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putzing in my spare time

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  • putzing in my spare time

    I take a blank which I cut in the woods and sawed on my woodmizer

    I draw the pattern on it which I always take from an original antique which I have studied

    I start removing the extra wood and inletting parts. I do everything by hand in a traditional manner the way it was done in the 18th century.

    Here is the longrifle in the square. I have the barrel inlet. The barrels are octagon and "swamped" or tapered and flared. Heaviest at the breech tapering down and then flaring back out at the muzzle. This makes the lines of the gun look good and you get the correct balance that is why they did it this way. This is a .54 that will made to shoot roundballs.

    Here I have the buttplate inlet. How this is done determines the length of pull and cast off which is determine by the size and shape of the person who will be using the gun. I've got the lock inlet on this rifle also.

    Ok here I have the gun fully shaped. When I shaped a gun 1st I make it square, then octagon, then 16 sided and finally round it all off. Here I am beginning to draw the carving on it which I will carve away the background so it will be raised in relief when it is finished.

    Here is the carving which is a copy from an antique gun

    Here I just engraved a sideplate it's glued to a block of wood which I put in the vice. All these parts I make by hand.

    Here is a finished gun. It is about 1760 style from Virginia.

    This gun has a charcoal blued barrel. I make a big fire outside my blacksmith shop and put the barrel right in there and let it cook at a black heat for an hour or so. This was one way they did it in the 18th century.

    This gun has double set triggers and a sliding wood patchbox. I make a worm for the end of the ramrod that goes in the box with a spare flint and some tow for cleaning the gun. Some guns I make with a fancy brass patchbox which would be engraved.

    Here is another gun which is my hunting rifle. I handforged the mounts for this buttplate, triggerguard, sideplate, ramrod pipes and made a poured pewter nosecap. I aged this gun to make it look old. I make most all the parts for these guns by hand the sights every nut, bolt and screw. This gun is a .54







  • #2
    WOW, You must make lots of heavy duty stocks! hmy:  Nice shop.
    http://joshinmo.weebly.com

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    • #3
      nice work
      is that first one curly maple?
      just out of curiosity,do you sell them and if so what do you get for them?
      ive always wanted a real flintlock rifle

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      • #4
        That's some awesome work man! Me and my Dad have been talking for two years about making one or two... Ive always wanted a Kentucky Long Rifle and maybe a coon skin hat too!  So do you order the barrel and parts and make the stocks yourself?  Do you recommend a certain parts kit? Just curious.  Thanks for sharing!
        Josh (Ky/Tn collector)

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        • #5
          sneakygroundbuzzard wrote:

          nice work
          is that first one curly maple?
          just out of curiosity,do you sell them and if so what do you get for them?
          ive always wanted a real flintlock rifle
            Almost all 18th century American guns are Curly Maple. Once in a while they used Walnut and infrequently other species like Ash or Birch. Curly maple was the thing though and the curlier the better. I do sell them and only have one gun which I made and that is the aged one I showed with handforged mounts. It takes from 100 to 300 hours to make a gun so they can be pretty expensive.

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          • #6
            Kyflintguy wrote:

            That's some awesome work man! Me and my Dad have been talking for two years about making one or two... Ive always wanted a Kentucky Long Rifle and maybe a coon skin hat too!  So do you order the barrel and parts and make the stocks yourself?  Do you recommend a certain parts kit? Just curious.  Thanks for sharing!
              Well, I do it like 18th century gunsmiths did which is to buy the barrel and lock and start with a piece of wood like I showed. Everything else I make the brass mounts are sandcast using original parts for patterns or I will make a pattern. Sometimes a gunsmith made everything themselves including forging the barrel, reaming and rifling it and I have done that one time. You need a rifling bench to make a rifled barrel and I made mine. A lock is a long process to make completely by hand much easier to by one. Now days different vendors offer kits with all components included barrel and lock already inlet and stock rough shaped. This speeds up the process immensely and anyone with basic skills can end up with a fine gun when finished. I can recommend a good parts kits. The best is from Jim Chambers at flintlocks.com. He is an instructor where I took classes at Western Kentucky University and one of the finest gun builders in the country. You should see the guns he has made!

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            • #7
              Thanks for the info! That .54 is one of the prettiest guns I've ever seen! It looks like something out of a museum!  You do great work! Thanks for showing them and giving us some insight into that craft!
              Josh (Ky/Tn collector)

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              • #8
                Wow!!  Absolutely outstanding work. It must be very satisfying to create such a beautiful object. Thank you for sharing the pics of the process and the finished gun.

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                • #9






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                  • #10
                    nice looking powder horn
                    did you make that too?

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                    • #11
                      That is some very fine work man. Thank you for sharing this with the forum.
                      TN formerly CT Visit our store http://stores.arrowheads.com/store.p...m-Trading-Post

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                      • #12
                        B) incredible work and attention to detail. your gun looks like it was found up in someones great grandpa's attic!
                        call me Jay, i live in R.I.

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                        • #13
                          Thanks for the show. Better than "How its made" on tv. Very few artisans around like you anymore.

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                          • #14
                            And you call it putzing!
                            BEAUTIFUL WORK!
                            Searching the fields of NW Indiana and SW Michigan

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                            • #15
                              You have wonderful talent.  Thanks for sharing with us,         Now I know who made the clay tablets with the girl with 6 breasts and a big .......
                              :laugh:  :laugh:
                              South Dakota

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