Carving Oak Leaf Patterns On Rifle Stocks???

[woodsman1st]

Hi to all;
I am very interested in carving on gun stocks. I would really like to carve an oak leaf pattern on the pistol grip and forearm on an old rifle I have; this rifle is so old that I dont mind if my first attempt leaves a lot to be desired.

I have a lot of experience inletting barrelled actions into new stocks and also checkering my own rifles; and have done quite well with both. But I have very little experience with carving and want to carve an oak leaf pattern on an old rifle to start with. I am going to buy the beginners carving set that I saw in this forum. How difficult will this be for a beginner?

Are there patterns that I can buy somewhere that I can transfer onto the wood to help get me started. I used to buy patterns to use in checkering my firearms; and hope that something simular can be had for carving oak leaves etc onto wood. Any ideas anyone? I am open to suggestions.

Take care all
Ken

[Dan C]

Ken - There's nothing better than going right to the original source. I'm going to be carving an oak leaf myself on one of my current carvings, and while I was out walking in the woods today, I kept an eye out for an oak leaf that looked like what I wanted to carve. (There are a lot of different kinds of oak leaves - big and small) I've got it home now between two pieces of wax paper in between the pages of a heavy book letting it dry out nice and flat until I need it for a pattern reference.

You can then draw your own pattern from looking at the actual leaf, or I suppose you could put a piece of tracing paper over the leaf and then take a graphite pencil and rub the lead sideways over the leaf from side to side to transfer the image of the leaf onto the paper.

Since no two leaves are the same, anything you come up with free-hand from looking at the actual leaf should be very acceptable, and the graphite transfer method probably wouldn't be necessary, but it is another option to consider.

Dan C.

[Just Carving]

Here's a magazine issue with an article that might be of some help in the oak leaf pattern department:

Woodcarving Illustrated - Spring 2008 Issue #42

Scroll down and click on the photo of the clock and you'll get an idea of whether you can use it or not.

Here's another source of oak leaf patterns (from Lora Irish's website--she's known as "Irish" on this forum:

Woodcarving Patterns Online, Oak and Grape Carving Patterns

Oak and Maple Mantel Wood Carving Pattern Package

And finally, a thread on oak leaf carving:

oak leaf

Bob L

[mdallensr]

I sat through Bill Janney's one-hour seminar on gun stock carving. A couple of us noted his patterns reminded us of leather carving patterns and Bill agreed. The carvings are very shallow relief, and that's just what leather carving is. If you can find some of those pattern books in the library, they should help. Mike

[Woods Witch]

Hi Ken, I usually don't post much, just lurk. I have been carving on gunstocks for a little over a year and I can tell you that some of the results vary if you are removing existing checkering. Some guns have factory checkering that is relatively deep, so you have to go down a bit to remove it and replace it with your own design. Oak leaves are always beautiful on gunstocks, good luck. don't know if I helped but if you want to take a look at my work and you think I can help, please don't hesitate!Picasa Web Albums - carolyn - Woods Witch#

[Tooljunke]

Hello, there are several good books on the market about "Gun stock" Carving. I have the one by Bill Janney and it has some excellent patterns in it with leaves , fish scales,basket weaves , etc. Check out your local library or you can buy two different books right here from Fox Chapel
My Wood working page
My Page Of Woodworking Projects

[Riocia]

Originally Posted by Tooljunke

Hello, there are several good books on the market about "Gun stock" Carving. I have the one by Bill Janney and it has some excellent patterns in it with leaves , fish scales,basket weaves , etc. Check out your local library or you can buy two different books right here from Fox Chapel
My Wood working page
My Page Of Woodworking Projects

This site has load of unnecessary cookies on it...best avoided!