I'm loving your project and the excellent work you are doing on it. Keep the updates coming, I really enjoy them, especially the pictures. james
I'm loving your project and the excellent work you are doing on it. Keep the updates coming, I really enjoy them, especially the pictures. james
The checkering is done, the wood is stained and im beginning the finishing. Previously i’ve used Anilin stains by themselves with great success and im particularly fond of a very deep red finish on maple. This time i went down the Aquafortis, tannic acid route.
Trying to emulate my forefathers and am somewhat displeased with the end product. Some artisans get magnificent results with these original finishes; not me! I don’t do enough of this work to get really good at anything and im lazy so putting the time and effort into perfecting a finish ain’t gonna happen! My previous rifle, the 4 bore was the closest i’ve ever come to what i consider perfect and i was trying to build on that this time.
Anyway; it is what it is at this point and im sure it’ll look fine and be pleasing to most.
These pictures show the wood before and after i started oiling it. It will take a couple weeks to get the depth of finish i want but along the way; ill get the metal browned and be ready for assembly when the wood’s done. The final finish will be somewhere between the satin and the gloss shown here.
Last edited by Alasgun; 08-20-2022 at 06:59 PM.
Overall im happy with the results but in any project like this ; it’s never just exactly the way you envisioned it in your mind’s eye, which gave me the heading for this thread! Combining components approaching 150 years old with new stuff is fun but can be challenging.
As mentioned previously, the color is not even close to what i was after. I’ll know next time and stick with what i know works.
The trigger guard grafting; combining the old with some new, could have gone smoother.
As i worked the wood down i put a lot of effort into giving it a very slim appearance and to my eye; it’s still a little thick?
The alloy steel pipe i made the butt plate from didn’t take color well, it should have been bead blasted before browning.
Now i’ll need to get some ammunition put together and see how it shoots. At 11.2 lb. It hangs real well and i suppose it will shoot well offhand. I have 300 ea 420gr. Paper patch slugs (smooth) here ready to go and really want to see how it shoots BEFORE snow fly’s.
For anyone who followed this, thanks for the interest; i’ll probably crawl back under my rock for a while but i do have a couple more interesting projects rattling around in my head.
Great job!
I would be proud to have a trapdoor that beautiful. Mine is still shod in her original infantry apparel. Want to trade?
Fabulous! You should be proud of your work. Hope it shoots as good as it looks.
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |