Gun building question

[chipper]

A friend bought a kit from Track of the Wolf and now has decided to let me do the work. He want's the rifle kit completed "in the white and shootable" so he can finish it and do the carving. Any suggestions about how much I should charge to get the rifle ready? He currently has the barrel inleted and the tang almost in and bent into place. The lock is pre-inleted, the side plate, trigger, buttplate, patchbox, thimbles and nose cone all need to be inleted.

Regards

 

[Mike Brooks]

Charge what ever you ,ake at work per hour.

 

[lanedh]

Depends on how good a friend he is....

 

[flashpanner]

Agree with him first on how you want to be compensated. Might suggest even getting something in writing to avoid a misunerstanding later, it will keep your friendship intact

 

[Vaino]

I take it that you have done this work before and that your friend understands not only the price but also the quality of the workmanship?...Fred

 

[chipper]

I've built several rifles and the gentleman drools constantly over my Isaac Haynes. I want to do the work but I don't want to work for free. I've offered to have him come to my shop and I'll help him for free but he's too busy with his own life.
I think all the suggestions are helpful. I think and hourly rate would be best and a simple contract. I'm particulary freaked out about screwing something up. I guess a guy just has to just jump in and get your feet wet sometimes.
Thanks guys...
Regards

 

[davy]

In my own case having done work in my own field for many friends ... IMHO you need to be upfront and tell him what the costs will be ... if you decide to charge him.

Make sure he understands his options ... if you do not, and even if you do get the message across to him .. you always run the risk that your friendship will suffer .. so be warned in advance .. friends and compensated work do NOT make for good companions.

Frankly if his friendship is something you cherish .. I would make this all very clear to him or do not take the work on!

Davy

 

[shmrck1]

Loyd,
I'm with Davy on this one....If he is a very
good friend I would be very up front with him
and tell him you would rather have him as a
friend than have his money and politely decline
the work...Now if he were willing to be guided
in the work you would be glad to assist him. Just
my opinion.
snake-eyes :hmm:

 

[chipper]

I think you guys are right. He owns a Porche. Some fellas installed an invisible plastic shield to protect the paint on this car and in the process, scratched the paint. He had them repaint the front end of the car to fix the scratch. I think I'm in for a punishing job, I've just decided to be real helpful and keep my sanity.

Thanks guys...

 

[Brawdhead]

I've offered to have him come to my shop and I'll help him for free but he's too busy with his own life.

And yet somehow he tells himself that he'll do the finishing work on a gun you've left in the white...?

If he can't even find time for a bit of active involvement in the construction, he'll never get around to doing that carving/engraving/inlay/finishing/blueing/whatever work he's planning either.

A few years later, it may well still be sitting in the closet waiting. Or, since he wants you to set it up to be shootable, he might start using it as-is, and that white barrel will be spotty with rust and the unfinished stock will sport greasy black stains seeping into the pores.

And once the parts are degraded, he'll be even less interested in finishing it. Why put all that effort into something that no longer has the potential to be perfect?

He may then come back to you to replace the stock. And the barrel. And the lock. And ramrod, too. Maybe retain the brightwork if it can polish up okay. (Or better yet, donate it as a fixer-upper to someone who lacks something to shoot. My friends say they would offer a kingdom for a functional smokepole of any type [er, if we had a kingdom, that is] just so we don't all have to share one rifle among us when we attend BP shoots.)

But, I think I've gotten off the subject of building.

Maybe you should give the wood a spit coat of a non-penetrating varnish and lightly blue or brown the barrel to offer some protection against water, rust, and stains but not be too difficult to remove should that day ever come that he's ready to touch his tools to it.

Anyone have any thoughts on finishing methods that would be best for temporarily protecting a rifle through light use, but allow it to be easily (without needing as much stripping and grinding as a usual rifle refinish) and cleanly (no residual finish or marks) reverted to an "in the white" state (to perform through detailing and finishing as if it was virgin material that had never yet left the buildshop)?

If only I could construct rifles as well as I can run-on sentences,
Dan

P.S., this is my 50th post. Happy ".36 Caliber Day" to me. Maybe someone will make me a cake.

 

[flintlockmdj]

In a C.W. reenactment groop that I was in the groop bought a musket and let a member pay it off over several months and then was to repeated the process untill everyone had a musket. I advised a simple contract to state what was expected of the member and of the unit, but this was laughed at as "we were all good friends and nothing was going to happen." Well as you can guess we started out with Co. A, but something did happen so now we have Co.A nad Co.B. I strongly advise putting something on paper.

 

[shortjack]

Lots of things could go wrong and you might have to change things as you go because he might not like the way it looks. My advice is to walk him through the process and let him do it. I have done carpentry work for friends at a low price and only had one problem with someone and it definately puts a strain on the[url] relationship.In[/url] fact one friend I did it for free and they complained about it behind my back, we are no longer friends now I only do it for relatives only.

 

[CrackStock]

Suggestion from left field...

He respects quality, but not money. You want to eliminate embarassment or having to work for free in he is not satisfied...

Solution -- Have him walk into your gun closet and pick the gun that he wants and charge him till his eyeballs bug out. Then take that money and buy a bunch of parts/kits and make yourself a replacement and another gun or two that you have always wanted.

He gets a known quality gun and you have a no-stress solution with a known and protected profit.

Everybody wins.

CS

 

[renovato]

Unless you're a very good builder and trust your skills completely, I'd hafta say take a pass. Friendship is more important than a material thing like a gun. If you make a mistake, it'll gripe him, if there's money issues, it'll gripe you. I can see a lot of potential problems here. Offering to help him as he builds it himself is great, and I think leaving it at that is wise.

 

[rich pierce]

there's the bigger question- are you going to work with customers at all, or not? If not, build what you want and sell on consignment. If so, give it a go.

 

[Birddog6]

My suggestion is.............. He started it, let him finish it.... If he has a problem or gets stuck, give him advice or show him how & let him do the work.

I used to build one now & then that someone else started, not a good idea. You inherit the errors they initiated & sometimes they cannot be changed without a new stock or part or whatever.

Kinda funny, one time a guy told me he was scavaging parts & when he got it all together he would send them to me to build him a rifle. I said OK. 4-5 years later he send me the parts. Lancaster stock, TN buttplate & nosecap, Jaeger trigger & sights, Bedford lock....... NOTHING matched or went together... When I told him that he says "Well, you can just modify them & make them work, just do want you want with them........
I did exactly that, I sent them back ! ha ha ! :shake:

 

[shmrck1]

Loyd,
:thumbsup: Good choice IMO.
snake-eyes :v