Terry,

Have you got any idea what that car would be worth today? Answer... well into seven figures.

Restore it and you get on the lawn at Pebble Beach.

Chuck,

It bugs me a little too. However, I shoot my guns and it's fun to take a sporter to a local match and give the guys with bench guns a hard time. With a rimfire you really need a tuner to do that.

The really good/bad news... I'm making two of these. The wood for the second gun is in Colorado and I should get it in about a month. I got the second tuner yesterday.

My goal is to get my gun done when warm weather gets here. I've got a really long way to go between now and May.

Right now I'm screwing off on the computer and the stock is sitting in my shop, about thirty feet away and only about half inletted... Thank God for Jerry Fisher and his scrapers.

This is what I've been doing for the last week plus... my least favorite of stocktaking. My favorite part is shaping the stock and I can't do it till this is done.

Comments on my messy workbench are not solicited...

Glorya Wright photo.

It's finally together. I need to get the barrel down a bit till it's centerline is exactly in line with the top of the stock.

Somewhere in the rough carved blank is an elegant rifle. I hope to find it.

Another view.

Re: the blank it's sitting on... Anybody want a piece of black walnut cheap?

Great work !

I'm starting to rough shape the stock, concentrating on the grip area for now. When I like what I see I will start refining everything till it's ready for finish.

I also worked on the schnable. Again, it's just roughed out. When all the lines are right, I will sand it smooth and finish. A long way to go before I can do that.

I'm taking a short break from stock shaping and tending to minor mechanical problems. I want everything to function perfectly, just like it did in the original rifle, when I get done.

I found that I had inletted it a tad too deep at the front of the action and it made the magazine bind going into and out of the reciever. I fixed that.

When we bent the trigger it made the trigger spring retaining pin stick up too far into the action... It wouldn't let the bolt go all the way in. I had to shorten it, round it off and polish it to make it work again.

These things are about form and function. Refining the function takes time too.

I spent most of today working on the grip area and the cheek piece. Lot more to do just on the cheek piece.

I sure do like that wood!

The schnable is now ready for final sanding and finish. I do this when getting the shadow line on the cheek piece gets bothersome.

It's starting to look like a gun.

Looking great Dick.

Very nice! Getting ready to stock a '36 Mexican, thinkin' about using your pictures as a "pattern".

Man is that ever nice!

DW, that is going to be a great looking rifle. Only one comment but have you considered a fine shadow line around the schnable? --- John

John,

Every morning I get up, come down to my computer and catch up till my blood levels of caffine and nicotine are up to par and stable. Then I go into my shop and worry away on the shadow line of the cheekpiece till I start to shake whereupon I tend to other parts of the stock. Any more shadow lines would find me back at the shrink.

Beautiful work. Thank you for sharing.



.

I have finally got the shaping of the stock finished. I will wet it down and de-whisker it with 240 grit one more time before I start to fill the pores.

For years I've been obsessed with line and asthetics. Having reached this stage I decided to let a more objective eye (the camera's) take a look at the final shape of my project.

Another view of the finish shaped stock. Not meant to be studio photography but, rather, a study in stock lines. I think we all have a vision of what the ideal stock should look like. I took these pics to see how close I came to my own ideal.

Does anyone recognize the picture that has been on my shop wall for nearly forty years? It's from the American Rifleman and was of a pair of rifles that Jerry Fisher made way back when. I literally handled these guns at the 1980 NRA convention.

A note from that convention... I told Mr. Fisher, who had a lovely daughter named Virginia, that I had decided to become his son-in-law in order to get him to make me a rifle. He told me that he already had a son-in-law and that he wasn't going to get one either.

Screw it... I'll make my own. Alas... I'm not Jerry Fisher.

I always agonize over and take forever on cheekpieces. I pronounced this one done yesterday. Now I have to not screw up the sharp lines during filling and finishing.

It appears that some idiot (moi) spilled some Coke on the stock last night and missed it before I started to take the pics.

The lines look good. I had never thought of using coke to fill the pores. Regular or diet?

Hey Dick,
I'm very proud of your skills. A very nice job!

You've got that coming along nicely.....and it looks great!!!

SKB,

Diet... I've lost 110 lbs. in the last few years. That's 110 lbs. of blubber... still got the wife.

Fantastic work Sir.


.

your attention to detail is great. Im afflicked with perfection as well. It's not right until it's right.
Drives my machinist hunting buddy crazy.
You have a beautiful rifle coming along.
Elton

Maybe I missed you discussing it, but I am curious as to the apparent change from the "pancake"(is that the correct word) cheekpiece to the "standard" (is that also the correct word) cheekpiece.

Lindy2

I thought I might make it with a pancake cheekpiece but I chickened out. I've never made one and I did not want to mess up this piece of wood. It's the best one I have ever had.

I've only made about a half-dozen stocks in forty-five years. There's a whole lot of things I don't know how to do.

Nice work Mr. Wright. I can hardly wait to see the final finish especially the cheek piece. Nice crisp lines there. I overworked mine a bit.

quote:

Originally posted by Dick Wright:
Does anyone recognize the picture that has been on my shop wall for nearly forty years? It's from the American Rifleman and was of a pair of rifles that Jerry Fisher made way back when.

I sure do recognize the picture of the Fisher rifles--they are the Bud McCollum guns. Made in the late 1970s(?) and widely thought to be among the best custom bolt action rifles ever made. Not only do the lines approach perfection but the wood is as good as it gets, at least to my eyes that love dark wood.

I have drooled over that picture for many years. If anyone knows the location of these rifles today, I'd love to know. Please send me a private message.

Why?

Thank you for NOT cleaning the bench top for pictures. If one is truly busy and into his work...cleaning is Not necessary. That's my story and I'm sticking to it . Nice work!

Steve,

Somewhere here, it's either in the Kennedy book or Al Linden's own book, there's a picture of Old Al attacking a hunk of walnut with an axe on a really messy workbench... I wuz inspired...

Someday, if I ever get more energy, I'm going to clean that mess up because I'm sure there are treasures that are years forgotten buried deep within. I did find a real Neidner butt plate and two engraved Jerry Fisher grip caps for this gun by going thru a couple of boxes of "stuff". Gawd only knows what else is buried in that mess.

Right now I'm spending all my energy working on this rifle and am about to start an identical gun for a good friend. I found the blank for that one at a gun show recently and just got it back from Charlie Grace who carved it to the same pattern. I had owned the blank years ago, swapped it to a friend and his kids were selling stuff from his estate. Imagine walking down the aisle of a gun show and finding a stock blank with your own name on it... literally.

Vicvanb,

I've had that pic hanging there forever. I also have the complete magazine with the article and pictures still in it. I was at the 1980 NRA convention where they were part of a display of guns to kill for.

I honestly think those rifles inspired many stockmakers to abandon the classic grip, epitomized by 1930's G & H sporters, and go to the more open grip (I prefer to call it a "Single Radius" grip) now in style. Instead of making a rifle look like the Griffin & Howe's or the guns Al Beisen made for Jack O'Conner, now everybody wanted to make guns that looked like these two little sporters. My opinion only...

We do a thing at work called 5S...I'll be damned if I have to do it at home also...whats that say'en, a clean deck is a sign of a sick mind.

A gunsmith friend of mine long past gone (Mr. Marrion Reed) told me when ever he needed to order gun parts he would just sweep the floor. I miss him and my ol' smith friend (Jack McCarley), the old school guys. Good luck on the projects!

quote:

Originally posted by Dick Wright:
Vicvanb,

I've had that pic hanging there forever. I also have the complete magazine with the article and pictures still in it. I was at the 1980 NRA convention where they were part of a display of guns to kill for.



I honestly think those rifles inspired many stockmakers to abandon the classic grip, epitomized by 1930's G & H sporters, and go to the more open grip (I prefer to call it a "Single Radius" grip) now in style. Instead of making a rifle look like the Griffin & Howe's or the guns Al Beisen made for Jack O'Conner, now everybody wanted to make guns that looked like these two little sporters. My opinion only...

You are spot on regarding the grip. I think the rifles also represented the trend toward slimmer, more graceful forends. Al Biesen's forends were often quite substantial.

I finally got the first coat of finish on the stock.

The other side. Dull areas are where the wood is still absorbing the finish.