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Carving Gunstock

As this artist says, "Life’s too short to hunt with an ugly gun."

From "Woodsculpting"
episode DWDS-110

Client holding his newly carved rifle adorned with a mule deer scene.

Bill Janney with client, Mark Metzger, finding the right design.

Bill Janney, a wood sculptor from central Ohio, specializes in relief gunstock carvings. Growing up in a rural community in the mid-west, Bill shared an interest in guns with his father who was a cabinetmaker. Around age 14, Bill was given his first gun. And, he didn't know it at the time, but that love of guns and his father's influence in woodworking would spawn a second career after Bill's retirement.

Bill begins each piece of art by designing the scene. He gets his inspiration from various resources, selecting some design ideas using clip art books, photographs, and the internet. Once selected, he re-draws the design onto a full-size silhouette of the rifle. Then after the customer approves the design, Bill begins to carve. Once the carving is complete, the beautiful art is delivered to the customer and it's on to begin the next project.

Materials:

blank gunstock
high-speed rotary drill (with various bits)
high-speed micro reciprocating chisel (with various bits)
clip art, photographs, drawings
magnifying glasses
dust mask
applique film, or transfer paper
copy machine
small paintbrush
oil-based stain
bri wax, or butcher's wax - a wax with beeswax, carnuba, etc. - with a stain
shoe polish brush

Figure A

Steps:

1. Decide on design elements using different resources such as clip art books and photographs.
2. Copy and cut out those design elements. Then, arrange them on a piece of paper to come up with the overall design of the carving (Figure A).

3. Copy the design again onto a single sheet of paper (Figure B).

4. For pre-visualization, lay out that design on paper in a full-size replica drawing of the gun (Figure C).

Figure B

Figure C

5. Copy the final design onto the applique film, or transfer paper, and trim to fit gunstock (Figure D).

6. After removing all of the working parts of the gun, remove the adhesive backing on the applique film, or transfer paper, and apply the design directly onto the gunstock (Figure E).

Figure D

Figure E

7. Using the reciprocating chisel, trace the outer outlines of the design elements using a v-shaped chisel bit (Figure F). Outlining this way helps just in case the stencil should come off during carving (Figures G & H).

Figure F

Figure G

Figure H

8. Once the design is outlined, remove the excess stencil paper leaving the stencil only in the more detailed design elements, such as the mule deer in this design (Figure I).

9. Using the rotary drill with a fine tip bit, chisel to add detail and round off any sharp edges (Figure J).

Figure I

Figure J

10. Next using a football bit in the rotary drill, begin to remove the excess wood from around the outlined areas (Figure K). This will give you a deeper line when removing the background from the larger areas of the design.

11. Now, using a flat chisel blade in the reciprocating chisel, remove excess background from design (Figure L). This allows you to remove more wood from bigger areas, while following the outline cuts.

Figure K

Figure L

12. Change back to the rotary drill and using a small diamond bit, begin to contour the more detail areas of the design (Figure M).

13. Using a larger ceramic bit, soften, or round-off, the edges of the contoured areas (Figure N).

Figure M

Figure N

14. Switch between a variety of bits in the rotary drill, depending on the details of the design, to finish the intricate parts of the piece (Figures O & P).

Figure O

Figure P

15. Once the carving is complete, apply oil-based stain with a small brush (Figures Q & R). After the stain has dried for 20 minutes, remove any excess with a soft cloth.

16. Next apply a coat of bri wax to the completed carving (Figure S). This is where you can really see the design come to life. By using wax with stain color in it, areas like fine cut details where the wax accumulates will not turn white.

Figure Q

Figure R

Figure S