Got the building bug!

[hotfxr]

Red Badger, now you have me confused...HotFXR told me to send it to the Booshways? .

Yes, send it to either Hanshi or myself. Since Red Badger can't hit the side of a barn, shooting from the inside, he is not capable of an accurate review.

(You know how badgers are, short limbs and bad eyesight.)   

[Cherrybow1]

Very pleased with the barrel finish👍🏻 (3 coats of plum brown and 1 coat of cold blue). Stock has 7 coats of tru oil. I think I'll knock down the gloss with conditioner.  Just have to take the lock apart to put the same finish on it and it will be ready to put back together.

[hotfxr]

A thing of beauty. And it should give you joy, if not forever, at least for a long, long time!

[Cherrybow1]

That should have been two different pics..sorry

[Cherrybow1]

Wow! Just realized that I have been promoted  . I've made it to Trapper

[Hanshi]

I really like what you've done to that kit so far.  I've been wanting to do a kit for some time now.  Your project has worsened that itch. 

Note to Pilgrim:
As badgers get older they lose teeth, big time.  Still, I don't want to get "gummed" to death.  Uh, I forgot the claws. 

[Cherrybow1]

No better time than now to scratch that itch 😎. 

[pilgrim]

  Very nice Cherrybow1

[William]

Got some ramrod stock turned out of some hickory boards tonight and got one made for my project. Just about ready to get to the finishing stages!

Sorry I'm so late to the party, I'm not sure why I never got any notifications on this post. First.off, you've done a fine job on your rifle and I hope it becomes a family heirloom someday. My first Mongrel rifle has a cherry stock and last year I finished a cherry stocked 20 gauge trade rifle. Depending on the color you are after there are several ways of bringing out that great time cherry is known for.
A word on your ramrods though. Turning a rod produces a great finish but will hide run out, which you want to avoid as that is the spot it will snap when under pressure or being flexed. Several folks have impaled their hands because of this even when using hickory. A good wooden ramrod is split out from a length of wood so the fibers run the entire length of the rod. The Ramen wood dowels sold in the box stores has injured a few folks who didn't pay attention to the run out. Some folks use it for years with no problems. Other folks simply never use a wooden ramrod to load with, using a metal range for that and cleaning, simply keeping the wooden one under the barrel at all times.
You can get split out RR's from Track of the Wolf, The Log Cabin Shop and similar places.
Please let us know how your rifle shoots when you get a chance.

[Cherrybow1]

Thanks for your reply, William. I did make quite a few dowels so I can cull out the ones that do not have straight grain. Your point is well taken though. Last thing I want is for me or anyone else to be injured by me doing something "cheap". I do have many years experience in making bows and hand planing my own arrows. I am very aware of growth ring runout and how easily that can cause a failure.

[Hanshi]

Wow! Just realized that I have been promoted  . I've made it to Trapper

Trust me; it's not a promotion.  It's just our boss's way of charging you more money. 

[William]

Thanks for your reply, William. I did make quite a few dowels so I can cull out the ones that do not have straight grain. Your point is well taken though. Last thing I want is for me or anyone else to be injured by me doing something "cheap". I do have many years experience in making bows and hand planing my own arrows. I am very aware of growth ring runout and how easily that can cause a failure.

You're most welcome Cherrybow, your skills shine through in the finished product. I had a feeling you might already know about run out and the potential for a ramrod to fail under hard use but I wanted to err on the side of caution. The last time I saw the result of a wooden rod failure was from a short starter that broke and caused the users hand to be punctured through and through which took many months to heal. Just wanted to prevent another such injury. Again, your new muzzleloader looks 👍.

[Cherrybow1]

I've been working on finishing it up today. Had a little problem though.  I took it to the back yard to pop a cap nothing happened  !  I missed the lock placement by 1/16" .  My hammer was hitting the back side of the nipple and not getting to the bottom of the hammer  ....so I took the lock off, removed the hammer and heated it to a cherry red and bent it to where it needed to be (I let it air cool to room temp). It worked! Cap goes off every time now.  Question: Do I need to do anything else now to the hammer since I heated it up like that?
Finished pics coming soon.  Just need to put the final coats of tru oil on the new ramrod.

[Cherrybow1]

Got it done!

[Cherrybow1]

Few more pics: