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Good afternoon all,
I've been preparing for a restoration project on my Dad's old side-by-side shotgun. It's an old, inexpensive gun and the stock was in pretty rough condition. I'm planning to do a combination of relief carving for the main butt stock scene components, and pyrography for the rest of the background. After removing the very dark finish, I discovered that the stock is soft maple, but it has quite a lot of hard grain. I sketched out the design for the butt stock, grip and under side of the forearm. The grip and forearm have two parallel lines I want to burn as a border. Inside those lines is carved basket weave. Here's photos of the design...
I recently upgraded from the hobby kit burning pens I had to a Burnmaster Eagle variable temp unit. It's very different from what I was used to. I've been practicing on a bunch of poplar scraps I had kicking around. I find that it's difficult to keep the lines consitently spaced, especially when I encounter hard grain which causes the tip to veer, or softer grain which causes the tip to sink. I've tried various tips, and tried using a straight edge, but because there are fairly tight curves in both patterns, I'm having a tough time - even in this softer wood. Can't imagine what the soft maple will be like. I purchased some soft maple this morning that has similar grain and plan to begin practicing with that tomorrow. Thought it would be good to put this request out there before I get started. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
HW (aka Rick)
I've been preparing for a restoration project on my Dad's old side-by-side shotgun. It's an old, inexpensive gun and the stock was in pretty rough condition. I'm planning to do a combination of relief carving for the main butt stock scene components, and pyrography for the rest of the background. After removing the very dark finish, I discovered that the stock is soft maple, but it has quite a lot of hard grain. I sketched out the design for the butt stock, grip and under side of the forearm. The grip and forearm have two parallel lines I want to burn as a border. Inside those lines is carved basket weave. Here's photos of the design...
I recently upgraded from the hobby kit burning pens I had to a Burnmaster Eagle variable temp unit. It's very different from what I was used to. I've been practicing on a bunch of poplar scraps I had kicking around. I find that it's difficult to keep the lines consitently spaced, especially when I encounter hard grain which causes the tip to veer, or softer grain which causes the tip to sink. I've tried various tips, and tried using a straight edge, but because there are fairly tight curves in both patterns, I'm having a tough time - even in this softer wood. Can't imagine what the soft maple will be like. I purchased some soft maple this morning that has similar grain and plan to begin practicing with that tomorrow. Thought it would be good to put this request out there before I get started. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
HW (aka Rick)
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