.458 winchester silk purse from a sows ear project

[ChrisG]

@ChrisG Can we see what the stock looks like?

The stock is still very much in the rough as you can see. none of the exterior shaping has taken place yet as I still have to finish inletting it to fit, then it will be glass bedded. @sestoppelman sent over some pictures earlier in the thread for an additional recoil block embedded under the barrel. I still want to do that because I am afraid I am going to crack this nice piece of wood. It doesn't look like it because it is so rough, but I took a scraper to the wood on the cheekpiece and there is some really nice figure in the buttstock. I will upload some pictures after the oil finish and checkering are done.

 

[nztimb]

The stock is still very much in the rough as you can see. none of the exterior shaping has taken place yet

Are you going to change the cheekpiece to more of a pancake style rather than as it is goiong right up to the wrist.

 

[ChrisG]

Are you going to change the cheekpiece to more of a pancake style rather than as it is goiong right up to the wrist.

I was going to. I was going to use a 5/8" gouge and wrap it around. I was actually going to see if you have a template for what the dimensions should be so I can see if I have enough wood there to do a complete cheekpiece. I would hate to start carving the wood away and end up with a silver dollar instead of a pancake.

 

[nztimb]

I have always loved this rifle and have used various parts of the pic as a guide and believe this is about as nice as it gets for a cheekpiece. I took the pic and had it blown up so there was a 13 1/2 LOP and used that as a pattern for the cheekpiece on a couple of stocks.

 

[ChrisG]

I have always loved this rifle and have used various parts of the pic as a guide and believe this is about as nice as it gets for a cheekpiece. I took the pic and had it blown up so there was a 13 1/2 LOP and used that as a pattern for the cheekpiece on a couple of stocks.

View attachment 441831

I really like that. I wish I could do a nice metal buttplate, as they are so much nicer looking, but I am not "manly" enough for that. A metal butplate on a .458 win mag is just asking for bruising and pain.

I did get a solid rubber hogue recoil pad and i am going to cut it just a tad undersize on my pad grinding jig and try my hand at leather wrapping it. I have a boatload of thin, black goatskin leather so it will be a nice addition to the figured wood I think and still absorb some of the 60+ft-lbs of recoil it doles out.

 

[CJW]

I really like that. I wish I could do a nice metal buttplate, as they are so much nicer looking, but I am not "manly" enough for that. A metal butplate on a .458 win mag is just asking for bruising and pain.

I did get a solid rubber hogue recoil pad and i am going to cut it just a tad undersize on my pad grinding jig and try my hand at leather wrapping it. I have a boatload of thin, black goatskin leather so it will be a nice addition to the figured wood I think and still absorb some of the 60+ft-lbs of recoil it doles out.

Larry Potterfield has a good video on leather wrapping a recoil pad.

Great project BTW.

 

[Strausser]

Another vid of wrapping should anyone be interested.

 

[ChrisG]

Larry Potterfield has a good video on leather wrapping a recoil pad.

Great project BTW.

Yeah that is the one I saw as well. I have done quite a bit of hobby leatherwork in the past (alaskan chest holsters, bags, satchels etc.) So I think it shouldnt be too bad. Especially with thin leather, getting the wrinkles out of it should be relatively simple.

 

[Shootist43]

Chris G, if you've started assembling the various parts, how about some more progress photos?

 

[ChrisG]

I don't have any "interesting" progress photos. I am still inletting which is a laborious and incremental process. The barrel action is almost set in, then I need to inlet the trigger guard and bottom metal (which have been stripped of rust and need to be blued). Bluing this time of year becomes a week long process as steel doesnt rust fast during the wintermonths here due to cold dry air... I also had to break to work on some chrustmas presents. I will get back to it in a few days.

 

[ChrisG]

Who says you need a milling machine to make a 3 position safety work?! Haha anyway, 3 position safety works as designed and is now all apart as well as the bolt and the bottom metal. They are all being rust blued but it is slow going. My shops temp right now is hovering around 50 degrees with almost no humidity. This may be a few weeks of bluing.

 

[ChrisG]

So I have the gun inletted... or at least mostly. It is going to be glass bedded anyway but I wanted it to look like the wood fit tight anyway. It definitely wasn't inletted by Purdy, but it isn't bad.

I am working on finishing out the stock now. As per @Von Gruff 's suggestion, I am reshaping the cheekpiece to make it more of a European style... Currently in the roughing out phase of it.

And for anyone who wants to do some stock work, I will recommend a set of card scrapers and a good burnishing tool... you don't need an actual burnishing tool, any round hardened piece of steel that is smooth will do. These are absolutely a must have for any decent finishing work. The necessity to sand the finish afterward is almost nill. The sandpaper only being useful when applying the finish to fille the grain.

 

[nztimb]

Looking good Chris. We always just used a (good steel) screwdriver shaft to burnish the scrapers. I still do. I am inclined to use bastard cut , then finer cut metal files for refining the reshaping work.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Another vid of wrapping should anyone be interested.

Wow! What a pleasure to see an expert at work. Spectacular.

 

[ChrisG]

Looking good Chris. We always just used a (good steel) screwdriver shaft to burnish the scrapers. I still do. I am inclined to use bastard cut , then finer cut metal files for refining the reshaping work.

That will work for sure. The problem I found is that so many screwdrivers are made of only the best chinesium pot metal nowadays. I used to use them as well but I have had scrapers cut into the shaft of my screwdriver and ruin my nice burr I had going.... I ended up spending the money on a burnisher and so far, so good. The only thing I did was polish my burnisher on my buffing wheel to an absolut mirror shine to make it glide totally smooth.

I used to use files a rasps for all my shaping, but a friend of mine is an old world violin maker who hardly uses any power tools. He showed me how he does all his final wood finishing with scapers and his work spoke for itself. I am likely still going to need to finish out some with the files though. I dont have his skill set.

 

[nztimb]

My screwdriversand most tools are all good US and English steel (near 60 years old) from when I was learning my woodworking trade

 

[ChrisG]

still need to do a few more passes of rust blue on this rifle, but my bluing solution from brownells is like 7 years old at this point and has definitely lost some of its potency. It doesn't penetrate like it used to or color as quickly.

I have been seeing this guys website for years now, so when my bluing solution started to weaken, I decided to give it a try. He has rust blue for english, german, swiss, american and french style coloring. I am excited to see it does.

 

[CBH Australia]

That will work for sure. The problem I found is that so many screwdrivers are made of only the best chinesium pot metal nowadays. I used to use them as well but I have had scrapers cut into the shaft of my screwdriver and ruin my nice burr I had going.... I ended up spending the money on a burnisher and so far, so good. The only thing I did was polish my burnisher on my buffing wheel to an absolut mirror shine to make it glide totally smooth.

I used to use files a rasps for all my shaping, but a friend of mine is an old world violin maker who hardly uses any power tools. He showed me how he does all his final wood finishing with scapers and his work spoke for itself. I am likely still going to need to finish out some with the files though. I dont have his skill set.

@Bob Nelson 35Whelen uses the term Chinesium,
His tools are probably as old as him.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

@Bob Nelson 35Whelen uses the term Chinesium,
His tools are probably as old as him.

@CBH Australia
Chris some of my tools are older than me. They were my dads and grandfathers. Hell I even had a Sidchrome shifter that was marked made in Sweden until some prick stole it.
Bob

 

[cajunchefray]

still need to do a few more passes of rust blue on this rifle, but my bluing solution from brownells is like 7 years old at this point and has definitely lost some of its potency. It doesn't penetrate like it used to or color as quickly.

I have been seeing this guys website for years now, so when my bluing solution started to weaken, I decided to give it a try. He has rust blue for english, german, swiss, american and french style coloring. I am excited to see it does.View attachment 444936

Hello Chris G,

I've read yiur thread with great interest, as I have a Whitworth .458 (Sorry IvW), and I respect your craftsmanship. Really like tin information and pictures on Rust Bluing. Do you have pictures of the finished rifle?