Desert Guns

charlesb · Post by **charlesb** » Mon May 11, 2015 1:07 pm

I moved to a high desert location a few years back, from a place 25 miles inland with 29 feet altitude. Now my elevation is around 4500 feet, with very low humidity.

Last year, I noticed that the frets on my Stratocaster guitar were sticking out on either side of the fingerboard. - enough so as to cut my fingers when sliding my hand up or down the neck. I took it to the local guitar shop, and the guy said, "It's the lack of humidity here." - So I had to file my frets down, a major undertaking as they have to be shaped just so.

Then today I was looking at my Winchester 1885... When I bought it, the butt-pad fit perfectly. Now it sticks out 1/64th to 1/32nd of and inch, all the way around.

The stock's wood has shrunk up an amazing amount, due to the low humidity here.

My gunsmithing business will soon be opening, we've gotten to the "talk to the lawyer and accountant" stage, and now I can foresee a lot of business re-doing recoil pads here. - The next nearest smith will be 125 miles away, so I'll be getting the bulk of the business in this area, looks like.

I'll have to stock up on abrasive belts for my recoil pad grinder, looks like it'll get a lot of action. - Starting with my 1885!

http://www.ballisticprecision.com

blue68f100 · Post by **blue68f100** » Mon May 11, 2015 2:18 pm

You may need to add an humidifier to your house and shop. At the least add a water source to you safe to raise the humidity.

Alpine,TX I drive through that town when I took a trip through Big Ben.... you are off the beaten path for sure.

charlesb · Post by **charlesb** » Mon May 11, 2015 5:47 pm

This is one of those places where "swamp coolers" or "water coolers" are popular. They work very well due to the low humidity, cooling you off and hydrating the air a bit at the same time.

This high up, just getting out of the sun during the summer will generally cool you off. Big hats are popular. Overnight, the temperature drops 20-30 degrees every night, year-round. During the summer, a box fan in an open window works just fine.

I'm using air conditioners now, but plan to go over to central water-cooled air. The air conditioning just squeezes out the last bit of humidity, making it awfully dry.

ruger22 · Post by **ruger22** » Tue May 12, 2015 12:07 pm

I once made a project of restoring two old tenor banjos, and replacing the frets was likely the hardest part. Shaping the sharp ends is called "dressing the frets". An occaisonal dab of lemon oil rubbed into the fingerboard will help it hold moisture.

My current musical choice is ukulele, with little fret concern. They don't wear with plastic strings.

Good luck on your gunsmithing. I'll hope you still have time to shoot, being the only 'smith in 125 miles!

charlesb · Post by **charlesb** » Tue May 12, 2015 10:10 pm

It will be busy right at first, possibly, but there will be plenty of slow times, most especially in the first year or two.

One advantage here is that we are starting up with zero debt. Everything's paid for and there is backup income, so my son and I won't have to worry about money issues so much as most small businesses do. I'm thinking that slow times would be good for building custom rifles, if nothing else.

One way or another we'll try to stay busy. That's the main thing.

My biggest problem with shooting is that I've run out of my favorite powder, AA5744 and to get more, I'm going to have to cough up the hazardous item shipping fee, which pretty well doubles the expense.

I can get Trail Boss pretty consistently here, so I might give that a try for my 270WSM mouse loads.

I torment my poor Stratocaster, but judging by the sounds it makes, I don't know if you could really call it music.