Something a Little Different

[carver33]

While the rest of the carvings are very nice, if you took away the tools, you might think that the ship was a full sized ship - excellent work....

[carver33]

Nice job. I'm sure she will love it.

[carver33]

Looking good. Can't wait to see the finished carving....

[carver33]

Nomad: I got this kit from Tennessee Mountain Muzzleloaders (TVM). The barrel is browned. I also built a .50 caliber Hawken several years ago - the kit was much simpler. It has brass furniture and browned barrel but no carving. This long rifle is something that I've wanted for a long time. I don't...

[carver33]

Very nice job!

[carver33]

Thanks guys. The rifle is a fully working replica. AS noted it's 36 caliber with a rifled barrel, and pretty much matches the guns of that age. The project took me about 3 months of available weekend time. with the exception of the lock and nose cap, all of the furniture was sand cast, and had to...

[carver33]

I consider this as the first of my bucket list. There were challenges in building the rifle and doing the carving. It's a left handers 36 caliber percussion rifle. the barrel is 42 inches and the overall length is just under 5 feet. The stock is made from Curly Maple.

[carver33]

I find a lot of hardware in the jewelry section of Hobby Lobby. I even picked up a couple of small gold rings at a jewelry repair store.

[carver33]

Lee Ferguson (http://www.fergusonknives.com/woodcarving-knives) makes a nice knife for $20 with free shipping to the U.S. I have the Model A-3 and really like it. From past experience, this seems like a better knife than the Murphy.

[carver33]

You might want to check out Smoky Mountain Knife Works https://www.smkw.com/knives - they have an extremely wide variety of knives from ridiculously cheap to very expensive and everything in between. I've dealt with them via catalog and in the store with absolutely no problems.

[carver33]

Ambitious? Certainly. But you're doing an excellent job of tackling it - beautiful.

[carver33]

I've been using the Colwood Detailer with interchangeable tips for several years, and haven't found anything it couldn't handle....

[carver33]

Randy, I believe the Walnut Hollow kit IS Basswood. And, I agree with tbox61 that one should start with a better carving knife....

[carver33]

I've never beveled the inside of my gouges. I do, however, strop them on a Flexcut leather strop wheel on my drill press. I've never had a problem with them.

[carver33]

I have to disagree with Robson Valley. I use no. 11 (straight blade scalpels for really fine detail - 1/16" and even smaller. I really doubt hatt any of the mentioned blades will get into such tiny spaces with any precision.