I owe a friend a favor or two and he’s calling one of these favors.
He has a nice streight section of birch trunk, aproximately 7 inches in diam and 48 inches long. The ends are sealed with paint to slow down any checking, and it’s been drying for aproximately a year.
Now the problem. He wants to use a ‘center section’ of the wood, aproximately 2.5″ thick to make a reproduction gun stock for a punt gun. This is a short (30 to 36 inch) stock with a long, HEAVY barrel. The barrel rests on a swivel (think oar-lock). I have driven a screw into each end to locate the center of the wood and made a sacrificial sled to support it. I plan on using several screws in the end supports to keep the log from turning.
Next I will run it through my bandsaw with a resaw blade to slab off the two sides. After that, a bit of rough shaping and then left to air dry for at least two years. Yes, I’m careful that no screws from this holder will be in the way of any cuts I make.
Now my question…. What important step did I forget?? As the log is now sitting in a wooden ‘lathe’, how should I rotate it before locking it in for the best grain orientation, or should I rotate it for the largest possible center section?
Thanks SawdustSteve
Replies
I think you stumped 'em, Steve. I have a friend who might be able to help, will shoot him an email.
Steve,
I'm curious. Why did you center the trunk on a wood lathe? Wouldn't it be easier to make a right angle sled? The sled would support one side against the fence and the bottom. I would just run a screw into the log at the back and front to keep it from moving. You could slab off one side and then flip the log over so the flat side was against the fence and take off the other side. This seems safer to me. Hope this makes sense.
BTW. I'm the friend, FG spoke of.
Len
"You cannot antagonize and influence at the same time. " J. S. Knox
Hi Len... Sorry about the decription. The way the log is set up in its holder, it looks like it is mounted between two centers on a lathe. SawdustSteve
Steve,
Have you seen either of these sites?
http://lumberjocks.com/projects/2400
http://www.kevinsbrady.net/LogSled.html
It's simliar to what I've done before. Hope this helps.Len
"You cannot antagonize and influence at the same time. " J. S. Knox
I see a problem. As the log is only 7" diameter and you need a 2 1/2" thick slab, that means the pith will be in the slab you cut, and having the pith included causes a lot of problems with checking and cracking. The pith should always be excluded from the wood you cut. I am an old gunsmith also, in another life, and know what a punt gun is, and I would probably try to use a wood that is more traditional, ie. walnut.
If he intends to fire the punt gun eventually, with anything nearing a full load, the recoil will be considerable. I also believe it will be illegal to use this gun for actual hunting of waterfowl if it is of a normal caliber for a punt gun. 10 gauge is the current maximum size, I think, and old punt guns were much larger and could be loaded with a pound or more of shot. The recoil from this type of gun is enough to tax even a very strong stock and they were not fired from a shoulder position normally. They were braced in the bow of a rowboat or such and fired into a group of waterfowl, hopefully killing many with one shot.
Be careful.
Bruce
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