Monday, February 26, 2018


I call this my Wilderness rifle. An early  Southern rifle, with a patchbox a bit large but typical of some I've seen on SC and Georgia rifles and of course Woodbury rifles built by the House Brothers.  It has a 44 inch 54 caliber c-wt Rice barrel and a modified large Siler lock. 


I forged all the butt plate, triggers, trigger guard and side plate in my forge.  I hope to never build a set of double set triggers by hand again.  Took me three tries.  They are double lever so can set off the lock set or unset.  The nose cap is poured pewter and I made the ramrod thimbles from sheet metal from a Ford pickup. 


The carving is a bit simple and like I said the patchbox could be cut down a bit but all in all I was satisfied with the final result.

I needed something to carry while I go around events spending all our hard earned money so I made this primitive Appalachian satchel from some old linen and a bark tanned buckskin flap.  I oil clothed the linen with beeswax and linseed oil.  The strap is just a simple half inch strip of oil tanned cowhide and is not adjustable.





Here it is from behind.  I use waxed linen thread on all my bags.  I got the brain tanned buckskin from Curt Lyles.

I made this Southern rifle using forged wrought iron hardware.  It has the 42 inch  50 caliber Rice a-wt barrel with a Chambers Late Ketland lock.  The stock turned out very nice using my iron nitrate stain.

I got a trunk load of wrought iron from a restoration in Petersburg, VA where they were restoring the grounds of several Civil War era buildings.  The iron came from the dilapidated iron fence in the back yard of one of the houses.  It appears to be third run wrought and forges very nicely.  I still have some and will bring a few bars to Fort Frederick this spring.

10 years ago,  bought a liter of nitric acid from Antec in Louisville, KY.  I used iron filings from my shop tediously collected while I was doing file work on forged wrought iron butt plates and trigger guards I sell.  The concoction gave off a cloud of red fumes I managed to stay upwind of and now I have a lifetime supply of the stain.  I will bring several bottles to Fort Frederick if you are interested.

I suggest buying ferric nitrate crystals to make your stain and avoid the hazardous material shipping fees and drama.

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Horns, horns, horns


Been making a lot of powder horns this winter.  Here are a few.




A closer look at two.

Since retiring from my day job in November, I have been pretty busy with projects I had planned but never had time to get around to before.  Of course, many were things that needed done around the house or in the shop.  I still need to reorganize the shop as my son is now working with me making knives and doing most of the forge work.  It's great to have him but it gets crowded in there at times.  I need to get a new bench made so we can stop running into each other.

One of the projects I have worked on is a new hunting pouch/horn set.  Here it is matched with my hunting rifle.



Here is just the pouch.


The pouch is bark tanned leather, linen lined sewn with waxed linen thread.  It measures 8 inches wide by 9 inches long.  It is tanned dark brown not dyed has a Kris Polizzi strap attached with two forged rings.  A 50 grain powder measure is attached.

The F&I horn measures 13 inches around the outside curve with a maple plug and pine stopper.


A better look.





Another project completed this winter was this barn gun, pouch and horn set.  Well,not exactly a barn gun.  A basic early Lancaster rifle, Chambers Classic lock, Rice 38 inch 50 caliber b-wt rifled barrel, brass mounted.  It has no patchbox or carving, just a simple barn gun.  A simple hunting rifle, good for the stand or still hunter.






The pouch is a backwoods Appalachian bag with enough room for a fire kit and gun mould.  It is made from bark tanned buckskin, lined with linen.  It has a nice Kris Polizzi strap.

The F&I horn is a large horn, 14 inches around the outside curve and almost 3 inches at the base and will hold a can of black powder.  It has a walnut base plug and pine hand carved stopper otherwise is unadorned.




Here is a rifle, pouch and horn I completed this winter. The rifle is an early Allentown step wrist in maple with a Chambers Early Germanic lock and a 58 caliber oct. to rnd 44 inch Colerain rifled barrel.  It is brass mounted. The pouch is made of bark tanned leather lined with leather and an oil tanned leather strap with a home made iron buckle.  It includes a 60 grain antler powder measure.  The F&I horn measures 13.5 inches around the outside curve, with a pine base plug and stopper.  The horn is antiqued but not otherwise adorned.


The pouch is about 8 inches wide by 9 inches long.  It is sewn with brown waxes linen thread.  The lining is barktanned leather too.