Questions for the gun builders Please

[billraby]

Nothing hard about barrel channel and ramrod hole. Just takes a little time. And you will never be able to do it if you have someone else do it for you.

 

[mikesto44]

Bill I agree with you 100%. Besides me being cheap. I just like the challenge of doing it myself too ! Yes I screw up sometimes. But even with that it's the self satisfaction.
How I learned was in letting a barrel into a 2x4. Maybe to some it is silly. But I learned a lot..

 

[timetraveler]

Nothing hard about barrel channel and ramrod hole. Just takes a little time. And you will never be able to do it if you have someone else do it for you.

Are you gonna do another build soon?

 

[billraby]

Are you gonna do another build soon?

Here is Part 1 of the gun I am working on now. 27 videos for that one posted so far.

 

[timetraveler]

Here is Part 1 of the gun I am working on now. 27 videos for that one posted so far.

Great thanks!

 

[Mulemauler]

Bill I agree with you 100%. Besides me being cheap. I just like the challenge of doing it myself too ! Yes I screw up sometimes. But even with that it's the self satisfaction.
How I learned was in letting a barrel into a 2x4. Maybe to some it is silly. But I learned a lot..

Better to ruin a cheap piece of wood, good practice.

 

[Century to late]

OK, I have dried at least a ton of bow wood and a number of stock blanks, LOTS of BAD info above.

NEVER put individual pieces of green wood in an attic, car or sealed out building in the summer, it will check and warp like all get out no matter how well you seal it, I found this out from experience. I live in Alabama, you may get away with in other parts of the country but it was a disaster for me with a lot of ruined wood. Piles of stickered slabs may do better but I never had that much to dry at one time.

I have a wood drying box with a rheostat for temperature control, I have found it is best to let wood air dry until it is down to 16%MC before I put it in the box to prevent checking, even on sealed wood.

View attachment 388003

I have cut cherry and walnut gun blanks, I always heard that a cherry stock blank cut from green wood would check and warp and needed to be dried stickered in slab form. I have tricks, I gave the ends of my stock blanks several coats of shellac, I gave the entire blank one coat of shellac to slow surface drying. My blanks air dried completely straight without the first drying check.

I wish I could say I got great stock blanks out of the wood I cut but I found way too many bark inclusions in the blanks to make them useable for the most part. I got a couple of so-so blanks. I found it is better to call Dunlap than to rely on what I cut.

Out of a green tree;

View attachment 388006
Trimmed and dried, no warpage or checking. Notice the big bark inclusion/knot the butt of the big blank.

View attachment 388010

I'm with Eric I've used shellac for years. Other then getting expensive to buy it never lets me down.