CUSTOM GUNMAKING SEMINAR
JUNE 2013
Three students, Nick, Robert and Lee returned from the 2012 Seminar to do advanced stockmaking in my workshop. Nick (below) brought his High Wall back to fit and bed the forend and shape the buttstock.
This year I did less lecture or demonstration and the fellows spent much more time at the workbench. Robert brought a 20 Gauge Model 12 Winchester pump gun he had made and fitted a buttstock from a blank, to complete the action bedding and finish shape the buttstock.
Lee brought his Ruger Number One to complete forend bedding and shape the buttstock.
We also glass bedded the buttstock with Brownells AcraGlass Gel.
High Wall forend with full contact bedding of octagon in process.
I showed the guys how I like to bed forends, very different for the heavy octagon barrel of the High Wall compared to the forend hanger and sporter weight barrel of the Ruger. The inletting starts out the same but they are bedded completed very differently.
Ruger nearing completed shaping
Each of the fellows got to use the design concepts we discussed last year in the actual shaping of the gunstocks. They each had the opportunity to watch two other very different stocks being shaped although all were done with the same basic principals.
High Wall being reduced in thickness from the action to the buttplate around the cheekpiece.
M-12 stock toe line about to be rounded.
As a full participation class project we rust blued the students parts for a custom Winchester M-70 bolt rifle and a Winchester pump .22. The metalwork had been hand polished and prepared in advance.
I demonstrated the first two cycles of application, rusting, boiling and carding. The fellows took over, with my over-the-shoulder coaching and completed the remaining 4 cycles (over two days) resulting in a rich and lustrous professional quality rust blue.
Parts ready to blue on wires to hang in damp box.
Final degreasing with solvent swab.
In damp box for first rusting.
Rusted parts ready for third carding.
Wheel carding M-70 action.
We spent much time examining and discussing custom rifle styling and craftsmanship. We were fortunate to have an early Tom Burgess Mauser metal job on a very late Bob Owen stocked .257 Roberts to examine.
As luck would have it we also had the Jerry Fisher .375 full-stock M-70 (shown on the Jerry Fisher page in Bolt Action Section) to examine. A Scottish Fraser Mauser takedown was in the shop at the time along with a host of other interesting guns to “raccoon”.
I would estimate we spent 60+ hours in the shop over 5 days totally immersed in Custom Gunness.
I plan on offering classes in 2014 but as always they will be on a Very Limited basis with only a few interested and enthusiastic students so we can have a rewarding and in-depth week of Hands-On Custom Gun immersion.
Best, SDH