Wood Tommy Gun Replica

I've been making wooden gun replicas for quite a while and I decided that I should share with you how I made my favorite replica. At first sight it looks super complicated to make, but it actually isn't, all you need is a little patience and some tools! Before you get started I also want to say that this is a replica that doesn't shoot and is perfectly harmless. So now get ready to see how I made this Wood Tommy Gun Replica!

Hope you enjoy my adventure creating this replica, and don't hesitate to ask me questions in the comment section!

One of the most important parts in a project is the design phase, and without inspiration it's impossible. So in the past an uncle of mine made a couple wooden replicas for me and my cousins to play with and when the summer of 2016 when I was 13 years old I decided to make one. I copied my uncle design for the first one then I made up my own designs for the rest. The next summer came along and that's when I decided to make this Wood Tommy Gun Replica.

After a lot of practice on other replicas I started working on my Tommy Gun replica. So I went of the computer and looked for a picture with a lot of details and that I would be able to transform easily into a replica. Once I found the perfect picture I started sketching my replica on paper. So now I had done the easiest part, all I had to do now was to transform my ideas to reality.

Now that the designing is over, to transform my ideas to reality I needed some tools and some wood. So to create this Wood Tommy Gun Replica there are a couple tools and materials you will need.

Materials

• 60 cm x 40 m x 3 cm piece of hard dry wood

• 30 cm wooden rod with a diameter of 2 cm

Tools

• Jigsaw
• Jigsaw wood blades
• Drill
• Drill bits
• Chisels
• Rounded chisel
• Hammer or mallet
• Wood files
• Sander
• Sand paper
• Dremel tool
• Wood glue

As said in the previous step you are going to need some wood to make the Tommy gun replica. To be precise you will need a 60 cm x 40 m x 3 cm piece of hard dry wood and a 30 cm wooden rod with a diameter of 2 cm. So to find that I just went to the wood shed and looked for the perfect piece of wood, or you could go to a hardware store and find them with no problem.

So this is the piece of wood I found, the wooden rod I found it later so unfortunately I can't show it to you right now, but you will see it later on.

Next I took a pencil and sketched my replica design on the wood. This is a hard step since it involves a lot of precision and because the wood is not perfectly smooth. I recommend doing this step with a ruler and an eraser because it is very hard to get it perfectly.

So if you are trying to replicate my replica I put two pictures of my sketch, they might not be very easy to see but those are the best pictures I had. Also I did not sketch the replica's magazine (ammunition storage and feeding device on a real firearm or the round part on the replica), I did it later on.

By know you should have sketched the replica on the piece of wood. You will now need to attach the piece of wood so that it doesn't move when you cut it with the jigsaw. Once that is done grab your jigsaw and a blade adapted for cutting wood and that is long enough to cut through the wood. Place the bade in the jigsaw and get ready to cut out the replica!

So now you should have started cutting out the replica, there is no order for cutting out the pieces, but I started with the front handle. As you can see In the images I started with the handle, but I got bored so started cutting the body of the replica.

After a lot of patience and frustrating lines to cut, I finally cut out the front handle.

So after cutting out the handle I started cutting the other handle, but once again I got bored and started working on another part. I recommend you to not drift around like I did since it can become very confusing and when you start something it is better to finish it.

So after getting bored from cutting the handle I started working on the trigger. So to do the trigger you will need a drill and a drill bit that is larger than your jigsaw blade. Then you will drill a hole in the middle of where the trigger hole is supposed to be. After that you will need to take your jigsaw and carefully cut out the trigger hole without cutting the trigger.

So after the previous step I encountered a problem, my wood had a crack and it was going through the stock (back of the gun that you rest on your shoulder) of the replica. So I tried to ignore it, I thought it wasn't going to break and all I would need to do at the end is to fill up the crack. I was wrong and as I was continuing to cut the replica's body, the whole bottom of the board fell off. So I cut off the corner that fell off and stopped cutting to avoid further damage.

So I put my piece of wood in a vice so that it wouldn't move and put some wood glue at the spot where the corner fell off. Then I put the corner at the right place and put a piece of wood on top of it to press it down. I waited 24 hours so that the glue was perfectly dry and got back to work.

So while the glue was drying I decided to make the replica's magazine. This part I didn't sketch it in the beginning so if you are trying to make this replica, the sketch for the magazine is in the images.

I sketched the magazine with the help of a compass and a ruler. For the compass I used a little piece of wood with two holes in it. For the slot on the magazine make sure that it is the same length as the replica's width, if it isn't it will either fall off or not fit on to the replica's body. Once the sketching is over, cut it out and remember to be careful with the magazines slot, not to make it too big or too small.

Next you will need to sand and smooth out the edges of the magazine and the front handle with wood files, sand paper and a sander to speed up the process.

After sanding the magazine and the front handle you will need to make the groove on the front handle to attach it to the replica's barrel. So to make the groove you will need a chisel and a hammer or mallet. I used a rounded chisel, but if you are not comfortable using this tool you can use a router or a dremel tool to make the groove. The groove will need to be 1 cm deep and 2 cm wide so that the wooden rod will fit in perfectly.

Once that the groove is made, test out if the rod fits in perfectly and if it doesn't fit, keep on digging to make the groove perfect.

So now my glue was dry and I finished cutting out the body of the replica. Then I got back to work with the chisel to dig out the wood to make the trigger, but once again if you are not comfortable using this tool you can use a router or a dremel tool to make the trigger.

Once the trigger was completed it was still coarse inside so I got out the dremel to smooth out the inside since it would of been very difficult to smoothen it with sand paper.

Then you will need to repeat the last two steps on the other side of the replica, to make the triggers perfectly the same on either side.

next you will need to grab your wood files, sand paper and sander to make every thing perfectly smooth on the body of the replica. Once that is done grab the body and the magazine and see if they still fit together after sanding, since sanding might of mage the replica thinner. I was lucky it still fit perfectly.

Next you will need to clamp down the top of the body so that it is facing up and with the help of a 2 cm drill bit, drill a hole for the replica's barrel. The hole doesn't need to be too deep, I would say you will need to drill about 5 to 10 cm into the wood. remember to drill perfectly strait, because if you don't you will have a crooked barrel.

Once the hole is made check if the wooden rod fits. if it doesn't try sanding it to make it smaller.

Now you will need to take every part apart and grab your wood glue. Once you have it grab the repica's magazine and put some glue on the slot then carefully place it on the body. If you don't know where to place the magazine on the replica's body use the images to hep you.

Next you will need to grab your replica's barrel and put some glue on the tip of the barrel, then insert it in the barrel's hole. Then with the help of a mallet gently tap it in so that it reaches the bottom of the hole.

Next you will need to glue the front handle on the barrel of the replica. To do this you will need need to flip over the replica. Next, take your wood glue and put some on the front handle's groove and gently place the handle on the barrel. Make sure that it is perfectly vertical, because if it isn't you might have a crocked front handle.

Then go place your replica in a spot where it will not move so that it can dry. I placed my replica in a vice so that it wouldn't move. All you have to do now is wait for it to dry, it usually takes 24 hours, so I recommend you not to mess with it until those hours have passed or you might have a piece fall off.

Once the drying is done take off the dry glue that ran on the replica, so that it looks perfect. I recommend when it is done to sand it a little and varnish it so that it has a good look when it's finished.

So this was how I made my wood Tommy Gun replica, I don't know if I was clear enough in the steps so if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask me. I tried to put as many pictures as possible in the steps, so I hope they will help you if you are trying to make one. If you also have any corrections or suggestions I would love to see them along with picture of your wood Tommy Gun replicas if you decide to make on.

I hope you enjoyed the seeing how I made my wood Tommy Gun replica, and if you made one I hope you enjoyed making it.