Rem 870 Project

[tonytigerhk45]

Hello everybody, this is what I've been working on in between cold weather and the flu. I had it blued
yesterday hope it come's out right.

[eastslope]

Now that is really cool. Dumb question, how did you get the gun white like that? Paint, China White? That's a whole lotta area to cover. Thanks for showing, Seth

[tonytigerhk45]

Thanks Seth, the white is just flat white spray paint. You can draw and erase for days on it. To remove it
use Acetone, the full strength not the finger nail kind.

[Peter E]

COOL WIP pics Tony.

Thanks for posting them. I hope to see it after bluing and polishing.

[Steve223]

Nice work that will sure will be a nice 870.

[D.Ellis]

I Like that. How was the 870 to cut?
Thanks,
Darcy

[tonytigerhk45]

Hey Darcy, thanks for the compliment. I used hammer and chisel and had a little rough cuts in certain
areas. I think it might have been because I had a lot of vibration when I was cutting or the tool was
getting dull. But it was ok pretty much.

[Arnaud Van Tilburgh]

Tony thanks for sharing, nice to see the different steps.
I understand engraving is also new for you as it is for me.
Never tried hammer and chisel, perhaps it is harder than using the power tools.

If I may say so, your design looks quite big, perhaps it is to avoid the little details, but I think cutting the leavers so big, looks like small leaves with magnification, so perhaps cutting smaller leaves and scrolls could have looked better as than you don' need much shadow lines and one see the mistakes less as it is smaller.

Did you first tried it on a practice plate?

arnaud

[D.Ellis]

Thanks Tony. Those 870's are a pretty big canvas and quite affordable too. I may have to pick one up to try. From what I have heard the sides can be a bit springy to cut without some sort of support inside the action. That may have been why you found it a bit rough in certain areas. You certainly made for a fine looking 870 though with that design.......and not a clone of anyone elses work either:thumbs up:. Hope to see the pics of it blued soon.
Darcy

[Marcus Hunt]

Hi Tony, thanks for posting this; you certainly took on a huge canvas! The good points are that you got the growth of the scrolls correct.

Hammer and chisel work is not easy and takes many hours of practice to get it to look right. For inspiration from this type of work look at pictures of guns from continental Europe, especially Belgium. Your vise needs to be heavy too, especially for something this size. If it isn't you'll constantly be fighting the vise's will to tip over as you strike the chisel and it's not easy with both hands full to control the vise as well. With H&C it's well worth experimenting with standing up and 'walking around' your vise. This will help prevent all the elbows in your scrolls.

Arnaud is correct in pointing out that the scrolls are too large for the design. The larger the scroll the more difficult it is to fill it with shading. The problem with such a big 'canvas' is how to fill it. The novice's approach is often big action = big scrolls. Wrong! Big action = more scrolls, not larger ones. This means your designing needs to be spot on. Again, back to the drawing board and get that pencil and paper out. Do study other people's scroll and read Ron's book on scroll design thoroughly until you understand it.

Sorry to be picky but I think you need some tips.