Hi Y'all,
CORE and I have been discussing his getting a blank from me, and after discussing several options, I will be doing more than building the blank. Being from Puerto Rico and being in the US Military, he doesn't have access to the tools to build the gun since he is currently stationed in Georgia. So, I will be doing most of the build here in Alabama, with participation from the Tin Man on some parts of the gun.
I think the three of are going to end up with a pretty interesting build, some of which I haven't seen the likes of anywhere so far.
We'll start with one of my blanks (what else?). It will be FEQ (Burmese) teak, 56" long overall, tapering from 2" wide at the butt to 1.75" wide at the tip, and tapering from 1.75" high at the butt to 1.5" high at the tip. It has 6 vertical laminations and 1 horizontal lam across the top. After planing the excess glue off the blank, it is dead square and absolutely straight across the top and sides (I can't get a .005" feeler gauge under any of the blank while it's sitting on a straight edge.)
I'll cut an enclosed wood track with a 6" dovetailed delrin muzzle reinforcement for the 5/16" shaft The gun will use a Neptonics trigger mech and handle, with the mech and handle being mounted 2-3" from the butt end.
The blank was finished today, so now I'll hang it for about 4 weeks, checking it each week to see if there is any warping or bowing along the sides or top. After that, the fun part starts. I'll start with the track and go from there.
Now comes the hardest part- waiting a month before we can get to the fun part! I'll post the progress as we go!
Bill