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Finshed GPR
- Thread starter hardykev
- Start date
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Beautiful Job!!
Of course I know this one is going to be eating powder and ball and that costs money but it looks like your ready to start saving your spare cash so you can build another one!
A man can't have too many good things Ah says!
Of course I know this one is going to be eating powder and ball and that costs money but it looks like your ready to start saving your spare cash so you can build another one!
A man can't have too many good things Ah says!
Thank you.
You are correct sir. She will be burning through powder and ball here quickly.
I am looking for a full stock .32-.40 Kentucky style rifle for my next project. That or I wait for the Hawken to come back so I can strip and finish the stock.
If you don't mind my fishing for feedback. What do you think of the bluing on it. I like the almost black metal. How do you think the polished cap looks? I was trying for a pewter look.
You are correct sir. She will be burning through powder and ball here quickly.
I am looking for a full stock .32-.40 Kentucky style rifle for my next project. That or I wait for the Hawken to come back so I can strip and finish the stock.
If you don't mind my fishing for feedback. What do you think of the bluing on it. I like the almost black metal. How do you think the polished cap looks? I was trying for a pewter look.
Looks like a nice job, as I stated before I don't care for blued guns in a brown gun period of history but that is ones choice as whether or not to be PC, the one who uses it is the one who needs to be happy with it, what method did you use to fill the pores in the wood and what type of finish is used on it?
Tg,
It is effectively a tru-oil finish.
The wood was fairly light in color so I started with Casey's walnut stain and then started with the tru-oil. The first step was to apply it continuously until it stopped soaking in immediately. I then let each coat dry until it was completely dry, usually 24-48 hours. I then added tru-oil coats until I could no longer see the grain (8 coats in this case) and then started wet sanding with linseed oil. I started with 320 grit and worked up to 2000. Once you are pleased with the surface, put a light coat of linseed on the stock and let it dry (overnight). It will have a hazy film on it that can be hand rubbed/polished and gives and exceptionally smooth and lusterous satin finish.
The final waxing is with Howard's Feed-N-Wax.
It is effectively a tru-oil finish.
The wood was fairly light in color so I started with Casey's walnut stain and then started with the tru-oil. The first step was to apply it continuously until it stopped soaking in immediately. I then let each coat dry until it was completely dry, usually 24-48 hours. I then added tru-oil coats until I could no longer see the grain (8 coats in this case) and then started wet sanding with linseed oil. I started with 320 grit and worked up to 2000. Once you are pleased with the surface, put a light coat of linseed on the stock and let it dry (overnight). It will have a hazy film on it that can be hand rubbed/polished and gives and exceptionally smooth and lusterous satin finish.
The final waxing is with Howard's Feed-N-Wax.
Jay Gardner
40 Cal.
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2003
- Messages
- 129
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- 0
Kevin,
Beautiful job. The GPR wood is usually pretty good, but this one came out better than any other I have seen. Did the barrel come blued or did you do that yourself? Could you have browned it?
Any idea how many hours you have in the gun and was there much fitting you had to do or was it pretty much ready to go, right out of the box?
Again, beautiful job.
Beautiful job. The GPR wood is usually pretty good, but this one came out better than any other I have seen. Did the barrel come blued or did you do that yourself? Could you have browned it?
Any idea how many hours you have in the gun and was there much fitting you had to do or was it pretty much ready to go, right out of the box?
Again, beautiful job.
Jay Gardner
40 Cal.
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2003
- Messages
- 129
- Reaction score
- 0
Forgot to mention that in my first post. After the rich grain in the buttstock the cap was the first thing I noticed. I have a pewter cap on my Hawken, and I like the look. Yours does not look overly bright, but it cetrainly distinguished your gun from the others I have seen. I like it.
One more question; you said there was extra wood. Do you mean that the wood was proud, above the metal surfaces, not flush with them?
One more question; you said there was extra wood. Do you mean that the wood was proud, above the metal surfaces, not flush with them?
Correct, over and above the surface of the metal.
You have to use some decent sanding blocks on the wood while the metal is still installed to bring both surfaces even w/o rounding the wood to metal edges.
Lyman states that they have left that wood for the builder to do extra things. I would assume like scroll work or such. I found their inletting to be genrally pretty good. You do have to look carefully as you can see in my post "GPR Kit Help" in the flintlock forum, the inletting on the tang of my first kit was excessive.
If you would like, I could PM you my phone number if you have questions.
You have to use some decent sanding blocks on the wood while the metal is still installed to bring both surfaces even w/o rounding the wood to metal edges.
Lyman states that they have left that wood for the builder to do extra things. I would assume like scroll work or such. I found their inletting to be genrally pretty good. You do have to look carefully as you can see in my post "GPR Kit Help" in the flintlock forum, the inletting on the tang of my first kit was excessive.
If you would like, I could PM you my phone number if you have questions.
I like the nose cap bright. It adds a little special interest to the gun.
When I restocked my .50 T/C Hawken in Curly Maple I cast the nosecap on the stock and it looks a lot like yours.
You got a keeper there!
When I restocked my .50 T/C Hawken in Curly Maple I cast the nosecap on the stock and it looks a lot like yours.
You got a keeper there!
The cap is a nice touch to one of these guns, I put an oval patch box on mine when I did one some years back, you can get a "cut above the factory gun" when useing the kits and these are about the best bang for the buck around. most of the wedge plates did not fit the inlet on mine but a few whacks and some fileing took care of that
Doublegun,
I had to get the bluing done myself. I took it to a local guy who does just metal finishing. I could have did browning myself, but I have not been bitten by the PC bug yet and I simply like bluing better. Of course, I may not have seen a good browning job yet.
So far as hours, I would have to estimate from 25-35.
For all major components, it is pretty much a drop in affair. In fact, all major components like the lock, trigger and butt plate come installed on the rough stock. The barrel did require some minor inletting of the stock to lay in right.
Now, having said that, the stock requires quite a bit of wood work to get it where you want it. Over most areas and metal to wood joints there is anywhere fom 1/16 to 1/4 of an inch of extra wood. The other thing I disliked about most finished GPRs is the bulge in the wood underneath the forestock and that was some effort in removing. A good sanding block and some quality paper answered all the above problems.
The biggest effort, by far, was the metal polishing. You could leave it alone and keep the rough finish for browning, but most parts have casting lines and once you go to remove them, you are pretty well committed to polishing the metal. The only parts I did not have to do metal finishing work was on the lock assembly and trigger assembly, but the trigger did need internal polishing. I would easily estimate that the metal took 2/3 of the time. The barrel was pretty easy to draw file/polish with a good 12" mill bastard file and sand paper. I took all metal up to 320 grit and then cleaned it up with 0000 steel wool.
I had to get the bluing done myself. I took it to a local guy who does just metal finishing. I could have did browning myself, but I have not been bitten by the PC bug yet and I simply like bluing better. Of course, I may not have seen a good browning job yet.
So far as hours, I would have to estimate from 25-35.
For all major components, it is pretty much a drop in affair. In fact, all major components like the lock, trigger and butt plate come installed on the rough stock. The barrel did require some minor inletting of the stock to lay in right.
Now, having said that, the stock requires quite a bit of wood work to get it where you want it. Over most areas and metal to wood joints there is anywhere fom 1/16 to 1/4 of an inch of extra wood. The other thing I disliked about most finished GPRs is the bulge in the wood underneath the forestock and that was some effort in removing. A good sanding block and some quality paper answered all the above problems.
The biggest effort, by far, was the metal polishing. You could leave it alone and keep the rough finish for browning, but most parts have casting lines and once you go to remove them, you are pretty well committed to polishing the metal. The only parts I did not have to do metal finishing work was on the lock assembly and trigger assembly, but the trigger did need internal polishing. I would easily estimate that the metal took 2/3 of the time. The barrel was pretty easy to draw file/polish with a good 12" mill bastard file and sand paper. I took all metal up to 320 grit and then cleaned it up with 0000 steel wool.
