New Project: Hawken

Be sure to do some experimenting with the different FX products if you’re applying it yourself to get an idea of what to expect. I bought the small kit with all 7 gels & found I only needed 3 of them for my projects-Blue Halo, Flame FX, & Blue Black. After applying it should be sealed ASAP to preserve the look or it will turn to rust, I went with a satin clear coat for low maintenance rather than having to keep applying wax that works too.
Here’s a sample of one of my experiments
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Have all the furniture inlet. Barrel is next. Need to get those staples aligned, which seems pretty straightforward. Then the rib and ramrod pipes, which I intend to solder. Should be fine, but a big surface like the rib is something I've not done before. I'd rather do that than drill more holes in the barrel, however.
Meanwhile, I'll get the stock sanded and attack my next first: aqua fortis. There's not a lot of figure in this stock, but I want to darken it. Again, straightforward. Rust bluing the barrel. The big challenge there is convincing my wife that boiling water in a chicken feeder trough on her stove is a normal thing. Too much fun!
 
in a trade years ago i got a tc big boar caplock in .58 caliber in ex condition, but it had a single trigger from hell, fast forward a friend had a ex condition stock from a tc .54 renagade with double triggers with it, a deal was made for the big boar stock trade and a few dollars his way. the .58 rifle with a reciever peep sight now shoots three shots touching at 65 yards from a bench rest with .570 RB,s and 80 grains of fff.
 
Installed those barrel staples. I get nervous drilling into a barrel, but no problem, just adjusted the stop on the drill press. Had to go 7/64 to get the staples to seat. I was concerned about horizontal alignment, but that was no problem. Vertical alignment, though, not so good. I inlet my keys just a touch too low. Fixable, of course, and the escutcheons will cover most or all of the repair. But I feel like a real amateur...oh yeah, I am an amateur. A more humble one this morning.

BTW, I have two projects following this: Chambers "English Pistol" kit and a true "from scratch" Jäger. The pistol does not require anything I've not done before, but I can't get cocky. They sent me a beautiful piece of maple that I must not mess up. (This pistol got restocked in the Colonies.) The Jäger will be my last, I think. For the first time, I will cut the barrel channel and drill the ramrod hole. I'm modeling it after one written up by George Shumway in Muzzle Blasts and published in a collection of his articles. That rifle was made in Kronach in 1722. For me, the significance is that Kronach is only 30 km east of Coburg, where my paternal grandfather came from. It was a duchy before WWI, and my legend is this will be a rifle for the duke's gamekeeper. Not too worried about the barrel and ramrod, but even a gamekeeper's rifle would have been engraved. I'm no engraver! But to do this right, I must learn.

Learning keeps you young!
 
Got the keys properly placed...they slide right into the staples. And I inlet the escutcheons. Almost forgot the toe plate, but the stock is now complete. I think I'll leave the barrel for awhile and hit the stock with aqua fortis. Been done for centuries, but first time for me.
 
Aqua Fortis turns some wood black. It's best on curly maple but burl walnut does good it's just darker than I like. Be careful when you heat corners and edges.
 
Aqua Fortis

A quick shot of my stock treated with aqua fortis and heat gun. More figure in this "plain" TOTW stock than I thought. First time using this, probably not the last.
 

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Almost there.

I cut the dovetails for the sights and soldered the barrel rib and ramrod pipes. Now to clean it up and go for the rust bluing. I have my chicken feeder trough and camp stove ready to boil it. Another new experience!
 
Done

Got this beast put together and ready to shoot. A couple cleanups, but I'm pleased. As expected, I learned a few things. Hawkens are certainly not easier than traditional longrifles. Boy, did I get that wrong. More elements to align, for one. The rib was a new experience, but it didn't give me much trouble. Keys were more difficult than pins, or maybe just new to me, but I had to work on those.

For stock finish, I sealed it with a couple coats of Permalyn and put a couple coats of good 'ole Helmsman spar varnish over that. I already spoke to the aqua fortis, which I got from TOTW. Some folks just dissolve steel wool in nitric acid, but their concoction worked fine. I used Steel F/X for the furniture. It felt like cheating, it's so easy, but it gives an old weathered steel look. Certainly not as pretty as real case hardening. Bluing the barrel was a new experience. Previously, I've just used Laurel Mountain browning solution. That does not require a lot of work, and I like the results. I guess you can boil your browned barrel to turn it black, but I haven't tried that. This time I used Mark Lee's Slow Rust Blue #3. Lots of work, and no shortcuts, but I really like the finish I got. I'll be using aqua fortis (on maple) and Lee's rust blue again (have 70% left).

Now the real test, will she shoot? Time to get to the range.

PS: OK, I can't do uploads very well either. Here's the correct photo.
 

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ligonierbill said:
Thanks. Just don't look too close. I'm definitely an amateur.
Click to expand...
It is very likely that unless what you perceive as a mistake or poor work is much more noticeable than that picture shows many folks may never see the "problem".
I don't do smithing but do a number of other crafts and while very aware of places things not going the way I would like many people seem not to notice.

I a few years of use those perceived problems may very well be told from just character from use.
 
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