Kibler Colonial Assembly Timeline

[Zutt-man]

Day 6

30 minutes
Applied two coats of poly. Not sure if it’ll be enough right now to achieve my look. I wanted a pretty durable finish over the permalyn and wanted a little gloss as well. I also applied a little bone black. Oiled and waxed brass parts, barrel and lock. I finished up by attaching the ram rod pipes. Not sure if I’ll have the look I’m wanting yet or not. Will take a look at things when I get home from a deer hunt. Might apply another coat of poly this evening yet, then reevaluate in the morning. Hopefully done tomorrow evening.

 

[Travis186]

Loving how your build is going. I built my Kibler this week in about 2 or 3 days, but I didn't do any carving on the stock or metal engraving... I'm not that skilled. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

 

[Zutt-man]

Day 7

1 hour of labor

I didn’t care for the look I had achieved with the poly urethane, so I sanded off the two layers I applied and started from scratch. Got a rag and applied two coats of wipe on poly and this was the ticket. Once it dried, I reassembled the whole gun and gave it one more wax wipe down. I wanted to go for a bit of a worn look and I think accomplished this. I’m a happy guy for a first build.

 

[Zutt-man]

 

[Sidney Smith]

Very nice rifle.. Beautiful wood color.

 

[labrat]

Gorgeous tiger strips and killer piece of wood. You nailed it on the color, antique, and aging! Looks so authentic and you definitely did a fine job. Congratulations!!!

 

[simonbeans]

I really like your color and finish. I did mine very similar.

 

[Travis186]

What an excellent job you did. Very beautiful rifle.

 

[Zutt-man]

What an excellent job you did. Very beautiful rifle.

Appreciate it!

 

[zerosprk]

I really like the color and curl in your stock, excellent!!!

 

[Zutt-man]

For what it's worth, I built one like yours and my skills at carving are limited? I suggest you keep the carving to a small amount or limited. My rifle came out ok but there are times when I look at it that I feel I could have done better in that department!

I did keep my carving limited, but couldn’t resist the urge to do just a little.

 

[longun]

beautiful rifle and an excellent job!

 

[Hatman/2nd line]

Well done and don't knock yourself about the carvings. Straight lines are easy put to do perfect circles is almost impossible and I found out the hard way too. Most carvings were crude in the 1700 hundreds anyway and I feel our attempts fit in with the times. I'd like to see the steel browning your doing and do you put this on the brass components?............Labrat

I second that about the circles!

 

[Hatman/2nd line]

I did keep my carving limited, but couldn’t resist the urge to do just a little.

I understand! I wish you well!

 

[Hatman/2nd line]

I really like your color and finish. I did mine very similar.
View attachment 96035

The Kibler woods are really nice, mine has a similar amount of stripe in the grain and it was a plain stock.

 

[sawyer04]

Threads like this make want to build another “kit”. Then I remember how bad I suck at it!

Maybe and maybe not, just takes time and patience along with a little study and research. Go for it

 

[labrat]

What barrel browning did you use? I need to order some.

 

[Zutt-man]

What barrel browning did you use? I need to order some.

Laurel Mountain Forge

 

[Dale Lilly]

Laurel Mountain cold brown is really great. Follow the instructions carefully and you will love the results. I have done 9 guns with it. All are very nice. Polecat

 

[Magicald]

First off your rifle looks amazing, exactly what I have in mind for my colonial build. I have a couple questions though.

1. you browned your lock assembled? Did you sand/file/prep the surface with anything first?
2. Your brass parts look great, what darkener did you use? Also, did you tape off your wood when you darkened the nose cap? Wasn’t sure what the darkener does to wood…
3.Can you detail your final poly finish process?

Thank you!