Students arrived early this morning eager to continue work on their Kibler kits. With their hardware fitted to the stock yesterday, students are spending this morning learning about filing, sanding, and polishing techniques for their hardware. The Southern Mountain Rifle kits are finishing their hardware a bit faster than the Colonial Kits. The students with Colonial Kits are wanting to make a longrifle with some more details, including facets on the trigger guard, ramrod pipes, and buttplate. 

Mike and Wayne are great teachers for the traditional techniques of filing and sanding, but have brought some modern tools to assist these new builders. Drill powered scotch brite wheels make for quick polishing of the iron or brass hardware. 

After noon on Monday, students began diverging from each other. Some continue polishing their metal while others begin learning about decoration through chip carving and moulding lines. By four o clock the class wrapped up, tomorrow students will continue carving or begin the staining process on their stocks.  We're starting to see these muzzle-loaders taking shape as students begin carving and staining their stocks.

To sign up for our class waiting list to be notified first of new classes with the NMLRA, visit NMLRA.org/education. We have several more classes to announce later this spring and would love for you to be a part of them!