Hi,
Thank you all for looking and commenting! I really appreciate your interest in my work. Taylor, you know on most English guns everything of interest is packed around the lock and trigger. Most of the fine metal work, carving, and engraving. It all tends to end up around the breech of the barrel. James and Mike, I particularly appreciate your comments about my English projects and always look forward to hearing from you. Mike, it is a real standing breech, which I fitted tightly. It has the cross pin through the lug on the bottom to anchor it along with the tang bolt. Greg, I filled the grain with Sutherland-Welles polymerized tung oil and elbow grease. I build the finish slowly and rub it back with rottenstone and raw linseed oil. The oiling and then rubbing back fills the grain and gives it a mellow vintage look, but it takes time. It also very slightly rounds sharp corners, which I find gives a very authentic look, unless it is critical to have sharp detail as in some carving. Mike, I have a Chamber's round-faced English pistol lock, which I considered using. However, the husband of the owner gave me the barrel, small Siler lock, a trigger guard, trigger, and the butt plate, which he had intended to make into a fowler for his wife. He never got to it , so asked me to build the gun. They wanted an English-style fowler and I told them I would build them one that was as historically correct as I could. Anyway, I decided that I was tired of seeing round-faced locks on English guns purported to be from the 1770s. By that time, round-faced locks were mainly used on livery, military, and cheaper export guns. Flat locks were the fashion for better quality guns, so I used the Siler and modified it. I wish it was 1/4" longer but I gave it my best go. I also used a different trigger guard. The one the owner gave me had a bow way too large. Instead, I bought a small English guard with the earlier torch or flaming urn finial and shaped it into the proper acorn finial for the time.
Rich Pierce,
Thank you. That is the highest compliment I could ever have. In the process of building this gun, I was doing the tasks of at least 7 individual English trades: lock maker, lock polisher, goldsmith, ramrod maker, rough stocker, stock finisher, and engraver. And all of that work for just 4 guineas (4 pounds, 4 shillings). I believe it would be at least a 3 and possibly 4 guinea gun in 1770.
dave
