Kibler Colonial Kit Assembled

[Crow-Feather]

I am in awe of your abilities. Not much else to say except that you are a true artist.

 

[old iron]

SUPER SUPPPER DUPPER NICE GREAT WORK!!

 

[painter]

WOW!!!

Just WOW!

 

[davec2]

Beautiful work. Can you or will you elaborate more on your process for coloring the barrel and other metal components?

fjrdoc,

As far as the barrel finish goes, I have been experimenting some with the last several rifles I have built. I wasn't looking for a "dark grey" patina, but not a brown and not a blue...I'm not quite sure what I came up with, but I like it....so far. Here are some variations on the same theme on 3 different rifles.....











The process is as follows: I start a rust brown exactly as I would for a plumb brown finish. I use a damp box and do one, two, or three, rust cycles of Laurel Mountain Forge Barrel Brown carding with a brass wire tooth brush each cycle. The number of cycles depends on if I want the final finish more grey / blue or more bronze / brown. Once I have a couple of brown cycles on it, I handle the barrel with latex gloves. I take the barrel and put it on the bench. I cover the bench top with a plastic trash bag taped down. Now I scrub the barrel with a small, maroon ScotchBrite pad (2" x2") soaked in one of the cold blue solutions (Oxpho-Blue, Dicropan T-4, Historic House Parts Brass Ager) until I get the barrel to look like I want it. If you only give it two browning passes and do not dwell too long with the cold blue, the barrel comes out with a slight golden tone. More browning passes and not much ScotchBrite rubbing and it comes out a little more brown. Rub it a little more with the cold blue, and it takes on a darker, bluer tone. I did one where I subsequently rubbed all the finish off the edges with a dry ScotchBrite pad, and that looks OK too (a little more "worn") but I figure use and handling will take care of that fast enough anyway.

Hope this helps

 

[davec2]

Hi,
What could be better than a Kibler design with Crisalli details!

dave

David,

Thanks again for advice on the side plate engraving on this one....you saved me from having to start over with a new side plate....

 

[davec2]

fjrdoc,

As far as the barrel finish goes, I have been experimenting some with the last several rifles I have built. I wasn't looking for a "dark grey" patina, but not a brown and not a blue...I'm not quite sure what I came up with, but I like it....so far. Here are some variations on the same theme on 3 different rifles.....











The process is as follows: I start a rust brown exactly as I would for a plumb brown finish. I use a damp box and do one, two, or three, rust cycles of Laurel Mountain Forge Barrel Brown carding with a brass wire tooth brush each cycle. The number of cycles depends on if I want the final finish more grey / blue or more bronze / brown. Once I have a couple of brown cycles on it, I handle the barrel with latex gloves. I take the barrel and put it on the bench. I cover the bench top with a plastic trash bag taped down. Now I scrub the barrel with a small, maroon ScotchBrite pad (2" x2") soaked in one of the cold blue solutions (Oxpho-Blue, Dicropan T-4, Historic House Parts Brass Ager) until I get the barrel to look like I want it. If you only give it two browning passes and do not dwell too long with the cold blue, the barrel comes out with a slight golden tone. More browning passes and not much ScotchBrite rubbing and it comes out a little more brown. Rub it a little more with the cold blue, and it takes on a darker, bluer tone. I did one where I subsequently rubbed all the finish off the edges with a dry ScotchBrite pad, and that looks OK too (a little more "worn") but I figure use and handling will take care of that fast enough anyway.

Hope this helps

PS The brass is just polished and then darkened with Historic House Parts Brass Ager (Brass Darkening Solution - 8 oz.). Then rub it back a little with fine Scotch Brite.

 

[davec2]

Outstanding work as always. Mayne I missed it as I drooled over the photos, what caliber is she? Any other particulars, weight, l.o.p., barrel length?

Those last photos were what I was waiting for, I was starting to think everything came out much darker than what I was really starting to like in some earlier photos.

This is an outstanding rifle. Thank you very much for sharing.

Brokennock,

The rifle is .50 caliber with a 42 inch barrel. As a consequence, in the as finished condition (and with a set of my "gunner's mate" tools in the patch box) the rifle is a little on the heavy side at 9 pounds 10 ounces.

 

[Brokennock]

Brokennock,

The rifle is .50 caliber with a 42 inch barrel. As a consequence, in the as finished condition (and with a set of my "gunner's mate" tools in the patch box) the rifle is a little on the heavy side at 9 pounds 10 ounces.

She looks trim and lean, must be a "body mass index," thing with that extra steel in the barrel, lol.

 

[DOUBLEDEUCE 1]

Stunning !

 

[zerosprk]

Exceptional work, simply outstanding!!!

 

[jarentz]

That is a beauty!

 

[Booneliane]

Beautiful!

If I may ask, what grade wood was it, and what method did you settle on in staining/finishing the wood?

 

[Notchy Bob]

Awesome!

Notchy Bob

 

[GoodRabbitPilgrim]

That sir is a work of art, I'd love to build one myself someday but I just don't tryst my skills to produce something like you have.

Congrats again, hope it does you well.

 

[davec2]

Booneliane.....The stock wood was the upgraded version that Jim offers. To finish it, I whiskered twice and then stained with iron nitrate. (I did this after all of the carving was done which was a mistake. Dave Pearson suggests that the basic carving should be done, then the stock whiskered, and then the final details of the carving completed including smoothing the local background. That would have saved me from having to try to smooth out the areas around the carving twice more !) Once the iron nitrate solution had dried on the stock, it was heat blushed once with a heat gun. Then I applied a single wash of Trans Tint Honey Amber diluted in lacquer thinner. The only unfortunate part of having a kit this well made is that the only place I had to check out the staining technique on this piece of wood is at the bottom of the barrel channel as there is no "scrap" wood to work with. Once I he'd the stock stained, I finished it with Southerland & Wells Polymerized Tung oil diluted 50 / 50 with gum turpentine. I quickly hand rub a very thin coat on the stock and then let it dry in the sun. It dries quickly and I only put on about 4 coats....took two days. I hope this helps.

GoodRabbit.....The beauty of this kit is that you can easily build a very beautiful rifle without any carving or engraving. In fact, after I had this rifle done, I really thought that I had put far more decoration on it than it really needed. The architecture itself makes it a lovely rifle, so i would not hesitate to put one of these rifles together and not add a bit of carving or any engraving. In fact, if you look at Jim's website and review many of the rifles he has built, most have very little engraving and some are very lightly carved.

 

[Curley 50 cal]

Building my first Kit from a Traditions Kentucky, I am without words to describe your skills

 

[Mulebrain]

In a word

WOW!

 

[Tennessee]

Absolutely beautiful, very nice work

 

[Winchester97]

That is a masterpiece! The little details are astounding. Thanks for sharing

 

[troy2000]

I had no idea what was waiting for me, when I clicked on this thread. Such a pleasure...

But I think you missed a piece. I didn't see any carving on the flint...