I Have "Endless" Time...

[ShootistJack]

I want to learn to carve myself a full length stock. I'm fully retired and have very few demands on my time.
I have no idea where one starts the learning process. I'm drawn to the Jaeger look and the "transitional"
look rifles. Can I begin to practice/learn on a four foot long 4x6 from Home Depot? Which carving tools do
I first acquire? Are there videos that I can buy, and other training aids? I think I'll buy a Thompson Center
Hawken flintlock in .50 caliber as the donor, and if all else goes well, but the lock is troublesome, I'll buy a
replacement lock from lr-rpl.com

 

[martin9]

I'd just get a blank and a barrel and get started. A lot of folks will say to get a Kibler kit. They make for very nice, easy to assemble rifle but I'm glad I didn't start that way. I built my first from a blank...inlet the barrel by hand/drilled the ramrod hole and still do it that way for every gun. I wouldn't practice on home depot wood. I'd get a proper blank, take your time and do it right

 

[martin9]

Mike Brooks gun building turorial is online. There's the Hershel House DVDs. Mike Miller dvds and several others .Bill Raby has his building video series online. Books on building guns start to finish. Books on just making patchboxes for example....and a lot inbetween In other words tons of resources for builders these days.

 

[CTShooter]

Step one is learn to sharpen a chisel and a plane.
You can practice on garbage wood, but really soft woods won’t work the way hardwoods do. Use at least poplar.
My mentor (47 years ago) taught me if you can’t do it with a hand tool, a power tool will just screw it up faster.
And measure 3 times, cut once. It’s much easier to take it off then put it back on.

 

[Hatchet-Jack]

To add to the other great advise buy the book "The Gunsmith of Grenville County". It covers every step of building a gun from a blank stock. The way I'm doing it: Assembled a Kibler Kit it taught me finishing technique and what a rifle should look like. Built a Chambers kit taught me how to "Build" a rifle. Next I'll build one from a blank stock. I found a local builder who has become my mentor which has shaved years off of the process. Good luck!

 

[Phil Coffins]

Pine will teach you nothing. A small block of cherry, maple or walnut can be used to make a something to help learn how to use the tools and how to sharpen chisels. Once you make a cut with a truly sharp tool you will understand how much control is offered by them. And use a vice!

 

[waarp8nt]

There are books to help you get started; "The Gunsmith of Grenville County", "Recreating The American Longrifle", "The Art of Building the Pennsylvania Longrifle" and others.

I second the suggestion of "The Gunsmith of Grenville County", it is well written, it is spiral bound so it can lay flat on your workbench and stay open.

YouTube has some building videos, however some builders like Bill Raby have left YouTube in favor of the newer video platform Rumble. YouTube has suppressed many gun videos upsetting its content makers and many viewers.

 

[billraby]

Here is a bunch of videos of every step of building a rifle from beginning to end. Each video is about a half hour and goes into every little detail. This just shows how I do it. Watch other videos and read books. Every person is going to do things a bit differently.

https://rumble.com/user/BillRaby
Here is a couple more

I Love Muzzleloading - I Love Muzzleloading - Blackpowder News, Reviews, and Information
Homemade History - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2GpAxhEDhFQG7eOVZaBMYA

Pay attention to what tools are used in the videos. The guys that make videos tend to have nice workshops that are packed full of tools. Very nice to have, but you don't actually need all of that. Don't go cheap on the chisels. Pfeil is the best brand to get. Expensive but worth every penny. Just as important is getting a good set of sharpening stones.

A board from Home Depot is great for practice. Just make sure it is walnut or maple.

 

[ShootistJack]

The guidance you've collectively presented is very appreciated. I'll look for the books and videos, then pursue tools.
I have a rumble.com account, and I wish 100% of gun and hunting videos were there, exclusively! To blazes with youtube.

 

[R Ellis]

Just thinking it would be better for some people to start with a Pistol build on first attempt cause it is the same basic method and you learn the same but if you screw up the wood it can be started again with new wood a lot cheaper and most are going to want a pistol anyway JMO

 

[deerstalkert]

Just thinking it would be better for some people to start with a Pistol build on first attempt cause it is the same basic method and you learn the same but if you screw up the wood it can be started again with new wood a lot cheaper and most are going to want a pistol anyway JMO

and the effort is the same. fact i think pistol builds are a little more intense!

 

[R Ellis]

and the effort is the same. fact i think pistol builds are a little more intense!

NOW that is a good looking pistol

 

[frankie]

I agree with Ellis and deerstalkert, get a pistol kit. Absolutely.

 

[cannonball1]

I have a friend that saw me making a ML from a blank of maple and parts and liked doing wood working projects. He ordered the parts 20 years ago and started the project. I wondered about it at the time. You see, he does not have patience. The other day he told me he should sell the parts. He just couldn't do it-Not enough patience. There are a million books and youtube videos out there to learn from, but as was said in a previous post one of the most important thing to learn is how to sharpen your carving tools. My best ones are make out of square nails for cement. Get some inletting black, a few small tools, a piece of hardwood, taper a piece of steel and inlet it into the hardwood by removing paper thin pieces of the wood that shows black. You like doing that, move on to a gun. The costs of a gun is now nearly $1000.00 for parts with a quality barrel. If you're half-carpenter and half-machinist with patience its fun and if you come up with a problem ask on this site. Forum members are good to help.

 

[deerstalkert]

I have a friend that saw me making a ML from a blank of maple and parts and liked doing wood working projects. He ordered the parts 20 years ago and started the project. I wondered about it at the time. You see, he does not have patience. The other day he told me he should sell the parts. He just couldn't do it-Not enough patience. There are a million books and youtube videos out there to learn from, but as was said in a previous post one of the most important thing to learn is how to sharpen your carving tools. My best ones are make out of square nails for cement. Get some inletting black, a few small tools, a piece of hardwood, taper a piece of steel and inlet it into the hardwood by removing paper thin pieces of the wood that shows black. You like doing that, move on to a gun. The costs of a gun is now nearly $1000.00 for parts with a quality barrel. If you're half-carpenter and half-machinist with patience its fun and if you come up with a problem ask on this site. Forum members are good to help.

Patience is the utmost commodity needed in building anything if the goal is a quality product. my patience always starts to taper down the tubes as i get close to shoot ability! smoke is an addiction and a fickle witch!
i REALLY have to set myself down and decide just when something is done. then decide what else i want to do to the project. then make sure its done correctly, not hurriedly.

 

[Sean E Bug]

know what kind of carving and style you want to learn. will dictate what tools you will need. I would get a dimensioned board of hardwood from a big box store. draw your carving on it and make an attempt. take a picture of it and then plane it off and do the same design again. practice makes perfect. if you want tools for incise carving I can highly recommend ramelson vieners. keep your tools sharp by stropping often.

 

[ShootistJack]

Thank you all, for your detailed answers.

 

[HighUintas]

I have between 11p-12:30 most nights to work on mine. Before starting, I had pulled a muzzleloader trigger twice in my life and didn't know anything about building one. The only stock work other than bedding a bolt-action stock I had done was partially in letting the action and barrel for a bolt action rifle into walnut. I have not made it to the carving stage yet.

I did all of my research on this website, the American long rifles forum, and watched quite a few videos. The most helpful videos I found are bill rabys on rumble.com and goldenmean flintlocks on YouTube.

Some of the best tutorials you'll find on these two forums are those of Dave Person on this forum, Smart Dog on ALF, Herb on ALF, and Taylor D Sapergia on ALF.

It's going well and I'm pleased with my work so far. A key to doing it when you don't know anything, is go very slow and stop immediately if something doesn't seem right. And don't use power tools

 

[ShootistJack]

Thanks much HighUintas

 

[oldwood]

Dixon's M/L Shop sells a book on their web site called , The Art of Building the Pa. Ky. Rifle , by Chuck Dixon. Around $25 , money well spent. It's sold by many catalog m/l parts suppliers , as well. Beware of some " How to build books." A few have you fooling around wasting time building special jigs ,dies , and fixtures to hold things , which , are not necessary to use on your first attempt. Simple tools like our for father gunsmiths used , are good enough ,providing you have basic woodworking , and mechanic skills. Also , it's foolish to go out and buy an expensive piece of wood to begin with. Walnut , maple , and cherry can be bought to start with. Make friends with Epoxie glue . Luck to ye.........oldwood