Looking for ideas.

I have been commissioned to do a project with plenty of lead time, two years to be exact.

We have an organization that puts on a Veterans and Family reunion every year for all military vets. It's a three day event, I had a booth there last year. Anyway, in two years it will be the 30th annual event. They are having a special Henry rifle made to raffle off and have asked me to make a wall mount for it. It's going to be walnut to go with the wood used in the rifle, but other than that I don't know what I'm going to do. It will be an open display, no glass, and there will be a brass plaque on it somewhere.

I want to make this super special so I'm looking for ideas of what to carve. I would like to put a carved boarder on the outside, rope perhaps. If anyone has any good ideas please speak up, I would appreciate it. Thanks!

If you have a membership with Vectorclip3d.com they are plenty of real nice patterns for you to use. If not, you can still buy patterns individually, just have a look and if you find something you like, email me and I'll have it transferred in the "pay per file collection".
suzanne@vectorclip3d.com

What a fun project that is going to be. With the Henry going back to the 1850's the field is wide open.

Do you have an idea on where you are leaning to? military scenes from the different wars, memorial scene, western/frontier theme, old versus new guns?

I have been working on a wall mount design for an AR10 I am having built (though its a modern gun so has a completely different feel). The mount is still in the concept phase and the spouse hasn't authorized its use yet. Still needs a lot of work but the memorial part is composed of patterns shared on the site.

dehrlich -

Rather than a rope boarder how about something like . . . . barbed wire? A steady hand with a silver paint pen could work perhaps. When I did the Winchester 94 mount for my friend last month I initially thought of a walnut mount too; but a walnut gun stock on a walnut mount sorta blends too much for me. I ended up going with a walnut boarder w/cherry center. The cherry will darken over time somewhat but will still allow the rifle to stand out rather than blend-in. Ash or maple would work well too.

Attachment 75066

I also have a pending Henry job . . . . for mounting two Henrys on one wall mount (how friends can come up with so much work for me). Have an idea for mounting them vertically as wall room is at a premium; that may allow me to use my magnetic mounting technique which I really like. At first I was thinking of a barrel-to-barrel (in profile) configuration but now considering barrels to the outside with 'HENRY REPEATING ARMS' or some such thing carved between. Takes awhile to flesh things out and many ideas come and go along the way . . . . as we all know! Good luck with the project. Be sure to post pictures when you finish it.

Beautiful job, Mike. I like the idea of the contrast, too. Your mount is gorgeous and really shows off the rifle.

Wonderful work Mike! :)

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Originally Posted by Iron Mike

dehrlich -

Rather than a rope boarder how about something like . . . . barbed wire? A steady hand with a silver paint pen could work perhaps. When I did the Winchester 94 mount for my friend last month I initially thought of a walnut mount too; but a walnut gun stock on a walnut mount sorta blends too much for me. I ended up going with a walnut boarder w/cherry center. The cherry will darken over time somewhat but will still allow the rifle to stand out rather than blend-in. Ash or maple would work well too.

Attachment 75066

I also have a pending Henry job . . . . for mounting two Henrys on one wall mount (how friends can come up with so much work for me). Have an idea for mounting them vertically as wall room is at a premium; that may allow me to use my magnetic mounting technique which I really like. At first I was thinking of a barrel-to-barrel (in profile) configuration but now considering barrels to the outside with 'HENRY REPEATING ARMS' or some such thing carved between. Takes awhile to flesh things out and many ideas come and go along the way . . . . as we all know! Good luck with the project. Be sure to post pictures when you finish it.

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One reason I had thought of using walnut is this is going to be a really detailed gun, engraved brass and all so I thought it would make the brass pop. Perhaps mahogany would be a good choice, or cherry as suggested. I like the magnetic mount that was mentioned, how does that work and do you have to worry about scratching the gun when it's taken off?

I haven’t finished it yet but this is what I’m doing with my Winchester model 94 Golden Spike Commemorative.

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Originally Posted by dehrlich

One reason I had thought of using walnut is this is going to be a really detailed gun, engraved brass and all so I thought it would make the brass pop. Perhaps mahogany would be a good choice, or cherry as suggested. I like the magnetic mount that was mentioned, how does that work and do you have to worry about scratching the gun when it's taken off?

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The 30-30 Winchester had no feature which would scratch the board wherever it touched. I inset them into the back of the board to within 1/16" of the front surface. They must be placed where 'steel' parts of the rifle will be touching the board in order to hold securely. The side profile of the rifle must be considered as does the weight and center of balance. Mine are placed and centered at the front end of the barrel, behind the steel cap at the front of the forearm and behind the receiver. Two magnets would have held, it but not quite safely enough, with three magnets, as placed, it's VERY SECURE. Actually, the magnet behind the receiver is mounted deeper into the board so it protrudes ~1/4" from the front surface and fully contacts the receiver's steel surface. It's hidden of course by the rifle.

The 'brass' receiver on the Henry would present a problem as it would not be attracted to a magnet. I made an MDF mockup to test the function and placement before committing to do it for real.
If the Henry you are to use is a .22cal perhaps 2 (or 3) magnets along the barrel axis would work as it is a very light gun; any centerfire caliber rifle would be much too heavy without some support further back by the receiver.


One thing you could do however is use a couple of empty cartridge cases over a dowel for 'pegs' to hold the weight and a single magnet or two in the back to hold it to the board. Because of the brass receiver issue that is what I may do for the 'vertical' mount I'm going to do with two Henrys for my friend.

Post or PM me if I can answer any other questions for you.


Attachment 75090

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Originally Posted by chkorte

I haven’t finished it yet but this is what I’m doing with my Winchester model 94 Golden Spike Commemorative.

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Very nice! What caliber is the rifle?

Promontory Point, Utah . . . flew over there several times when I was taking my private pilot training out of Ogden (Hill AFB Aero Club) back in '68.

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Originally Posted by Iron Mike

Very nice! What caliber is the rifle?

Promontory Point, Utah . . . flew over there several times when I was taking my private pilot training out of Ogden (Hill AFB Aero Club) back in '68.

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Not even sure, don't know if it's being made yet or not, like I said it's two years away. I may contact the company and see if there are any templates they have or anything that will help. If I at least have the shape that will give me a starting point. Thanks for all the help everyone!

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Originally Posted by dehrlich

Not even sure, don't know if it's being made yet or not, like I said it's two years away. I may contact the company and see if there are any templates they have or anything that will help. If I at least have the shape that will give me a starting point. Thanks for all the help everyone!

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When you're ready to start planning your layout here's a process you may find helpful, this is what I did on the Winchester project to show my friend the design concept(s) I had in mind.

1st - Acquire a good picture of the specific model rifle (mfg website is a good place) and the OAL of the rifle as well.

2nd- Import the picture into Designer and make it a pattern.

3rd - Make up a board in Designer for the project and import the rifle pattern.

4th - Draw a line on the board to match the OAL length of the rifle and size the picture to proper scale.

Attachment 75109
(This was about the final layout . . . . but only one of five different ones I designed.)

Now you can design your layout with carvings/text and so forth. Print copies of different ideas and it's a good way to compare and/or get input from others.

Good luck with it.