Henry Rifle Forums

Red Heart Hunter....

I found this blank mixed in with some other wood and got started today.... it might be a slow process as I plan to tool the spine and try and polish the scales to a glass finish. I will put in a copper spacer to accent the Red Heart wood in the scales.

Red Heart is a hard wood, with reds, yellows, pinks, and even hints of purple. Let's hope that all the colors show up.
We will see as the project goes along. As I process the wood, I don't think I'll need liners or accents for this one. It should stand alone.

The first real step in the project is to measure the blank for bookmatching, or cutting it down the middle to make two scales from the one piece. Done right, it opens up like the pages of a book.


I measured with the ruler first, then used the compass to make reference marks along the side. Using the ruler I made a bold line I could see well.


Moving to the bandsaw, I used the 123 block to insure the blade was square to the table, and made my cut.


Slow and steady, not forcing the wood thru, but it's a very hard wood and it decided to burn anyway.


I'll clean up both flats on the sander.

As thin as the blanks are, I didn't want to try and hold them in my hand. I have burned the ends of my fingers on the belt sander before and it's not an accident I want to repeat. The Cabinet Maker's Clamp works well here.


As long as you hold the piece flat and let the SANDER do the work, not applying too much pressure this works GREAT.
* Yes, the sander is OFF for the photo... (Safety)


I sanded all four flats on the two scales, and didn't worry about the one flaw in the panel, I can orient the knife blank to work around that area. I didn't want to sand the blank too thin to try and remove it when I COULD work around it. The copper bar stock is marked for cutting later, to make the accent pieces near the guard. I'll get to that.

I dyed the spine so I could lay out the area for tooling. Using the compass, I laid out the 1/4" spacing. Slow and steady, a careful layout will result in a better end tooling than a rush job. I am getting better at this tooling thing, but far from perfection. Lot's to learn.

One area where I have made a mistake is when the pattern I chose called for alternating cuts on the spine. This time I not only laid out the spacing, but the cuts are marked with triangles on the sides I want to file references before cutting. Look for the little triangles which will mark the initial filing. Should help me NOT to file on the wrong side of the lines.

My time was up, may get back out in the shop after lunch. NOT going to rush... I want to see this turn out better than the last. That should be my motto. "Each one better than the last."

I was back out after lunch and carefully cut the reference notches with the Dremel and a cutting wheel. The little reference marks definitely made things easier for me.


I switched over to a cone shaped carbide cutter and cut the grooves in the spine, and the beginning of the pattern began to show. I have the start. I will decide what else, if anything else, I'll add later. It looks much better than a plain spine now. Most likely I'll at least round off all the sharp corners to make it "Flow."


Buff away the dye with 1,000 grit sandpaper, and a little polish just to tease....


I push that aside and get on to the real PITA work... cutting that copper bar to make the accent strips. I cut partway thru with the angle grinder, then finish off with the hacksaw. Long and energy draining process. I get them rough cut. Then I match the factory edges and a corner on both, keep the spray bottle handy and clamp them and use the 80 grit belt on the bench grinder and match the other edge by grinding them together while clamped. Slow and sure, cooling a lot...

We get there. The afternoon's work and I'm done for now.



We are just getting started, and hopefully it's all worth it in the end.

Got out in the morning to do some polishing. Started with 220 and a spritz of water and a swipe of dawn as usual. The barstock is in the pic for reference.


Rinse well, move up to 320, and repeat.


Each phase of the wet sanding takes about 20 minutes of hand work on these small pieces. I only sanded both sides at 220, when I moved up, I just sanded the Show Face. Now to 600... I'll stop here for now, and polish higher once we are glued up.


I did polish the contact sides to 320 to assure a nice fit against the blade guard and the wood contact surfaces when they are polished as well. The copper accents will go here:


A peek at the complimentary relationship with the wood and the copper.

Went out to work on the scales and after marking the layouts I prepared to cut them out on the bandsaw and noticed an issue. Look closely, you'll see that one of them is not the same thickness as the other. Turns out that they are both NOT flat and square.


I didn't "Want" to try and correct this issue on the belt sander. If the piece got away from me it could:

a) fly across the room and shatter against the wall...
b) get sucked into the discharge chute and get broken into several pieces....
c) cause your hand to contact that moving belt and ...

None of these options are in any way attractive. Especially option C.

So, I dug out my carrier board, and some two sided tape. For thin pieces of material I attach them to the carrier and have them ride thru the lunchbox planer on the board, taking very thin passes. Usually works very well. The Tape goes on the Show Face, and that goes down.


Bottoms up on the carrier board, with the thinnest side facing forward. I got her set up so that the first pass barely touches the scales. Each future pass was raised minutely and patience is a virtue. This is a hardwood and I don't want to damage the scales at this point. After a half dozen passes I was still barely making contact with the high edges and things are going well...


Then, it wasn't. The whirling blades caught on something along one edge of one of the scales and pulled the tape loose, the scale bound up. The blade cut a divot in the bottom of the scale. I think I may have said some things.. I won't swear to it.

Work had stopped for the afternoon.


I don't rush when these things happen, I'll give her some thought and decide how to move forward. Can it be fixed and the scales salvaged? Do I change the name of the post and use different scales? We shall see, watch this space...

I decided it wasn't too late and went on out to the shop. I looked at the error again.


I had a cool option, an off cut from an cutting board I made a year or two ago. I always thought this will make a nice knife handle. Different anyway. I'll still use it, just a matter of when.


I looked hard at the depth of the error, and the thinnest section of the scales. I marked the sides with a marking gauge. Hmmm. I think I can flatten them both to the same thickness looking at the scale pattern marked on the good side, and they will work out. Worst case, I add a liner to the back side to thicken them up a bit. Use the right color liner, and it's just an accent.


I put a new 80 grit belt on the sander, used the Cabinet Maker's Clamp to hold them. Not getting my fingers close to that belt again... and worked away. An hour later, they pretty much match... at least well enough to work. I think. Tomorrow I'll cut them out to the rough shape, and test the thickness. If need be, I'll line them, and we'll work from there. Stay tuned.

One thing I won't do, is hide my mistakes. We can all learn from them. I'll even tell you when I make one big enough to start over. I know I have in the past. Yup, I know I'm still learning.