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. 

[northwoods1]

That'll sure keep a man busy

Great stuff. 

Thats the idea it keeps me out of trouble    

[tmroper]

Northwoods,
I just want to compliment your work.  I enjoy seeing what other guys enjoy making.  I hope you post more of your work in the future.  In my spare time I build saddles and engrave silver along with pretty much anything you can make out of the leather and silver of course.  I have an old hawken rifle I got as a kit many years ago and have decided to take it out and see if I can get a deer this week just for kicks.  I have already taken my elk this season while cutting firewood. Should make it fun to get out and get some excercise anyway.  Once again great job on all of the projects posted.  Keep at it....

[northwoods1]

Northwoods,
I just want to compliment your work.  I enjoy seeing what other guys enjoy making.  I hope you post more of your work in the future.  In my spare time I build saddles and engrave silver along with pretty much anything you can make out of the leather and silver of course.  I have an old hawken rifle I got as a kit many years ago and have decided to take it out and see if I can get a deer this week just for kicks.  I have already taken my elk this season while cutting firewood. Should make it fun to get out and get some excercise anyway.  Once again great job on all of the projects posted.  Keep at it....

Check out this old saddle I fixed up last winter. I'm pretty sure its from about the 1930s' but I don't know anything more about it. It was really dried out but the leather came back to life after I gave it some repeated treatments of pure neatsfoot oil. I put new strings on, and stirrup rigging with some blevins buckles with a twist.  I had these old roper stirrups which I put on. Also sewed a new sheepskin on it by hand that took a while!! I love this old saddle it fits my flat backed paints and 1/4 horses perfectly I want to make some spurs and also some spade bits. Some of the old spurs and bits were really nicely made. I can make any type of saddle hardware, d-rings or rings, conchos or if you need something special let me know. I wouldn't mind becoming a member of the cowboy artists of america that is a great organization.

[SwampDonkey]

I seen on Antique Roadshow last night a revisit of old episodes with the highest appraised value. A New England made muzzle loader with powder horn and shop notes was $1.2 Million. Only three of his guns known to still exist. :D :D It was cherry. This had been passed down in the family 4 generations and in perfect condition.

[northwoods1]

I seen on Antique Roadshow last night a revisit of old episodes with the highest appraised value. A New England made muzzle loader with powder horn and shop notes was $1.2 Million. Only three of his guns known to still exist. :D :D It was cherry. This had been passed down in the family 4 generations and in perfect condition.

I saw that episode also my friend William Guthman did the appraisal. He was an expert on early american powder horns and wrote several books on the subject. Since that show he has passed away. The actual appraisal was for $120,000 and not 1.2 million. I new a fellow in Sturgis S. Dakota that at one time sold the highest priced gun ever sold in the U.S. it was a 86' winchester that had been owned by buffalo bill, it sold for $575,000. Since then that has been surpassed by one of colonel walkers "walker model" colt pistol being sold. There is a pair of his pistols but only one sold for that record amount they are both owned by separate individuals and haven't been together for a while. I'm now building a rifle which is a documentary copy of an early north carolina rifle circa 1770 that the owner allowed me to completely dissasemble and examine to see how it was made and take measurements, he had just bought it for $160k. I was careful not to booger it up thats for sure :D that gun on the roadshow was a real treasure because of the makers account books from his gun building work and the original horn. Very unusual that it is still in the family and in original condition yet.

[SwampDonkey]

Yes, $120,000 Welcome Mathewson Rifle & Powderhorn. I must've been half asleep as usual at that hour. ;D

[tmroper]

Northwoods,
you did a real nice job on that saddle.  I would like to see some of your other Items you have made maybe post them here or make another post.  I actually make a few bits and spurs also it always neat to see someone else that has common interests.  I would have had no idea you were into spade bit horses I usually have 8 horses in my string that i use for my day to day work on the ranch and enjoy making them straight up in the bit.  Feel free to check out my website if you like it is
www.catocustomsaddlery.com

I do the leather, custom silver, rawhide braiding & my wife does pencil sketches of cowboying scenes around here.  I would sure like to learn more about these black powder rifle and build one not from a kit.
Take care and post more pics

[barbender]

I think nothwoods is more of a master of these crafts than he is letting on. No amatuer forges his own barrels and disassembles $160,000 antique rifles ;D I really admire your work, not to bad for a logger ;)

[Autocar]

Northwoods what a talent you have, Ive make a number of hunting rifles for myself . I bought my barrled actions then make the stock . But my work isn't even close to yours , for sure your very talented. Iam working on a left handed WSM270 with a Kentucky Coffef Bean stock. Yesturday a friend from Tennessee stopped in and I sent some spaled hard maple stock blanks home with him. Nothing like beautiful wood ;)

[clww]

World-class workmanship! That's one of the coolest threads I've ever followed!
Sell these rifles?

[Wrangler55]

Beautiful work, you are a real craftsman and I admire your talent.  Working with wood to make gunstocks got me into all this lumber, sawmill and timber business.  It does get in your blood.  I bought my stock duplicator from a guy who made stocks for Ky & Pa style rifles, only he didn't have a cheep source of wood and was unable to make  any money after he bought his blanks.  It came with all the cutters to make the barrel channel in different sizes, a steady rest to keep those long spindly stocks steady, and a flat jig to cut the ram rod channel. Since I make varmint/target/benchrest stocks, I've never used those parts. 

Your maple finish looks great! What do you use to bring out the tiger stripes and darken the maple? I've had my best success and worst failure with maple.

Hal

[jim king]

I think you should be locked in your shop and kept out of the woods.  That is all high-high  class work.  You are an artist.

[northwoods1]

I thought I would show some pics of one of my latest whittling projects that really serves no purpose whatsoever. Why I got the notion to make it I have no idea. It is a little carved book. I took a piece of apple that I had split into firewood and split it down to get a fairly flat piece. Then I took it into the shop and sawed it down with a handsaw closer to final dimensions which where in my mind at being right around "pretty small" :D
Then I squared it up pretty good with a big rasp and a drawknife, and then a block plane. I never used a straightedge or a square just did it by eye. When I had it squared up and smoothed down with a mill file and a scraper I made it a little more challenging by making it have a dovetailed and tapered sliding lid. I tried to make it fit well enough so that you couldn't tell it came apart by just looking at it. To make a sliding lid like that, first I made the dovetail in the book part and then made the sliding lid part. The only thing I use to make the dovetail in both pieces is a regular small 60 degree triangular file with a sharpened cutting edge put on the end and 1 side filed down to a safe edge with no teeth. Then when I got the 2 pieces fitting together properly I just made it into the shape of a book using knives, chisels and gouges. I was disappointed with the lettering I put on it, it turned out kind of crude. It was so small I could not carve it accurately. I tried to do it with a skew chisel. I haven't carved the recess inside the book yet as I wanted the wood to acclimate before I attempted that. Ultimately it will be hollowed so that something can be stashed in there.

I just noticed there where some posts here that I had not answered. Wrangler 55, I make my own stain for the curly maple and it is an 18th century recipe called "aqua fortis". It consists of nitric acid, water and iron filings dissolved in it. By varying the amount of nitric and iron filings you can end up with a variety of colors ranging from the a light blonde to a deep red. The wood must first be prepared well by whiskering it with water and removing anything that raises up. Then the nitric mixture is applied and that in and of itself will not make the wood look much different. Then the wood has to be heated and for that I use and iron bar that I have heated up in my forge to a red heat. When this is passed over the wood it causes a chemical reaction to occur and the wood will then as if by magic change to a brilliant reddish orange. Because of the varying degrees that the aqua fortis mixture can penetrate into a piece of curly wood because of the varying hardness, a remarkable variation in the striping of the wood will be brought out. A lot of care has to be taken when heating the wood because if it is heated just ever so slightly to much it will burn and turn black and there is no way to repair that! A lot of guys doing this use a heat gun it is much simpler and easier to control. For finish I make my own traditional varnish which consist basically of linseed oil, pure gum turpentine and some sort of hardener such as copal , dammar, sandarac or a variety of other things. With those ingredients a person can make a wide variety of finishes that vary in hardness.  A lot of times if I do not want a real hard finish I will mix up a "long oil" varnish that just simply has more oil on it. For a firearm stock a lot of times this can be beneficial as it can be easily repaired and maintained by the gun owner. But it does take time to prepare the ingredients like for instance the linseed oil I use is prepared from raw linseed oil which I buy and then "wash" in water to further remove impurities and then boil it to make true boiled linseed oil. The boiled linseed oil you buy nowadays is not boiled at all it has chemical driers put into it. Then I let this oil sit in an open container in the sun and it begins to slowly polymerize over a long period of time. Like months and years. It turns in to a thick substance like a jelly. Same thing goes for the turpentine, it is allowed to polymerize into a thick jelly. The reason for this is it would take forever to dry if it was put on wood in its fully liquid form. Finishes are fun to experiment with and it takes a lot of trial and error to come up with recipes that will fit the intended purpose.

clww, I do sell these guns and if more folks would want one I could lock myself in my shop like Jim was saying! That would not be a problem for me

[SwampDonkey]

Hey, that's pretty clever. You could also hollow it out for a match box or to hide a key or some such idea. 

[Lud]

Looks good.  Think of it as a prototype and see what others you can come up with.  Good stuff!

[Dodgy Loner]

I make my own stain for the curly maple and it is an 18th century recipe called "aqua fortis". It consists of nitric acid, water and iron filings dissolved in it.

Northwoods, I have always wanted to give that a try. The sticking point has always been finding nitric acid. Where do you get it?

[northwoods1]

I make my own stain for the curly maple and it is an 18th century recipe called "aqua fortis". It consists of nitric acid, water and iron filings dissolved in it.

Northwoods, I have always wanted to give that a try. The sticking point has always been finding nitric acid. Where do you get it?

I think your best bet would be to look for a local supplier of chemicals. It seems the shipping of this stuff is prohibitive and it can get pretty costly.
Another place you can get a similar substitute is here:
http://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/partDetail.aspx?catId=5&subId=66&styleId=225&partNum=AQUAFORT-2&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1&as=1
but this stuff is not actually nitric acid w/iron dissolved in it. It is a chemical substitute I believe it is called ferric nitrate. I have tried it before but did not get as good a result as from the mixture I made up using actual nitric acid and real iron. Another thing I noticed is that the bottle had to be fresh, with age it seemed to loose its potency.
I got my nitric acid from one of my friends that also taught me how to forge gun mounts, here he is in a youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGpa_SkxmvI