engravings on stocks?

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buggley

New member
what would be the coolest or most interesting engraving you could think up to put on a long gun?
i was browsing around on line looking at a few pics and most of it is animals and hunting stuff, thought maybe i would ask what other people thought would look good on a stock. i was thinking clint eastwood or the statue of liberty, something patriotic or cinimatic.
 
ya i never thought about that. even if it tucked under the grip on the little knob flat part. i bet that would look neat
 
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I really think engraving looks pretty neat. What kind of tools are needed and who sells them?
I like the random shapes and designs the most, they just seem so right. I know the biggest part of anything like this is the work and how it flows together. I do like the animal ones, but I'm not into that too much on guns.
 
When you have a nice piece of wood on a stock it's a shame to carve it. Inlaying something or carving the pistol grip cap would be acceptable to me.

I've only seen a few examples of carved stocks, and I can't remember any that I would personally prefer to checkering.

OTOH, since plastic stocks are the moving product, is there any particular reason that they aren't being painted or have carvings/embossing on them?
 
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wyosmith, what in the name of god was that thing?

a two bore!?

you do magnificent work. I like it. this is the sort of carving that is embellishment, not competition.
 
briandg, I don't know for sure which picture you are looking at, but yes I have made a 2 bore. In fact, I am probably the 1st man to have made one as a "sporting rifle" in over 160 years. It was a Left handed back action rifle made for a man in Illinois.
The picture of the man being knocked down is firing a 4 bore and that with less then a full charge of powder. So you can imagine how the 2 bore would kick if it was fired with a "full charge”. However no one has fired it with such a charge. Such a folly would land you in a hospital in all likelihood.
2 bore is about the size of some of the old pack howitzers of the early and mid 1800s and when those guns were assembled they weigh about 300 pounds. The 2 bore sporting rifle weighs 22 pounds.
It's not hard to do the math, but the cannons at 300 pound loaded with a full charge (about 1600 grains of powder) would thrust them back about 4 feet.
If you cut the weigh by half you double the recoil.

So a 150 pound gun would have thrust back about 8 feet.
A 75 pound gun about 16 feet
A 36.5 pound gun about 32 feet, and so on

Shooting a full charge from a 22 pound gun would probably thrust you back and into the next world.
But with about 350 grains to maybe 450 grains of powder, the 2 bores can be shot from the shoulder. It's been done.
 
The best looking engravings are the ones with the best quality work. The actual theme is up to the owner but should keep in line with the purpose of the gun. Also, the gun should actually be worth the cost and time of doing the engraving on it.
 
I have watched gun shows and auctions for many years and wood engraving/carving does nothing for the value of the gun. Most times it detracts from the value, but if it is what you want, have at it.
 
Wyosmith, the one I'm talking about was in the english section. I thought it was a punt gun until i saw rifling. It was big enough to stick my thumb down the bore, I could tell.

I like the way you run scrollwork on the wood that complements the engraving of the furniture. That's very different from putting engraved pictures on it. That sort of work doesn't block the wood's beauty, it's still there.

I'm absolutely fascinated by great wood. When I compliment those stocks, it means something.
 
I've never cared much for what someone else thinks about the value of a gun, or wood stocks for that matter... In my chase for accuracy fiberglass and metal seem to work the best... But with that being said, DADGUM!! Those are some beautiful rifles!! :D My hat goes off to anyone with the skill to carve and inlay like that, they all looked like masterpieces to me, I'd be afraid to shoot one in fear of scratching something.
 
Well thank you Briandg.
:)

English guns of the mid 1800s seldom had carving on their stocks except for occasionally a few 'beaver" tails or "tear drops' behind the locks.

American guns often had carving on them, and the best of them were exceptional. In fact, the Smithsonian Institution calls the American Longrifle the "First truly American Art Form"

German guns.........well you just about can't find any German rifle made from 1600 to 1850 without carving on it
 
Relief carving is done with chisels and knives. The German method required heavy stamping with gouges to outline the work. Wood is then removed by shaving away the lower portion such that the relief stands out.

Another school combines stamping but also uses knives to cut the pattern into the wood. Fewer chisels are needed and the relief does not stand out as much. Done right, it also achieves excellent results.

Both Conner Prairie and the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association offers courses in relief carving.

The third method is to get the electric wood engraver.
 
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