rifle Foundation. There is a large selection of CDs there. Is there any that you recommend over others?

 

[PathfinderNC]

While your stock carving may be elementary, but your horn engraving is fantastic.
You should transfer some of that skill to the wood, although working in a three dimensional plane rather than two dimensional is different.

Thanks oreclan. I had done some relief and incise carving before but kind-of drifted into doing the more simple, incise line carving. This rifle below was my second rifle build, probably 1990. It is Cherry and I think the stock and parts were from various sources, though the stock was Pecatonica Early American (?) that just had the ramrod and barrel channel done.
At that time I never saw a real antique gun, just photos from books. I liked the early Germanic guns with the heavy carving, so that was what I was trying to emulate. I remember scraping the stock with blades and rifler files also, not using that much sand paper. Though somewhat crudely carved, I think the design worked and has an old-world feel (to me).
It just hangs in my shop now, and I will shoot it again some day

 

[Billy Boy]

...Unless you are good at it.
I've seen a lot of well made rifles, some even with very nice metal engravings, but then come the photos of the cheek piece or whatever, with some terribly done carvings (or more like attempts at carving).
Bad carving can absolutely ruin your fine gun.
Take the time to develop the skill, know your skill level and proceed with caution. It's better to leave it plain sometimes, honestly.
Cheers.

Agree but back then that rifle was one of; if the biggest expense of the year. It was cherished like a family member - and often personalized, so to speak

 

[James Kibler]

Many old time builders only did certain parts of the build and then let good woodcarvers such as cabinet makers do the embellishment same goes engraving. Have seen many rifles from the same builder with obviously different engraving or carving styles.

This is not very well supported in American work. Yes, with Continental, but not over here. In fact, the vast majority of rifles show a single hand or perhaps a master and apprentice.

 

[James Kibler]

The idea of all the plain rifles being used up and discarded is just speculation and lacks any real evidence. Most of the surviving rifles show at least some carving if from the period where carving was typical.

 

[James Kibler]

Maybe I'm the problem, but to be perfectly honest, there isn't too much carving I see done that at least matches the quality of original work. Not to mention standards I judge my own work by. Again to be perfectly honest, I feel most detracts from an otherwise well made rifle.

I should probably keep my mouth shut since I'm in business, but this is just my viewpoint. Now, if it makes someone happy, then they should do it. The fact remains that it's not easy to do well. Especially for those who just dabble in this stuff.

We're going to be doing more carving in the future on our kits. Our upcoming fowler will have relief tang carving and lock moldings. In addition we'll be doing a Woodsrunner with relief carving.

Jim

 

[PathfinderNC]

We're going to be doing more carving in the future on our kits. Our upcoming fowler will have relief tang carving and lock moldings. In addition we'll be doing a Woodsrunner with relief carving.

Jim

A nice plug

 

[Kmcmichael]

As an archer and former horse owner, i love this picture…

Maybe I'm the problem, but to be perfectly honest, there isn't too much carving I see done that at least matches the quality of original work. Not to mention standards I judge my own work by. Again to be perfectly honest, I feel most detracts from an otherwise well made rifle.

I should probably keep my mouth shut since I'm in business, but this is just my viewpoint. Now, if it makes someone happy, then they should do it. The fact remains that it's not easy to do well. Especially for those who just dabble in this stuff.

We're going to be doing more carving in the future on our kits. Our upcoming fowler will have relief tang carving and lock moldings. In addition we'll be doing a Woodsrunner with relief carving.

Jim

Nice post…now get back to work no design me a pistol!

 

[oldschoolhunter55]

Sometimes just a simply inscribed design carved well can be enough to add a nice touch of flair, so I do what I can with some confidence. I am not proficient in skills to carve the incised and relief carvings that I dream of doing one day. But staying in the boundaries of my skill level I can pull it off to some degree and not distract from the overall appearance of the

 

[oldschoolhunter55]

A nice plug

Thats a nice job