I picked up this little carbine last year, 1899 dated and all matching numbers.
By the serial number and markings, this carbine is one of the batch of 300 carbines purchased by the Canadian Govt in 1899, a UK purchase sold out of British Army Stores (Edgecombe, P160).
A classic sporter now of the style that has been used for generations and has no doubt put meat on the table.
I decided to have a crack at it seeing that I had a chunk of nice old black walnut. Cut in the Niagara area about 75 years ago.
I had my camera at hand, which is a rarity and thought that I could chronicle the project. I almost remembered to take enough pics.
The carbine although in decent enough mechanical condition, was not looking it best for sure. The sportered wood had been varnished a long time ago and made it look dirty and dark. I used 'Circa 1850' brand paint stripper to lift off the varnish or shellac to reveal the true colour of the wood underneath. Nice Italian walnut of a shade typical of that used by Enfield at the turn of the 20th century. Shown here at the bottom to compare it to a couple of other carbine woods.
I had an original fore end which I 'borrowed' from another carbine to use as a pattern for copying. The master has a small block mounted with screws to the rear end and a small dimple drilled as a pivot point drilled into the nose. Evidence of these will be covered when the original carbine is re-assembled and will be invisible.
I cut a chunk of walnut and got it ready to mount into the duplicator machine which is basically a router bit ganged mechanically to a stylus. Wherever I move the stylus, the cutter follows the path of movement very closely. There is a bit of a knack in cutting and I have been developing my technique. I am at a point now where I am comfortable with showing things off. I have created lots of sawdust and a lot more scrap wood than successful wood sets to date, but the final fit and finish is getting better. I did quite a few 'practice' runs working on Nepaleses Cache Martini Francotte rifles, where a stock, if perfect would look out of place. Technique involves knowing the grain of the wood and cutting direction, cutter set up, finger tip touch and control for inletting. Basically practicing, making lots of mistakes (walnut makes great kindling) and getting to know the machine and its limitations.
The focus when making the stock is on the inletting and keeping the master and blank locked tight in the machine. Care needs to be taken to rotate the stocks and get everything re aligned and within close tolerance. The machine can hold twenty thousands of an inch if I do my part.
The exterior profile is rough cut oversize to allow for final shaping and to ensure that I have enough material to be able to remove all the cutter marks.
I fitted a repop nose cap that came from Twin Kauris in New Zealand. It is reworked a bit. And I fitted a barrel band which is one that I forged from one taken from a long lee Enfield rifle. Forging is used to remove the shoulders and draw the metal out to make the band longer.
This can be seen on this thread here. http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/881481-Lee-Enfield-Carbine-reproduction-nosecaps
The surface is still covered in file marks and is still a ways off from being finished. When I get the thing final sanded, I will then get going with alcohol based dye to match up the wood colour of all three pieces.
So this is how it sits at its first fit up. The handguard is an original, and the fit is good.
Total time into making the forearm...about two hours on the duplicator and another four to finish inletting and rough outside shaping. I'll probably spend another afternoon finish sanding and dyeing. I will then to start the BLO regime.
I have another carbine project where I will take a sportered and cut forearm and splice with some wood to extend it and then recut to profile.
I have few cut forearms that I think can be restored to original length this way.
It might just work.
Stay tuned.
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