Thanks Dave, for helping to answer some folks questions. Oldtravler 61 is correct the kind of rifle pictured here is not made in a few days,weeks, months or even years. This one took me 3 years and a divorce. I cannot tell you the exact number of hours except most days I was up at 5;am worked for two hrs. then went to my reg. job and after dinner worked till midnight most nights. All parts are fashioned by hand using hand tools. I do not use pre carved stocks or ready made barrels or ready made locks. I do not have a lathe, milling machine or a stock duplicator! Yes the silver is fine silver, the gold is fine gold, the wood was the finest curly maple from Slippery Rock PA. The scrimshaw was done by Kelly Mullford of Bellingham WA. Who was known up and down the west coast as a master artisan working in fossil ivory. During the 1980's his work was gobled up by the scrimshaw collectors. I have seen some of his work sell for $10,000 , $20,000 and beyond!
This rifle was influenced mainly by Allentown/Bethlehem school and Lehigh school circa:1800. And of course my own interpretation of those schools. Today we are blessed by multimedia to give us all manor of access to longrifles of old. So it easy to be influenced by a number of historic makers and thier schools. The art work on this rifle was concokted between the the client and myself. I was not allowed lisence to do what I thought was classic for a period longrifle. Anyway thanks guys for all the positive comments. I will try to keep you up dated as to the happenings with this piece. Hugh Toenjes
