turning a tree into a rifle

[northwoods1]

Here are some photos of how I make 18th century style flintlock rifles. Just about all of the hardware I make by hand using only simple hand tools, brass mounts are cast or I hand forge them for iron mounted rifles. For the stocks I like to use stump cut quarter sawn curly maple. I like to find an actual antique gun and copy it. Guns from this era were all unique there was very little standardization. Longrifles or what are commonly called "kentucky Rifles' were a uniquely american thing. The german & english gunsmiths that immigrated here and set up shop weren't bound by the rigid guild systems that had been employed in europe for many centuries and the longrifle was the result. Rifling the barrel to improve accuracy over longer distances also came in to general use during this time here in the americas.

Here is some hard maple which is ready to saw into blanks for longrifle stocks. They are cut off low to the ground so the stump flair is included. This allows the blank to be 1/4 sawn and still have the grain flowing through the wrist of the gun. Also the heaviest curl will be in the butt/wrist portion of the gun. Probably 90% of the wood 18th century gunsmiths used was curly hard maple, also some walnut and cherry.


Here are the sawed pieces now I lay will lay an oversized stock pattern  on them and cut out oversized blanks which are then put up to dry.


Here I have taken a blank and drawn an exact outline of the gun I will build. This pattern was from a 1760 era virginia made gun that was signed by Adam Haymaker. The top of the blank is flattened off and the tapered & flared octagon barrel is inlet into it. The barrel is the basis of the gun everything is built around it. Even though the barrels are very long they are light especially in the larger calibers. The tapered and flare of the barrels allows the gun to be balanced and not barrel heavy even though it is long. A hole is drilled for the ramrod underneath the barrel.


Here the pattern is cut out. The gun and entire blank is in the square 


Now it is ready for the buttplate. This is all done by hand using chisels, knives and other cutting tools and a lot of files. I use a kerosene lamp to put some black on any parts to be inlet so I can see just what wood needs to be removed. This is a slow process, you can only take off just what needs to go and no more. The exact position of the buttplate determines how the gun will fit, the length of pull and the cast off so that the sights line up perfectly with the shooters eye when the gun is shouldered


Here the gun has been shaped. I normally inlet all the parts and then take the gun down geometrically. 1st I make it square, then octagon, then 16 sided, and finally round the whole thing off. I use woodplanes, files, and scrapers to do this. I have drawn some incise and raised carving on this gun like the old one had


Here is the side plate which I just engraved, I have it glued to a block of wood which I put in the vice. I made a graver from a old chisel it is chased with a hammer.


Here is a pic before I cut the carving in to the almost finished stock. I have a large assortment of chisels and cutting instruments that I outline the carving with and then remove the background with. Almost every gun from this period had some sort of decorative elements like moldings, engraving, carving, etc. 


a finished gun


This gun has a wooden patch box. Many had brass patchboxes which were carefully designed and decorated with piercings and engraving. The box was used to hold some grease and patches and also a worm to clean  the gun which screws on the end of the ramrod. This gun also has set triggers, the rear trigger can be used to set the front and make it a hair trigger. Or you can just use the front trigger normally





Here you can see the color of the barrel, this gun has a charcoal blued barrel. This I do by starting a large fire and allowing it to turn to charcoal. Then I place the finished and prepared barrel in the fire and allow it to cook at a black heat for and hour or so. These colors are not the same as temper colors but an oxidized finish that is much more durable. A lot of barrels in the 18th century had this treatment or were just polished bright.

[PC-Urban-Sawyer]

NW1,

That's amazing work and a truly beautiful rifle.

Do you sell them?

Herb

[pasbuild]

WHOW that is some NICE work

[Piston]

OH MY GOD!  That is awesome.

[SwampDonkey]

That's real awesome work for sure.  smiley_eek_dropjaw  My gawd man! 

[JohnG28]

Thats some beautiful work there.  ;D

[terrifictimbersllc]

Very nice, 2 thumbs up!

p.s. you deserve a 21 gun salute!  

p.s.s.   Proverbs 22:29
       Do you see a man skilled in his work?
       He will serve before kings;
       he will not serve before obscure men.

[sawguy21]

Now here is a real craftsman.  8) That is beautiful work, thanks for sharing.

[Warbird]

Absolutely amazing.  Thank you for posting about this.

[metalspinner]

 8)

Are you self-taught?  How long have you been doing this sort of thing??

[isawlogs]

Thats one sweet gun,    What caliber is that ? Do you shoot um ?  I really like that gun .... 

[Don K]

That is awesome. You are a superb craftsman. If I had your skill........

Don

[Radar67]

That is true craftsmanship there. 

[Burlkraft]

WOW NW1 That's awesome  8)  8)  8)

I can see that we're gonna have ta git together sometime this winter and check your operation out!

Beautiful work.

Craftsmanship for sure!  ;D  ;D  ;D

[Norm]

Wow!

Thanks for sharing the pics really interesting to see how it's done.

[Magicman]

Thanks for the narrative as well as the pictures.  That is truly awesome craftsmanship.  I know that a part of you goes into each piece and your pride shines through.  Thanks for sharing.

[WDH]

Simply incredible!

[fishpharmer]

A functional work of art!!!

I look forward to hearing more about the process.

[Texas Ranger]

Hate to pop a cap on that good looking piece of work, well done.

[Okrafarmer]

Very, very nice! Too bad more of us don't have that kind of patience!

[coldnorth]

Outstanding!!!  Gotta have one......

Thanks for sharing

[northwoods1]

 I have to say that the best part for me about building/making guns and other things is meeting people who appreciate the the work! Up to this point I have always had to sell most everything to justify my time spent doing it and learning how which I have had to travel around a bit to find people who could teach me. Those pics are actually of 4 different guns. The first is a .50 caliber 46" barrel, 2nd a 44" .54 caliber, 3rd a heavy weight 46" .50, and the last is a .62 smoothbore or #20 gauge with rifle sights. When I put the sights on they are kind of fixed semi permanent so I have to work up a correct load for each and every gun when doing the sight regulation and also make a powder measure that goes with each gun with a correct hunting load. These are all round ball flintlock rifles.
Here are some more pics of a typical powder horn I make to go along with a gun such as one of the pieces I pictured the style would be from the F&I war period about 1765-70. I rigged up a lathe and turned the buttplug out of some apple wood. The spout plug is apple too.

All this stuff really doesn't take to much patience of any great magnitude I don't think. Maybe concentration though. I started doing it because the winters are starting to feel colder to me with every new year and going out sawing logs more difficult






This horn was from a pair I got which were from scottish highland cattle. They were both perfect for horns. This horn is made to be worn on the left side on a strap that goes over your shoulder this is convenient for a right handed shooter. It is in the queen ann style. The surface of it is taken down and polished with files to highlight the natural colors and prepare the surface for the scrimshaw. Then the pattern is drawn on and cut into the horns surface and finally india ink is rubbed in to make it permanent.














Also a knife I forged from 1 worn out file, handle from 1 shed deer antler I found, some small pieces of cow horn and a few pieces of scrap brass. For the sheath I had to buy the leather though! It is lined with rawhide very tough stuff.

[fishpharmer]

Thanks for sharing.  Do you make your own barrels as well?

[northwoods1]

Yes, I have forged my own barrels. Very time consuming process takes almost as long to make a rifled barrel as it does to finish an entire gun. To rifle them is an added process which must be done very carefully. Most of the time I get my barrels from various custom barrel makers that will produce to my specifications. The barrels are all "swamped" or tapered & flared, heavy at the breech where it needs to be then thinning down near the muzzle and finally flaring out again. This is so the guns are balanced correctly with the long length they have. The guns are suprisingly light and graceful or at least that is the way they are supposed to be. It's possible to make all of the parts just like some 18th century gunsmiths were capable of doing, but even back then most bought there wood, barrels, and gun locks. Then just made up the rest of the parts in there shop. Sometimes if I need to make multiple parts in brass or steel I use the lost wax process and have multiples cast then at least if I make up a gun from an original I can make several copies and not have every gun a one off creation. tc

[SwampDonkey]

That'll sure keep a man busy doing all that carving, let alone fitting it all together.  8)

Great stuff.