Getting anxious about finishing build

[HighUintas]

Do you guys ever get antsy and anxious about finishing a rifle so you can shoot it?

Mine is 1+year in and I'm working on the patchbox. It's my first ML and of course first build. From a plank. It's been a long journey.

I've slowed down over the last 4 months due to life. I can't see being able to put the time in late at night again that I used to any time soon. I'm really getting anxious to have it done so I can shoot it and I have the feeling that it will never be done.

What do you guys do when you get this feeling?

 

[deerstalkert]

i step away and go shoot something else.
now, at this point is not the time to start hurrying. i ruffed out a plank a couple months ago. due to some Life, i just got back to it.
i have it to the point i could shoot it, but i make myself take a break when those thoughts rear their evil heads.
i normally have a couple of projects going, it helps to break from one and work on something else for a while.
don't get the impression that i am disciplined ! i have and most likely will shoot a 80% build.
the thing that really stops me is the thought that something evil may happen and all those months of cursing....... i mean massaging the project will be ruined.

 

[PathfinderNC]

i step away and go shoot something else.
now, at this point is not the time to start hurrying. i ruffed out a plank a couple months ago. due to some Life, i just got back to it.
i have it to the point i could shoot it, but i make myself take a break when those thoughts rear their evil heads.
i normally have a couple of projects going, it helps to break from one and work on something else for a while.
don't get the impression that i am disciplined ! i have and most likely will shoot a 80% build.
the thing that really stops me is the thought that something evil may happen and all those months of cursing....... i mean massaging the project will be ruined.

Bingo!

 

[Daveboone]

Yep...especially the fine detail work gets intimidating to me, no matter the project, and I have found I tend to put it off. If we get too focused, it tends to take the fun out of it.

 

[rchas]

There are many things that can go wrong building a muzzleloader, but at the start of the build they don't seem quite as serious. If a ramrod hole goes astray, glue in a plug and start over. Wood cracks off, glue it down. Inletting gaps, glue in a chip. The more of the project you finish, the greater the stakes become.

The file slips on the front sight when sighting in ruining your brown/blue. A bad cut with a chisel messes up the scroll carving you have been working on all week. These mistakes seem more serious because they are...there is often not an easy fix for errors made towards the end of a build.

So, yes, my anxiety raises towards the end of a build, and it can be easy to let that anxiety paralyze you. Frequent breaks are good to maintain focus, but you have to keep your eye on the prize.

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
On every single gun I make, I get to the point where I am doing the final assembly after the finish is done and I hate the gun. I can't stand it. I often have to make minor fitting adjustments because the staining and finish changed the fit of things a little. In that process I see every mistake and compromise, feel disappointed that I could not fulfill my expectations, and am angry at myself for failing and producing a piece of junk. I worry the guy I am building the gun for will be so unhappy. This happens with every gun. Then I get it assembled and adjusted, finish up the little details and all of a sudden, I look at it in total and think, "Hey this isn't too bad". I kind of like it now.

dave

 

[64Springer]

Guys.

Each time you get down and feel like kicking yourself for the errors only you will see remember this, there ain't but a handful of people in this entire world that can build a gun from scratch using a plank of wood, some mad skills and a gaggle of ill-fitting parts.

I'd say less than 1% of the population can claim to have done it successfully.

That is some very rare company.

And when you're all feeding the worms and pushing up daisies the guns that frustrated you so much will be around for others to appreciate for a long time to come.

 

[deerstalkert]

Hi,
On every single gun I make, I get to the point where I am doing the final assembly after the finish is done and I hate the gun. I can't stand it. I often have to make minor fitting adjustments because the staining and finish changed the fit of things a little. In that process I see every mistake and compromise, feel disappointed that I could not fulfill my expectations, and am angry at myself for failing and producing a piece of junk. I worry the guy I am building the gun for will be so unhappy. This happens with every gun. Then I get it assembled and adjusted, finish up the little details and all of a sudden, I look at it in total and think, "Hey this isn't too bad". I kind of like it now.

dave

Dave, just to show what kind of guy i am, you can send me those "piece's of junk" and i will keep them out of your sight. just for your well being of course!
i would even pay shipping!

 

[TDM]

Do you guys ever get antsy and anxious about finishing a rifle so you can shoot it?

Mine is 1+year in and I'm working on the patchbox. It's my first ML and of course first build. From a plank. It's been a long journey.

I've slowed down over the last 4 months due to life. I can't see being able to put the time in late at night again that I used to any time soon. I'm really getting anxious to have it done so I can shoot it and I have the feeling that it will never be done.

What do you guys do when you get this feeling?

As stated above, stop and take a step back. Of all the things that we have to do on a set timeline finishing a build isn't one of them. Wait till you have the time to do it right and enjoy it. I have to give myself the same speech every time.

 

[deerstalkert]

the biggest mistake i make on a build, is when i mutter the phrase " good enough". 99.9999% of the time it isn't. if i apply finish after saying that, i always find just what isn't "good enough" makes twice the work. but then i have never been accused of being smart.

 

[PathfinderNC]

I think it’s the nature of the artist to never really feel that he has accomplished what he had envisioned.
I remember being so excited about finishing up something that was coming along so well ( a Mountain Dulcimer) and then being so upset with how it came out. I took it outside and set it on fire. Burned it to ashes. That was the only way I could deal with it.

 

[PathfinderNC]

..

 

[Dave Dworshak]

I get to a certain point then I am done.

 

[LongWalker]

Hi,
On every single gun I make, I get to the point where I am doing the final assembly after the finish is done and I hate the gun. I can't stand it. I often have to make minor fitting adjustments because the staining and finish changed the fit of things a little. In that process I see every mistake and compromise, feel disappointed that I could not fulfill my expectations, and am angry at myself for failing and producing a piece of junk. I worry the guy I am building the gun for will be so unhappy. This happens with every gun. Then I get it assembled and adjusted, finish up the little details and all of a sudden, I look at it in total and think, "Hey this isn't too bad". I kind of like it now.

dave

That's . . . interesting. Normally, when I'm at that stage of the build I rather enjoy the process of fitting things back together. I usually get a little anxious in anticipation of being disappointed on some tasks that just have a hoodoo on me (fitting buttplates, and pierced inlays), but once I'm past that stage of the build it doesn't bother me. OTOH, I've never stocked a Ferguson--I have a feeling that would drive me to drink.

I can think of two times I was as you describe on a build. The first time, I built a bridle-less trade gun lock from pictures. I got it assembled and did some tweaking, and it still didn't seem "right". Charles Hanson showed me an original lock of the same type (I'd never actually had one in hand prior to that) and I realized my lock wasn't so bad.

The other time is the build currently on my bench. It seems like it will never be done and out of my sight, so I can build something that doesn't make me angry every time I see it. The stock has been an endless series of problems: from uneven hardness, to the wrist cracking when test-fired, to finding grey stain (an enzymatic oxidative staining from the drying process) when I cut the cheek piece down and on the forend when I was sanding. I'm tempted to just stain the stock dark with tannic acid and ferric nitrate, and say it is "good enough"--but if I wanted a black rifle I'd buy an AR15. Other times I think about introducing the stock to Mr. Bandsaw and starting over with a decent piece of wood.

I've promised myself once the stock is done I can take the time to enjoy polishing the lock, and that I will never do another build with wood I didn't select myself.

 

[TDM]

I think it’s the nature of the artist to never really feel that he has accomplished what he had envisioned.
I remember being so excited about finishing up something that was coming along so well ( a Mountain Dulcimer) and then being so upset with how it came out. I took it outside and set it on fire. Burned it to ashes. That was the only way I could deal with it.

Dang Pathfinder, I’d have paid the postage for it to my address!

 

[PathfinderNC]

Dang Pathfinder, I’d have paid the postage for it to my address!

Lol thanks but It was more cathartic to watch it burn

 

[Rob M.]

Hi,
On every single gun I make, I get to the point where I am doing the final assembly after the finish is done and I hate the gun. I can't stand it. I often have to make minor fitting adjustments because the staining and finish changed the fit of things a little. In that process I see every mistake and compromise, feel disappointed that I could not fulfill my expectations, and am angry at myself for failing and producing a piece of junk. I worry the guy I am building the gun for will be so unhappy. This happens with every gun. Then I get it assembled and adjusted, finish up the little details and all of a sudden, I look at it in total and think, "Hey this isn't too bad". I kind of like it now.

dave

Interesting ....huh .....I thought only I did that