At this time of year, I would like to share my custom carved Thanksgiving with you.  I find myself giving thanks for everything in my life. This year is no exception. Thanksgiving for me is a special time to get together with family and friends. Share memories and catch up on what’s going on in each others lives. Then there is also the FOOD!!!! We can’t forget the food or the game on TV! Still, it is a good time to stop and reflect on what has happened on my life over the past year. I have included the link to the original blog post. Just click on the picture and it will take you to the blog post.

I want to tell everyone who viewed or commented on my web site, THANK YOU! My custom carved gun stocks have been a very rewarding part of my life. I’m sure without your support and comments, I would not ventured out to share my carvings with world. Each of you have enriched my life in so many ways. I find myself getting up in the mornings just to run in the office to see who has sent me a comment or an email. I enjoy sharing my custom carved gun stocks with you. From the actual design to the basket weave on to the hand painted art work. I have a hard time wanting to come in the house at night after carving all day in my studio on a new project. I also send my thanks to my family and friends for your encouragement and support. I’m sure I have bugged you with my designs and projects. For these reasons and many, many more I thank you! I hope each and everyone of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Please stay safe while driving. We still have Christmas and New Years to celebrate remember!

I thought I would start something new this year. I am going show all the guns I have completed each year. So bare with me while I list them all for you to view again. Each client I have carved a gun stock for this year can now show them off again. Its your turn to brag on your gun stock carving! Here you can show off your custom carved, hand painted art work I have carved for you.

Each gun has been custom carved or (custom engraving) and hand painted to bring out the detail. There is no two guns alike! All of the guns have gone up in value after being carved. Gun collectors and appraisers will tell you the gun has doubles and even triples in price. Some have grown even more in value. Still, all of the clients I have carved for this year tell me their gun will never leave their hands. They will be handed down through the generations. What a legacy they will leave for their children.

If you are thinking of having a gun custom carved for a friend, client or family member. Contact me soon. I also have gift certificates available. Gift certificates make the best gifts. The person receiving the gift certificate for the custom carving can chose what they would like on their gun stock.

Again, enjoy your Thanksgiving and remember to drive safely. We all want you around for the rest of this Holiday season and the next! Happy Carving Deb L

As you can see the Winchester 7MM Mag I started a month ago is finally finished. The fighting elk has been custom carved on the Winchester 7mm MAG. You may remember the past posts of how I have develope this carving from start to finish. I hope you have enjoyed the process. I’m sure you can tell it is not an easy process. Still, to me it is very enjoyable.

I refinished this gun by sanding down the gun stock then resealing it. This took the majority of the scratches out of the gun. Then I carved the scene onto the gun stock. This gun has the basket weave on both sides of the grip as well as on both sides forend as well as the bottom of the forend. T0 finish the gun, I have custom painted the scene onto the gun using oil paints. It truly is a work of art. Then I have applied a coat of finish to seal everything.

I have also checked to see what year this gun was manufactured, 1970. The gun still have many years of use left. It has given me great pleasure to carve and paint this scene on this gun. Your comments are appreciated. Please feel free to leave them below.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope to see you in person at the Cross Roads of the West Gun Show this coming September 25 & 26, 2010. The show will be held at the South Towne Expo in Salt Lake City, UT. Deb L

How can I get my gun stock custom carved? This is a questions I have been receiving for months now. Or What designs can I have carved on a gun stock? There are many other questions too. Normally, I will talk to you for a while to find out what your interests are. Then I can suggest some ideas to you. Or if you have a picture you like. A hunting trip you have gone on you remember. These are all ideas you can draw from to decide on your custom gun stock carving.

Do you like the basket weave design on the forend and/or grip of the gun? Do you like leaves, horns, hooves, tree limbs, or scroll work? How much of your gun stock would you like carved (butt stock, forend, reverse side of butt stock, grip)? Is your gun stock in need of refinishing? Do you have some large scratches? Is the gun stocks finish pealing? Do you want your design painted? There are so many thing you can do to your gun stock. It all really depends on what much you would like to see on your gun stock and how much of the gun stock either needs refinished or how much you would like to have carved. All of these things are what helps me determine the design that will go on your custom carved gun stock.

Each custom carved gun stock if unique and deserve my full attention. Not only to the detail but to the scene as well as the design of the scene being put on the gun stock. Its a passion to me to create a one of a kind work of art for each client I have. I look forward to working on your design and to carving it for you.

Thanks for visiting my web site. I look forward to chatting with you in person and carving a gun stock for you. Thanks again Deb L.

While camping over the 4th of July weekend. I was able to play with my clay and develop yet another pattern for a really cool gun. The gun is a Winchester 7mm REM mag, model 70. After hearing the story behind the purchase of this gun and the time it took for the owner to purchase it. I know this gun will remain in his possession for the rest of his life and then be passed on to his children. Definately a family heirloom!

I have been itching to carve this picture for a long time now. I just hadn’t found the right gun for the picture. This old calendar photo of two bull elk fighting, intregues me. Finally, I get to carve this pattern on someone’s gun stock. I have come up with my own design using the picture as an inspiration. I believe this carving will go very well on this gun. The owner loves to hunt, especially elk. For this reason I have chosen this design.

After working the pattern in clay to determine the layers and depth of the carving. I will then carve the pattern on a sample piece of wood. Sometimes this process will take several sample carvings before I am satisfied with the end result. When the design has been carved to my satisfaction, as well as the design tweeked just right. Then, and only then, will I carve the pattern onto the gun stock. After completing the carving, the sanding process will begin. Hand painting the artwork is the final step, using oil paints and very small brushes (usually the brushes only have a few hairs in each brush). This bring the scene to life. 

Check back here often for pictures I will be posting of this gun as I complete this project. This will give you an even better idea of how I create the art for each gun and the process I use to carve it.

Your comments are greatly appreciated. Please leave your thoughts below. I look forward to hearing from you. Deb L

In June of this year, I posted some before pictures of this gun. After working for over a month on this gun. It is finally finished. Each side of this gun has been carved. On the front of the gun was a medallion of a stage coach. I did not remove this. Instead I carved two trees, representing two people who have intertwined their together. I also put their names with the date their lives became one. On the reverse I put a picture of a memory the gun owner had of their past life together. You see… Pauly contracted cancer and passed away several years ago. This gun was hers, but John wanted something to remember their time together. This is the result.

Each side has been custom carved and then hand painted. I didn’t know it at the time I painted the gun., but the colors I chose are the colors of the horses each of them road. I guess there was some kind of influence there. When I John received his gun last night he stated, “This gun means a great deal to me. I will never let it leave my hands. Thank you so much.”

When I started carving gun stocks. My husband was very eager to show my carvings to everyone that came to our home. Even now, he will continually get the guns out of the gun safe to show people. After having to repair several nicks and scratches in the guns. I decided I needed to find some way to protect my guns without wrapping them up in blankets. Gun manufactures and dealers will tell you not to store your guns in the carrying case. The guns will sweat causing rust in the barrel and action. So, I had to find a way to protect then and still allow the guns to breath. One day the idea came to me to use old knee high athletic socks. So, I dug out my husbands old knee high socks. I slipped them on the butts of each gun in our safe. My theory was, with both guns having socks on. If one gun hit the other gun. The socks would act at a cushion. Thus protecting both gun stocks as well as the carving.

I have used this technique for about six months now. The socks have protect the butt of the guns beautifully! The socks only go up to the bolt or scope mounts of the gun. This allows the barrel and action to be open to the air preventing rust. Normally, you a hold by the barrel or forend while putting in the safe/gun cabinet. You usually only will bang the stocks of the guns together while taking the gun in and out. By putting a sock over the butt of the gun stock. The sock covered gun will bump up against the other sock covered gun. A cushion has been formed between the guns, preventing nicks and scratches. Unless you really hit the other gun stocks quite hard. There should be no damage.

IT REALLY WORKS!!!

I hope this is as helpful to you as it  has been to me. Please remember to sign up for my email notifications. By doing so, you will receive an email from me when ever I add a post to my web site. You can unsubscribe at any time. Also, your comments are greatly appreciated. Please feel free to leave yours below. Thanks again for visiting my web site. I look forward to hearing from you. Deb Lindsay

Pictures are of the gun before it is carved.

This gun will me my next project. I have been asked to carve a picture of two horses with their riders. This gun belonged to the late wife of our local saddle maker. She passed away several years ago. This carving is in memory of  their precious life together. The gun is a Winchester .30-30 Model 94 Classic. It has a medallion on one side of the gun. I will be carving leaves around the medallion to set it off and bring it to life. The other side will hold the carving of the horses and riders. The basket weave along with more leave will offset the forend to complete the gun. I will be refinishing this gun too. The bluing will be accomplished by a local gunsmith (if the owner decided to have it completed).   

History

Here is some history on this gun. Sorry for all the web links, but this gun is a very popular gun as this article will prove. You can google each link if you want more information. I was not able to copy each link that I found in the article I found.Winchester Model 1894 (also known as Winchester .30-30 rifle, Winchester 94, For The Win 94,, .30-30 Winchester, or simply .30-30) is one of the most famous and most popular hunting rifles. It was designed by John Browning in 1894, and was produced by Winchester Repeating Arms Company through 1980 and then by U.S. Repeating Arms under the Winchester brand until they ceased to manufacture rifles in 2006. In 2010 FN Herstal will reintroduce the Model ’94 as a limited production firearms. 

Overview  

The original Model 1894 was produced in .32-40 Winchester, .38-55 Winchester, .25-35 Winchester, .30-30 Winchester, and .32 Winchester Special. It was the first sporting rifle to sell over 7,000,000 units. The millionth Model 1894 was given to President Calvin Coolidge in 1927, the 1½ millionth rifle to President Harry S. Truman on May 8, 1948 and the two millionth unit was given to President Dwight Eisenhower\fs2 0plain in 1953. It was the first hunting rifle chambered for the then-new smokeless powder cartridges. The .30-30 Winchester is the cartridge that has become synonymous with the Model 1894 rifle. In 1964 the manufacturing of the 94 was changed in order to make the firearm less expensive to produce. Generally “pre-64″ rifles command a premium price over post-64 rifles.

 The Winchester 1894 was designed to permit the cycling of longer cartridges than the Winchester 1892 carbines could permit. When the lever is pulled down, it brings the bottom of the receiver with it, opening up more space and allowing a longer cartridge to feed without making the receiver longer. The mechanism is complex but very reliable. Complete stripping of the action is a multi-stage task that must be accomplished in precise sequence. However it is rarely necessary to completely strip the action. The largest cartridge that the 1894 action can accommodate is the .450 Marlin.

 Winchester vs Marlin design

The Winchester 1894 holds the record for best-selling high-powered rifle in U.S. history.

The gun stock carving article listed below was in the Uintah Basin Standard newspaper in the Basin Life section. It is an article on me and how I do my carvings. As well as how I got started in this business. The article came out on Wednesday, June 2, 2010. I have included it here in its entirety so everyone can enjoy reading it.

Your comments are greatly appreciated. Please feel free to leaving them below. Don’t forget to tell your friends and family to have a look too. Thanks again, Deb Lindsay

Boneta artist’s creativity spans from guns to glass

By Cheryl Mecham, Uintah Basin Standard

The first carving Deb Lindsay took to a gun show happened to be on a stock for a sub-machine gun. She didn’t know that until a security man stopped her just inside the front doors.

“He said ‘I’ve gotta check that gun,’” she recalled with a laugh. “He didn’t know that there wasn’t a gun attached, it was just the stock.”

Lindsay explained her mistake. She’d ordered a few gunstocks from a website.

“They were about the right size and they were cheap. I didn’t know what they were,” she confessed, her laughter filling the kitchen of the home she shares with her husband, Allen.

Her rhinestone cowgirl belt and jeans say she’s country. Warm hazel eyes and a quick smile say she’s hospitable. When the conversation turns to art, a visitor finds out Lindsay is knowledgeable and passionate about whatever she sets her hand to. Currently that is carving.

Lindsay uses a unique handheld rotary tool called a Paragrave, which slices through wood and other materials at 1 million rpm. The tool was developed by Lew Jensen, a retired Vernal dentist.

Since trying her hand at gunstocks for a relatively short time, her daily practice and subsequent success resulted in top honors: best of show at the Duchesne County Fair and a first place and best of show in the professional division at the Utah State Fair. Lindsay was home in Boneta, crafting another gunstock, when she got the call about her ribbons from fellow carvers in Salt Lake City.

“All I knew was that I had done a good job,” she said with a shrug, explaining that she didn’t really understand that her carving had taken the show for a couple of minutes.

When she realized what her friends were so excited about she said her sense of satisfaction skyrocketed to exhilaration. Lindsay said the same feelings occur after she has put the final sealant over her designs – her last stroke of artistry – before handing it back to the owner.

“It’s a mixture of relief and exhilaration. I think, ‘Oh my gosh, this is the best work I’ve ever done,’” she said. “Then the next one comes along.”

Lindsay has confidence in her artistic ability, but strives for perfection in whatever she undertakes, which has made her a life-long student. She has taken classes from Jensen and is currently being tutored by Keith Hone of the Hone Studio near Spanish Fork, Utah.

Oddly, for a woman who declares that she “hates to hunt,” Lindsay finds the irony of carving gunstocks amusing. But those who see her work are lining up for a custom carved stock of their own. Like John Lyda, owner of J&P Saddle in Ballard, who has commissioned a custom carving in memory of his late wife, Pauly, on the stock of his late wife’s gun.

Lindsay has learned that no one readily parts with a gun.

“Men are very proud of their guns. They’re an extension of the person who owns them,” she explained, adding, “When I am entrusted with one, I feel it’s a privilege. Some are handed down in families for hundreds of years.”

The inspiration for each design comes long before the actual carving. Lindsay confessed that her mind must be in a relaxed state in order to be creative, which is usually after she has gone to bed. “I lay awake at night I do my best designing,” she said.

To fortify her imagination, Lindsay and her husband take weekend trips to the Uinta Mountains in a vehicle they call their “Army jeep car,” a Polaris ATV with a cab. While they explore, her camera is snapping photos of the landscapes and, if she’s lucky, the wildlife who call the mountain their home.

With an image in her mind, her fingers itch to sketch it out. Once it’s down on paper Lindsay searches the Internet for a photo of the object she wants. She uses the photo as a realistic cross reference.

When she gets her paper design just right, Lindsay carves the figures in clay. This ensures that she’ll be able to make it fit on the gunstock. It also tells her how many layers she’ll have to carve into the wood.

Once she’s satisfied with the clay carving she begins carving in wood, typically alder that she buys as a plank and cuts stock-sized lengths. Lindsay may practice a dozen or more times on a design before she actually sinks her tool into a gun stock. She does her work in a re-purposed shipping container complete with a wide window and steel door. Inside an air system removes sawdust while air conditioners keep the building cool as she works.

“I have to get the nerve up before I can cut into that nice high-gloss finish,” she admitted.

If her unique wildlife carvings don’t set her apart on their own, it’s the next step that makes it a Deb Lindsay design — she often oil paints the intricate image. The result is breathtaking.

It’s critical that a carver knows what type of wood they’re working, Lindsay said.

“Most gunstocks are walnut, which is a hardwood,” she said. “There are other woods out there in gunstocks, tiger wood. It’s an exotic. There are a lot of exotics. The harder the wood, the easier it is to carve.”

Her natural love for wood has also led Lindsay into gunstock restoration. She will completely sand old finishes and light scratches out of the stock. If there are deep scratches and marks, she works them into the design until they are no longer visible. Other restoration work, such as work on the barrel or mechanics, must be done by a gunsmith, she said.

Although carving gunstocks is her current passion, it follows a steady flow of artistic pursuits. Lindsay began with knitting and confessed, “it didn’t go fast enough.” Then she began crocheting and took on intricate projects until she was creating elaborate historical ball gowns for dolls. Then in the early ’80s she discovered tole painting and created piece after piece, most of which she’s given away. Then oil painting landscapes and wildlife and then her interest fell from the canvas to mural painting.

Lindsay said she found videos or instructors to help with each step in her artistic endeavors, even if it meant traveling great distances for training. She kept learning and challenging herself artistically and finally she tried her hand at a childhood fascination — the art of glass blowing.

She gathered equipment and bought training DVDs by a glass sculptor who worked for Walt Disney. When she learned the artist on the DVDs lived in Idaho, she called his studio and asked if he was still teaching. His wife told Lindsay that depended on how serious she was. Lindsay assured the woman that she was serious.

“It was one of the most marvelous experiences I could have ever had.” Lindsay said, adding that after a few classes her new instructor told her she was a natural.

“He said, ‘Now go home, practice, and do,’” Lindsay recalled.

Part of Lindsay’s shop is filled with glass rod, equipment and a kiln. She has completed numerous glass art projects which can be viewed on her website, deblindsaystudios.com, along with the Ostrich eggs she carved when she first learned to use the Paragrave carving tool. One of those egg carvings took first place at the Duchesne County Fair.

Each artistic endeavor has built Lindsay’s experience and her confidence. Her diligent work in each medium has pushed her on to the next. What is next? She smiled and her eyes lit up.

“I don’t know,” she said.

How many of us have gone hunting and in the excitement of the hunt  have dropped or banged your gun? Or maybe something has scratched your gun? Well, I can help! The first two pictures you see above are of my husband’s gun. This gun looked like it had been left out in the weather for years. As you can see the gun looks like a completely different gun now. The third picture is of a gun that had several deep scratches. As you can see there are no scratches now.

I can help you with your gun too. By carving a pattern on the gun breaths new life into your gunstock, and adds value. I do not work on the barrels (bluing them, etc.). Most scratches can be repaired like the guns listed above. Looking at the before and after picture, you would think it was a completely different gun. My husband was actually gonig to sell his gun becasue of its condition. Now, however, you can’t get him to part with it. There are other guns on my web site that have been repaired as well.

If you have a gun you would like repaired. Please contact me. Also, for your information, there are many guns listed on my web site that are for sale. If you find one you would like to purchase. Contact me via email. I will be glad to help you with the purchase and shippment. Your comments are greatly appreciated. Please feel free to list them below. I look forward to working with you. Deb

It has come to my attention that my web site does not indicate the fact that many of the items listed here are for sale. Yes, I do custom gunstock carving and engraving. I also carve/engrave egg shells with customers choice of patterns, as well as, my own designes. There are many guns and eggs listed on here that are for sale. Like the ones listed about. If you see a gun or egg shell listed on my web site and are interested in purchasing it. Please do not hesitate in contacting me. I will get back with you as soon as possible. I would love carve your gunstock, an egg shell, or I can find the calibur of gun you desire and carve it for you. The sky is the limit!

Please feel free to leave your comments below. I enjoy the feed back I am receiving. I look forward to working with you. Deb