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<  16ga. Guns  ~  Merkel butt plate,Buffalo Horn
casebro
PostPosted: Sun Jun 27, 2021 8:41 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 31 Jan 2013
Posts: 152
Location: San Diego

The butt plate is missing about 3/4" at the toe. And it is concave, I'd rather a convex, more Clays style. So I ordered some material- from Chewy.com,

[img] https://photos.imageevent.com/bigchriscase/misc/websize/20210625_124739_resized.jpg [/img]
[/img] https://photos.imageevent.com/bigchriscase/misc/websize/20210625_125918_resized.jpg [/img]
[img] https://photos.imageevent.com/bigchriscase/misc/websize/20210625_160305_resized.jpg [/img

Utube has a couple how-tos: rough saw, heat either in oven or pan of oil, press flat while hot. Cool, abrasive carve. Hard with Stinky dust, like some exotic woods. I've got new thread chasing file, 8 choices. I'll go with something between finger nail file and Meat Tenderizer. Very Happy

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skeettx
PostPosted: Sun Jun 27, 2021 11:25 am  Reply with quote
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casebro
PostPosted: Sun Jun 27, 2021 3:21 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 31 Jan 2013
Posts: 152
Location: San Diego

Progress, I think I'll stay with the lazy "skip diamond" layout. The white lines are the cuts, rough or dusty? They'll be black when polished/oiled. Needs deepening, arms got tired. I did have to sharpen the thread chaser with a diamond tri-corner file. 3.00mm pitch.

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casebro
PostPosted: Mon Jun 28, 2021 11:04 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 31 Jan 2013
Posts: 152
Location: San Diego

A little more filing, wetted w/water. After pic, some fine sanding and a coat of varnish. Enough pics.

Oh,3.00mm pitch was a misytake. The teeth rows are 3mm apart- they kinda got stuck in the cross-rows of the checkering. It was hard to get started smoothly,harder to follow the previous groove.

[/img]

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Dying with all ten fingers is like dying with money in the bank- you could have had more fun!
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Swampy16
PostPosted: Mon Jun 28, 2021 1:22 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 17 Oct 2019
Posts: 453
Location: New Jersey

Nice work, that looks great !
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Purple16
PostPosted: Mon Jun 28, 2021 9:27 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 19 Jan 2019
Posts: 283
Location: Idaho & South Dakota

Very nice

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Dave in Maine
PostPosted: Thu Jul 01, 2021 2:33 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 12 Sep 2010
Posts: 1972
Location: Maine

God love you, horn is nasty stuff to work. Nice job.

On layout, you might want to go with a very sharp, stubby knife blade to start the cut lines. A fine grease pencil or white china pencil works great for layout, too. Pictures to follow immediately below, thanks to Skeettx.

Top pic is layout, done by a friend with a razor-sharp stub of a pocketknife. He had used a layout template to put the lines on the butt. Then followed the layout lines with the knife point to start the cuts.

Bottom pic is the finished checkering job, done with usual checkering tools.


Last edited by Dave in Maine on Thu Jul 01, 2021 3:53 pm; edited 1 time in total

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skeettx
PostPosted: Thu Jul 01, 2021 3:46 pm  Reply with quote
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For Dave


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casebro
PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 3:08 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 31 Jan 2013
Posts: 152
Location: San Diego

Dave in Maine wrote:
God love you, horn is nasty stuff to work. Nice job.

On layout, you might want to go with a very sharp, stubby knife blade to start the cut lines. A fine grease pencil or white china pencil works great for layout, too. Pictures to follow immediately below, thanks to Skeettx.

Top pic is layout, done by a friend with a razor-sharp stub of a pocketknife. He had used a layout template to put the lines on the butt. Then followed the layout lines with the knife point to start the cuts.

Bottom pic is the finished checkering job, done with usual checkering tools.

Nice! Much cleaner and preciser then mine.

The last time needed checkering tools I needed 1mm, 25 lpi. No such critter- not in America. I ground away half of a 8mm x 1.0 bolt. Held it in little vise grips.

I had to blend in some bedding compound after repairing as stock broke right in half at the wrist. I drilled out the stock bolt hole and implanted an aluminum tube to hold things together. The Browning's owner was impressed. In fact that was when I ordered the metric thread chasing file. But it wouldn't work on the concave hand grip.

This time I designed around the tool. Convex all over. Very Happy Hours worth of entertainment for $8 tool, $7 dog chew. And I learned some new techniques.

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It's not how many breaths you take, it's how many times you have been breathless.

Dying with all ten fingers is like dying with money in the bank- you could have had more fun!
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Dave in Maine
PostPosted: Wed Jul 07, 2021 6:04 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 12 Sep 2010
Posts: 1972
Location: Maine

casebro wrote:
Dave in Maine wrote:
God love you, horn is nasty stuff to work. Nice job.

On layout, you might want to go with a very sharp, stubby knife blade to start the cut lines. A fine grease pencil or white china pencil works great for layout, too. Pictures to follow immediately below, thanks to Skeettx.

Top pic is layout, done by a friend with a razor-sharp stub of a pocketknife. He had used a layout template to put the lines on the butt. Then followed the layout lines with the knife point to start the cuts.

Bottom pic is the finished checkering job, done with usual checkering tools.

Nice! Much cleaner and preciser then mine.

The last time needed checkering tools I needed 1mm, 25 lpi. No such critter- not in America. I ground away half of a 8mm x 1.0 bolt. Held it in little vise grips.

I had to blend in some bedding compound after repairing as stock broke right in half at the wrist. I drilled out the stock bolt hole and implanted an aluminum tube to hold things together. The Browning's owner was impressed. In fact that was when I ordered the metric thread chasing file. But it wouldn't work on the concave hand grip.

This time I designed around the tool. Convex all over. Very Happy Hours worth of entertainment for $8 tool, $7 dog chew. And I learned some new techniques.


To be accurate, the buttplate shown in my pictures is ebony, not horn. My friend who did the work is a gunsmith and stocker. He quit working horn unless the client really, really, really wants it and is willing to pay to get him over his reluctance. The butt plates that drove him nuts were those with "simple" parallel lines. Also horn can be more difficult to work than harder materials like ebony.

You did nice work.

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Frederick Douglass, November 15, 1867, speech in Williamsport, Pa.
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casebro
PostPosted: Thu Jul 08, 2021 2:35 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 31 Jan 2013
Posts: 152
Location: San Diego

Dave in Maine wrote:
........

To be accurate, the buttplate shown in my pictures is ebony, not horn. My friend who did the work is a gunsmith and stocker. He quit working horn unless the client really, really, really wants it and is willing to pay to get him over his reluctance. The butt plates that drove him nuts were those with "simple" parallel lines. Also horn can be more difficult to work than harder materials like ebony.

You did nice work.


Thank you for another compliment.

Difficulty in work-ability depends on what type of tool you use. Ebony would work like butter-if you friend has a rotary power checking tool. Which which I would HATE to do horn. Stinky when hot, dustin your face, probably gum up the wheel too.

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Dying with all ten fingers is like dying with money in the bank- you could have had more fun!
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Two Pipe Shoot
PostPosted: Sun Aug 08, 2021 7:08 pm  Reply with quote
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Joined: 25 Jun 2008
Posts: 1863
Location: Wisconsin

Love the buttplate, would be slick enough not to catch on my coat and grippy enough when I pulled it into my shoulder socket. Very nice. Reno

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