Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Smith & Wesson 629 presentation case 8, project completed.

The remaining part of the felt lining was installed and after letting the glue dry for a day, I used a sharp and pointed knife to cut away the felt covering the 50 holes for the individual pieces of ammunition.

The hinges were mounted and so were the latches for keeping the box closed.

Finally I chiseled MMXVIII in the underside of the box marking the completion of the project.

After taking some pictures, I handed the box over to my friend, and he said that he would send me some pictures with the revolver and the ammunition loaded in the box. But off course this will only be after we sign off.


Thoughts about the build:

I like making small box like projects, and this one had a nice manageable size. It ended up being 8" x 16" x 3".
There isn't much wood in a project like this, and the size of the parts make it fairly easy to process out here.

At first I was a bit skeptical to the dovetail lay out, I was afraid that it might look weird. But I am glad that I went along with it, because I actually think that it looks fine. And I especially like the way I managed to split the lid and the base so that after trimming, the divided pin that is very close to the other pins in size.

My experimental finishing is probably the biggest success in this build. The surface feels very smooth, but it is not super shiny. And I really like the look of it.

Mounting the felt lining was a bit harder compared to other projects I have done, due to the partitions in the base of the box. Cutting the holes for the ammunition block felt luckily went as planned, though it took quite some time to carefully nibble away with a really sharp knife.

The latches worked and looked better than I had expected. They are not cast, but made out of some thin stamped brass that has been given a surface treatment to look old. Originally thought that they looked kind of flimsy, but I am glad that I chose those since I think they look very fitting.

I haven't timed the build, but an estimate is that I have roughly 25 hours in it. It isn't a very fast build, but the stock preparation takes a lot of time when you have to do the resawing by hand.

All in all I think this is one of my better builds, and I am even a bit envious that I can't bring the box home with me. I guess that is a fine indication that the project hasn't been a complete disaster.

Smith & Wesson 629 presentation case opened.

Two latches for closing.

Close up of front corner.

Ammunition block lower left corner.

Close up of felt termination in angled groove.

Box before cutting 50 holes and mounting hinges and latches.




14 comments:

  1. It looks amazing. The dovetails really pop. The new owner of this box should be thrilled with it. And, I like your close-up photography!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Brian.

      Thanks for the nice comment.
      I think he will be real proud when he brings his gun to the shooting range and can really show off having a custom built case for it.

      Taking the pictures in another location than a messy workshop makes wonders.
      I am glad that you can see the difference compared to my usual pictures.

      Brgds Jonas

      Delete
  2. Jonas,

    It looks great, you are a good friend to have and I'm sure it goes both ways,

    ken

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Ken

      Thanks for the nice comment. I try my best to be a decent person (though it is not always easy).

      Brgds
      Jonas

      Delete
  3. Nicely done, Jonas. The box looks fantastic. Great details.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks a lot for the nice comment. Brian is a great inspiration when it comes to actually posting pictures of details.

      Brgds
      Jonas

      Delete
  4. I agree with you Jonas, that half split dovetail pin look great. Good job buddy.

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Bob.

      Apparently it pays of to plan a bit ahead sometimes.
      I had made an allowance for about 3 mm (1/8") so I could saw down the middle between two lines and still clean them up with a plane.

      Brgds Jonas (Who will be scratching the ears of Bertha in a weeks time)

      Delete
  5. Looks great all around, enjoyed following this, Jonas, thanks.
    Jeff

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Jeff.

      Thanks for the nice comment.
      One of the bet things about the build was when another crew member saw the box, and said that he would like it. He didn't have a gun to put in it, but he thought that it was so nice to touch and looked so good, that he could probably find something else to put into it.

      That reassured me, that I wasn't the only one who thought it looked fine.

      Brgds
      Jonas

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  6. excellent job!
    as a custom gunsmith I have done this a few times.
    as for the holes for cartridges, I just cut "+"in fabric(leather) when you push cartridge in this stops them from rattling

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Paul.

      Thanks for the nice comment.
      Your idea for cartridge holder holes is great. I had at first thought a bit about if I should try to do something similar and glue the surplus fabric into the hole. I decided that it would most likely become a mess, so I didn't give it a try.

      My biggest concern still is if the gun will actually fit in the box.
      All I had was some measurements taken by a friend of my friend, but on a different model of 629, it had a shorter barrel, and When I tried to tell my friend that I actually needed the total length, he sort of look puzzled and said that the frame was still the same on the two guns. So I had to find a profile picture on the Internet and measure and calculate etc. to try and figure out where the starting or ending point was on the barrel.
      This one is for a barrel length of 8.375"

      I actually wouldn't mind making another one of those boxes, now that I have a little bit of experience. Then I could also use the leather trick.

      Best regards
      Jonas

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  7. Replies
    1. Hi Mitchell

      Thanks for the nice comment.
      It never stops to amaze me how big a difference it makes to glue in a bit of green felt in a box. The transformation is immediate.

      Brgds
      Jonas

      Delete