How Do You Spell Pressure? R-E-L-I-E-F

Now that everyone has learned all they care to learn about an encoder... Yes, sorry, I should never have attempted to make that subject amusing in any way, shape, or form. Mea Culpa!

How about we turn to another of my hobbies for a little levity, and a bit of concentration on craftsmanship. That would be, Hobby Gunsmithing. OK, OK, maybe there won't be much levity...

I think this hobby was one of the reasons I gave up drinking. You can't have shaking hands or clouded thoughts when dealing with firearms. Whether working on their innards, or attempting to use them for the purpose for which they were designed. Clear heads MUST prevail.

What does a hobby gunsmith do? Very astute question. Answer; whatever his or her ability and or training and knowledge allow him or her to do competently. Nothing more, nothing less.

This is not like working on a toaster that only toasts one side of the bread. If you stick a screwdriver into that thing with the juice plugged in, the sparks and smoke will immediately tell you you did something wrong. You might even get tactile feedback with a shock, and, when the AC voltage drops midway through  the sine wave, you can let go of the toaster, onto your foot.

No, working with and on firearms is very serious business. Every, and I mean every, firearm is different. Despite the appearance that two seemingly identical model firearms sit side by side, they are not identical. Even in this modern age of precision CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machining centers, able to produce parts with incredible accuracy and tolerances, when precision firearms are assembled (by the hand of man or woman), they inevitably will not be identical in one way or another. They will be very close to the same, but not identical.

Each firearm is unique, the fit of the parts, the quality and rarity of the wood in the stock/s. The crispness of the trigger pull, the uniformity of the finish can all contribute to this uniqueness. Considerable consideration must given to each firearm, because the possibility of ruination looms mightily with each tool that is touched to its surface.

I have personally experienced dread and fear as I plunged a Pfeil D7/10 gouge into the walnut of my M1A Springfield rifle to begin a relief carving. There was no going back, that cut could not be repaired. The reason for the dread was, this happened after completing 40+ hours of checkering to this formally plain, military stock. The checkering came out really well, and I did not want to ruin this thing after all that work. I had never attempted something like this before. Yes, I had carved a few things in the past, but a cedar sign is not a 1990's era M1A National Match, with a "perfect" walnut stock. Besides, this was MY rifle, what if it was a friend's one-of-a-kind?...holy heartburn.

So, after completely carving the "test" shamrock in some scrap walnut first, and being satisfied I could pull it off, I plunged that razor sharp gouge into the stock. "God help me, I'm committed now." Well,  the first shamrock came out very well, and I'm knee deep into its mirror image on the other side of the stock. Here is what it looks like before application of six coats of finish...

I reckon I have more than succeeded in making this unique rifle even more unique.

More to follow...thanks for reading.

Do the right thing.

Gaff