Second Finish On My First Flintlock

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BJamesBeck

32 Cal.
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Nov 17, 2011
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Location
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Well I just recently finished refinishing my kibler colonial. I didn't use tannic acid the first time and finished with permalyn and was just never really happy with it. I just knew I could do better. So I sanded it all down and redid it. This time I carved some simple molding lines along the butt and ramrod channel and finished with tannic acid, TOW's ye old aquafortis, and tried & true. Much happier with it this time. The hawk is a modified cold steel pipe tomahawk and the horns are from Powderhorns and more with the carving by me.

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Absolutely beautiful. what caliber is she? Is the barrel unfinished steel or is it bluing/browned? (I ask because the lock looks like straight steel), Plain, fancy, or extra fancy?
 
Absolutely beautiful. what caliber is she? Is the barrel unfinished steel or is it bluing/browned? (I ask because the lock looks like straight steel), Plain, fancy, or extra fancy?

She's in .50. The barrel, lock, and brass were originally finished with Kibler's tarnishing solution. Much of which has worn back bright due to cleaning.
 
I love that reddish brown color.

My kit arrived this week. Still have a lot of decisions to make before I start.

Yeah, I'm really happy with the color this time! It's a very fun process. I can't wait to build another one now. My next one will be smoothbore though for turkey hunting.
 
I suppose for reference I can probably post what it looked like before. This is the same rifle without the carving and finished with only Kiblers iron nitrate and permalyn. Just wasn't what I was hoping for. Here you can also see how much darker the "tarnish" finish was on the barrel was before regular cleaning.

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That's a great job of staining and the finish looks nice and level. This isn't a criticism at all but it's a bit too shiny for me. I'd give it a rubbing with some linseed oil and pumice or rottenstone to soften the shine. Of course that's just my personal preference.
 
That's a great job of staining and the finish looks nice and level. This isn't a criticism at all but it's a bit too shiny for me. I'd give it a rubbing with some linseed oil and pumice or rottenstone to soften the shine. Of course that's just my personal preference.

I mean everyone's taste is different, I think his gun looked amazing before (I'm a huge fan of light wood finish)
 
outstanding! beautiful job. but i want that toothpic! is that a shinbone handle?

I'm not actually sure who made the knife. I bought it from someone on the forum here, but yeah I think it is a shinbone haha

That's a great job of staining and the finish looks nice and level. This isn't a criticism at all but it's a bit too shiny for me. I'd give it a rubbing with some linseed oil and pumice or rottenstone to soften the shine. Of course that's just my personal preference.

It's not actually quite that shiny now. For these pictures I had just wiped it down with a little finishing oil before I took them. It's a bit less shiny generally. Here is a picture of the forearm right now.
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I mean everyone's taste is different, I think his gun looked amazing before (I'm a huge fan of light wood finish)

Honestly it wasn't so much the color I was unhappy with before it was the permalyn. It just felt very artificial to me. But yeah, you're very right, everyone has their tastes!
 
It looks great! I like the dark stain around the lock panels, the comb nose and the butt plate. It's a rifle to be proud of. Now all you need to do is to get out and make some meat with it!

I hear that! I was out for the last Illinois muzzleloader season last year with an antlerless only tag and walked up on a group of does that startled me about as much as I startled them, but I've got my name in the first lottery this year for an A/O and an either sex tag, so fingers crossed!
 
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