Noob from England
Hi everyone on this wonderful forum :D,
Firstly, my grateful thanks to Tony for sorting me out out – due to my limited forum knowledge I screwed up when registering (don’t ask) and he put everything right 😎
I’ve lurked for a few weeks to get a feel for the place, had a chuckle at the banter on here and I decided this was a pretty cool place to be! I’m looking to get a .177 Cricket standard in wood / walnut ordered in the not too distant future, hopefully before Christmas but I guess that depends on availability. The appeal of the Cricket for me is it’s widely reported accuracy, quietness, and shot count plus it’s just under 27″ including the shroud & moderator. It’ll end up the usual uk sub 12ft/lb hence .177 caliber choice.
Good to be here on the TAG amongst all you knowledgeable folk,
Ian
All Replies
Your work is truly outstanding, beautiful in fact, I’m not a Ukulele player but I can appreciate high quality craftsmanship when I see it!!
Thanks Kaliman !
Ebony, when it comes that day I actually run out of it I’ll be using a substitute.
Gabon Ebony sold for about 80-100 US dollars a board foot back in 2000 if one can find it.
Premium Curly Koa at that time sold for as much as $300 a board foot.
Although Koa is not as rare as people think, it’s greatly prized by the locals here more so than Ebony.
To bad it’s not as durable as Ebony is for fret boards ……..
~ ATB ~ Greg
I wondered how long it would take for you to get back on the African ebony sacrilege :biggrinn:
Your work is truly outstanding, beautiful in fact, I’m not a Ukulele player but I can appreciate high quality craftsmanship when I see it!!
:biggrinn:
NO Sir, not for gun stocks !
I’m a Luthier, I build custom Ukuleles.
I used hardwoods for fret boards and bridges mostly and some inlay work also.
My website http://gkuhi.tripod.com/
~ Greg
Very nice end result in the video GKU, that guy’s very talented, whatever I end up doing will depend on the look of the stock I get. I’ve only seen African ebony on old household ornaments – and they were pretty heavy items I recall. I reckon the iron acetate approach could being a bit experimental in that no two pieces of wood will turn out absolutely identical, it’s not something I’d use on my stock although there’s no reason it wouldn’t look superb, I picked up on the India ink with the shellac in it thinking if the worst happened and you ended up marking your wood stock, you can pretty much guarantee that touching it up again will be easy – that’s my theory anyway.
Will you be using the exotic wood for any projects? Not sure how heavy a Cricket stock would be in African ebony but it’d sure look good! 
If you have questions about polishing the barrel just ask sir ville, he probably has a guide somewhere.
:tag:
Hi and thanks Cricket, I haven’t cleaned my barrel in over a year due to having a smooth twist on a Verminator MKII – seriously, that thing just doesn’t seem to foul up at all! I usually clean the barrel on a new airgun before using it then run a tin of pellets through it before doing anything else, haven’t polished or crowned one though but I’ll take your advice and look into doing that, I read one of Sir Ville’s post’s on the very same thing, anything to increase accuracy and prolong the time between the cleaning ritual is very welcome – even for us “UK Clowns shooting their guns at 12 fpe/ 16 Joule” :angrymob: 😆 😆
If I’m not happy with the wood appearance I’ll try ebonizing using Speedball India ink black as recommended by Les Casteel in this video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0E7E6uSPJY – I watched all of it but you can cut to the part I am on about starting at 20:57 if interested.
Kaliman
You could try Faux Wood Grain Technique.
Interesting video on Ebonizing, I thought iron acetate was only possible on maple ?
I have a tons of African Ebony and other exotic hardwoods, from before the band.
~ Greg
Hello, I have the .177 cricket standard with the wb stock, a recommendation (not only to cricket but all air rifles) is to polish the inside of your barrel and crowning for it will increase accuracy and prolong cleaning of the barrel. My cricket was a bit off at first but after a polish it is dead on!
If you have questions about polishing the barrel just ask sir ville, he probably has a guide somewhere.
:tag:
Thank you Rrdstarr, as Cadre you must have held a key position.
It does make you wonder at the logic behind some laws around the world regarding pellet guns. The LDC issues faced by shooters in some Countries is unfortunate, maybe it should be compulsory for law makers to regularly attend shooting ranges without hearing protection…
this Kaliman guy shoots back :angrymob: :4:
Wait til the Cricket arrives 😈 :winkn:
Welcome aboard Noobie! I haven’t said that since I was Cadre at the JFK Special Warfare centre!
Sure wish we could have the Bullpups in Canada and LDC’s for that matter. Bullpups just make for a compact hunting rifle. With the coast forests being so heavily over-grown and Cricket would be nice. I have a custom Discovery with a custom stock and muzzle brake makes for a fairly long rifle.
Cheers!
LOOK OUT FELLAS,
this Kaliman guy shoots back :angrymob: :4:
I’ve lurked for a few weeks to get a feel for the place, had a chuckle at the banter on here and I decided this was a pretty cool place to be!
Careful about that lurking :angrymob:
I might take identity theft personal. :rofl:
:tag: Ian
Thank you Lurker 😀
Ahh yes, but unlike you – yes I checked the database :ugeekn: ….. I have a lurking license giving me totally unlimited powers of lurkability without redress :rofl:
Hi and thanks GKU, I read your stock hack post with interest, I only found out the other day that they don’t use any kind of walnut for the WB model – shame, it looks good on the Kalibr web site. I prefer the PLB for looks but it seems there’s a weight price to pay so I am considering taking the WB stock and reworking it so it (hopefully) ends up looking a bit like this.
If I’m not happy with the wood appearance I’ll try ebonizing using Speedball India ink black as recommended by Les Casteel in this video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0E7E6uSPJY – I watched all of it but you can cut to the part I am on about starting at 20:57 if interested.
Kaliman
I’ve lurked for a few weeks to get a feel for the place, had a chuckle at the banter on here and I decided this was a pretty cool place to be!
Careful about that lurking :angrymob:
I might take identity theft personal. :rofl:
:tag: Ian
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I’ve seen graphite fingerboards on a few bass guitars, and I have heard of phenolic as an ebony substitute for fingerboards, I’m not sure about wear rate although that may not be an issue with non steel strings, whether it would be suitable for traditional instruments is another matter altogether. I think you can still get Gabon Ebony easily enough but whether you can get it in the lengths you need is another matter, I don’t know anything about koa except it has a warm look and very nice grain – as shown on your stock post 😎