First Kit Completed

[jm190]

Hi Folks,
I was bitten again by the bug after perusing a copy of “Muzzleloader” with my wife. I had a percussion revolver and rifle that I enjoyed in the last century. I’ve been lurking here for more than a month soaking in all the wisdom and knowledge I can. This is an AMAZING forum.
My library now includes “The Art of Building the Pennsylvania Longrifle”, “Longrifle Construction Manual, Edition 2.0” and “RCA Volume 1”.
I just completed my first kit; a Traditions Kentucky flintlock. I replaced the brass spacer with a piece of maple. I used epoxy on the alignment pins and Titebond on the wood pieces and clamped the assembly to the barrel for good alignment. The stain I used is dark enough to pretty much hide the patch. I disassembled the lock and cleaned up the various rough spots. It didn’t try to shape the stock into something it couldn’t be. It was a good learning experience. Here are a few pictures. https://imgur.com/smtZI1E
https://imgur.com/knQPl0I

I started some vinegaroon for my next project. I had about two feet of very old rusty barbed wire that I cut up and placed in the jar with the vinegar. It’s been cooking for about a month. Here is a picture; how does it look to you? https://imgur.com/PUmh4R5

I hope to use it on the Early Lancaster package I have coming from Pecatonica.

Thanks for looking!
John

 

[jm190]

Ooops! Looks like I didn't insert the photos correctly; I'll try to fix that later.

 

[Pete44ru]

Here ya go, John ! :v

 

[jrmflintlock]

Great Job!

Looks nice!

 

[BPete]

Looks great John! For a first attempt, I would say you are well on your way....!

 

[DOUBLEDEUCE 1]

That looks very good ! :thumbsup:

 

[stubshaft]

Looks good! You do realize that most members of this forum are enablers and will NOT talk you out of the addiction known as gun building...

 

[Don Steele]

Replacing that ugly-azz brass piece was an inspired thought John. :hatsoff:
Congratulations..!!! Looks MUCH better than the ones I see with the brass in place.

 

[Artificer]

John,

You did a VERY NICE fitting of a wood spacer to replace the brass spacer, and the wood spacer looks MUCH BETTER.

Please don't take this as nitpicking, but I wonder have you ever heard of "Faux" or "Artificial Graining" of wood? I had not until I visited Andrew Jackson's home, The Hermitage, back in the early 1980's. As I was taking the tour, I was flat out amazed at the amount of curl/figure in the wood of doors and even some of the trim work. At the time I thought, "My God, they must have cut down a whole forest of trees to get that much wood with that much figure/curl in it." But then something did not seem right and I got very close to one of the original doors and noticed the figure/curl was not real....?!! The answer came when the Tour Guide informed everyone that General Jackson had hired and brought over a French Artist to do paintings in the house and do artificial graining on so much of the trim work, doors, etc.

Not long after that, I had the occasion to patch up some birch and walnut gun stocks and that Artificial Graining came back to me. I have no clue what paint was used in the period and at that time did not have access to Iron Gall Ink that was also used in the period. So I tried Very Fine and Ultra Fine Tipped Black Permanent Magic Markers to add Artificial Graining that continued the natural wood grain into the patched areas. I did that before staining the stock and came back over any areas that blurred a bit from the leather dye I used to stain the stocks. Light coats of oil over them did not disturb the artificial graining much, if any at all.

Now, I am NO Artist by any means, but even I was able to much better hide the patched areas using that technique.

I fully realize you probably don't want to strip the stock around the patch and am not even suggesting you do so. I just thought I would mention the technique that you and others might think about using, if anyone needs to make a patch with a piece of wood where the grain pattern doesn't match the surrounding wood.

Gus

 

[jrmflintlock]

I have seen some very beautiful rifles done with the Faux curl here are some photos I pulled off the web some time back!

Here is the application.

Here is the finished product (Same Rifle)

This one was done with brown leather dye.

 

[jm190]

Hi Gus,
Thanks for the feedback and tip! I didn't think you were nitpicking. I never thought to try anything other than a dark stain as the stocks in the Traditions kits are just plain beech.

Here is a link to a recipe for Iron Gall Ink. I found the ferrous sulfate and gum arabic readily available on eBay and Amazon. http://www.instructables.com/id/Making-Iron-Gall-Ink/

John