I have a little bit of tweaking to do yet, but I think I can call it completed. I started it in mid august ...really just clearing the dedicated work area and figuring the plan of attack, needs ,etc. This is the first rifle "build" for me, and first attempt at anything of any detail or finishing. I found the inletting to be very tight, and the most time consuming. Chisels and files certainly are worth investing as much quality as you can. Also, ordering extra pin (music wire) stock to make easily removed ringed pins helps with the assembly, dissasembly and fitting. I am not quite happy with the locks finish. as cast its surface has a lot of variances in it, so a perfect smooth surface seems unlikely, but still obtaining a bit higher polish (then buff back) I think is in order. I really am happy with the barrel in the white. filed then sanded down to 400. I messed around with an old barrel sampling browning, but was never pleased. The brass I filed/polished and sanded to 400 then scotch brighted, then 0000 steel wooled. I aqua fortised . That was touchy. I did have a couple light scorches which i sanded out and easily re-did. FYI....not as much heat was needed as I thought. I was making a small priming horn to match the rifle (main horn next project) with tger stripe maple plug. I also AF the plug, and the heat from our pellet stove blower was warm enough to make it blush, the plug easily held by hand in the process. Once I had the riflef wood almost finished I decided I didnt like the wood behind the tang or the tapers behind the lock and screw plate, so ended up re-shaping those three areas over, and refhinished. I probably could have avoided that by earlier in the process damping the wood to bring out the contours more. Lessons learned. The aqua fortis is very forgiving to reblend. I finished with Kiblers stock sealer. seriously, probably about twenty coats in some areass, with steel wool after each drying, then a quick wipe with a lightly moistened cotton rag with acetone. I was very pleased when the wife walked by and was somewhat mesmerized by the 3 D affect of the striping. She stroked the wood and stated..."it feels so soft like my fingers are sinking in to it". I was pretty pleased with that...I am usually a "coat of barn paint and we are good" kind of guy.
The stock had me a bit frustrated. There is a section of wood near the butt plate that has little to no figure to it, that extends through to the other side. It looks very out of place, but it is what it is.
I wasnt brave enough to try any inletting, but decided a few simple strait lines were tough to screw up, so added a couple to both the cheek piece and the top of the patch box cover. I was pleased with how they looked. Another small detail I experimented with was heat bluing the rear sight and trigger plate. Both turned out great, a beautiful blue/black. Simple to do. I was considering doing the trigger also, but was concerned of the contact surface /sear area getting messed up.
Now to wait for the range to warm up.
