Been busy, not much shooting

[44man]

It has been blazing hot with high humidity so I have started the wife's pie safe for the kitchen. The white oak came from a tree that was hit by lightning in my woods. I slabed it with a chainsaw years ago and stacked it in the barn. I precut it and stickered it in the basement for months to dry. I have everything done except the doors, I need the punched copper panels yet before I can glue them up.
The whole basement is now full of sawdust, three days of work to clean it.

[Bucks Owin]

Gee, we must be kin...

If I'm not burning powder, I'm making sawdust from the felling to the sanding myself....

:-D

Dennis

BTW, I'm still gonna send you those "262 ramslammers" (or the mold itself) eventually....

[44man]

I will stare at the wood for a long time but once I start, I don't quit until finished. Same with a muzzle loader or custom stock. I will look at the wood for weeks until I feel guilty.

[Buckshot]

.................44Man, you're obviuosly very talented. That's a real fine looking piece of work there!

...................Buckshot

[44man]

Thank you. I spent the entire day just cleaning this half of the basement. I am NOT going to sand wood down here anymore. Sawdust was even in my gun safe. Maybe if I threw some glue at it, it would form a stock.

[bisley45]

very nice work 44man my dad made one form my wife years ago out of old barn wood

[Bucks Owin]

If you would like to send me a few of your wife's pies, any flavor, I'd be glad to report on the "safety" of same....

The pie bandit,

Dennis

[44man]

I will not be that fortunate to have pies in it. That thing will be full of kitchen junk right fast. It is replacing a dry sink I made from an old TV cabinet. The mixer and all kinds of stuff is in there.

[georgeld]

Very nice, please post another when it's finished.

A fan blowing out in the nearest window helps somewhat.

[44man]

I finished the pie safe and got it up in the kitchen. The tin shines too much for a good picture of the detail of the punched patterns.
Hope you guys like it!

[Bucks Owin]

Wow, nice job pal!

Say, I'm getting into checkering in a small way...You ever build any stocks? [smilie=1:

Dennis

(Still wish it was full of pies though....)

[44man]

Yes, I have built a lot of muzzle loaders and modern rifle stocks. Here are a few of mine. The Swedish Mauser has a cherry stock I chainsawed in my woods. The muzzle loaders were made from maple planks I used to buy from a kiln in Ohio. I checker by hand, no machine. I also carve and ingrave my muzzle loaders. I make all the brass parts except the trigger guard and butt plate. I have silver inlaid in the barrel of one of my guns.
I have pictures but can't access the download yet. I will try later.

[44man]

OK, got it for picture.

[44man]

Here is another of one of my flinters.

[44man]

Bucks, I bought a bunch of checkering tools long ago and started to practice on scrap walnut. FORGET IT! I ripped the wood to shreds, could not even follow a line. Waste of time I told myself, so I took out a rifle I had made a stock for long ago, made up a nice pattern and transfered it to the wood. It was amazing! I checkered my first stock without a single mistake. The rifle is beautiful! I have made some real fancy stocks for customers that the wood cost more then I care to say. Talk about SCARY! Can't make ANY mistakes on those for other people. I'm too old for that crap anymore.

[Bucks Owin]

Bucks, I bought a bunch of checkering tools long ago and started to practice on scrap walnut. FORGET IT! I ripped the wood to shreds, could not even follow a line. Waste of time I told myself, so I took out a rifle I had made a stock for long ago, made up a nice pattern and transfered it to the wood. It was amazing! I checkered my first stock without a single mistake. The rifle is beautiful! I have made some real fancy stocks for customers that the wood cost more then I care to say. Talk about SCARY! Can't make ANY mistakes on those for other people. I'm too old for that crap anymore.

I hear ya amigo...

I've practiced on every scrap of hardwood that comes along and attempted my son's M-60 Win that I built him last Christmas. I've decided to stick with only personal guns for now but it's coming along....Kind of relaxing to me, but I have to be "in the mood"... (A decent stock cradle would help enormously too I'm sure)

Gee, you've done some very fine work!

Best,

Dennis

[waksupi]

44man, real fine work, all around. I did a pie safe many years ago, but I can see yours is much more refined. And always enjhoy seeing your firearms craft. Wish I could still see well enough to do the checkering and engraving well. some things just have to be "farmed" out now.

[44man]

Thanks guys. I too, am gettimg too old and can't see as good. It also seems as if I can't spend as much time on projects, like maybe time is getting short. I used to think nothing of spending 6 weeks on a gun.
Bucks, you MUST have a stock cradle to turn the wood. Mine is cheap from Brownel's that I put a pipe on to fit my wood seat. I can adjust it in or out and sit to checker. It can turn on the pipe threads. I will set it up and take a picture for you.

[Vegas Vince]

44 man That's a great job!! Look like a pro made it. You sure it’s not a gun case in disguise? Beeeeeauuuuuutiful pie safe. the guns look great to. :-D

[georgeld]

44man:
just back to this one.

That's some mighty fine looking wood work, guns and pie cabinet are real nice.
I appreciate fine workmanship.

Wish I had a clue where to start on stocks, have finished & inletted a bunch. but, getting the beginning shape to them is where I wreck good wood.

[PatMarlin]

Awesome work 44.. :drinks:

I'm doing an engine swap on my WoodMizer LT40HD sawmill right now, and will be doing a lot of wood work this winter.

[44man]

George, shaping takes a lot of eyeball work. I think it is more of a knack then anything. I have shaped a muzzle loader stock to almost finished with an electric drill and course sanding pads. I also carved one down with a Case folding hunter knife. ( It stayed razor sharp for the whole gun.) Tough with curly maple because every cut has to be made cross grain. Want to have fun? Take a piece of curly maple and put it in a vise. Take a razor sharp draw knife to it and watch it get destroyed.
Walnut and cherry are dreams to work with compared to maple.
I have all kinds of files but none seem to cut much wood. If course and sharp enough they still tear more then cut. The very best all these years has been a Nickolson 8" half round 2nd cut file. I can hog off wood with the little thing.
I have run the stock through the bandsaw in every direction to remove excess wood. I have been lucky and never ruined a piece of wood!

[WCF3030]

Some very fine work indeed!:drinks: