AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Gun Building => Topic started by: smart dog on May 11, 2022, 01:23:22 AM
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Hi,
One of these days I'll get my Peter Berry finished but I have to jump on these next projects right away. I am building 2 John Hills inspired guns, a rifle and fowler. I write "inspired" because neither will be a bench copy but they should be recognizable as plausible Hills' products. John Hills likely was the first gunsmith working in Vermont. He was the son of gunsmith Benoni Hills of Goshen, CT, and brother to gunsmith Medad Hills. All of his guns were slim and elegant and usually stocked in stunning curly maple. Today, I want to discuss just the fowler project. Some of you may remember I helped a blind man named Josh Tabor, to build a Dickert inspired rifle. That project was a success but he also needs a good fowler because he is a successful turkey hunter. About 10 years ago, he bought what he thought was a good quality NW trade gun for $900 from a muzzleloader retailer. Remember, he is blind and what he was sold was an India-made "Ketland officer's fusil" that normally retails for $500. Yes, there are people who do this kind of stuff. You can see the gun on the Middlesex Valley Traders website, however, they were not the retailers involved. It is junk. Anyway, I talked it over with Josh and suggested that we could salvage a lot of the gun to make a really nice gun inspired by John Hills. All of the hardware parts are very thick with extra metal so they could be considered raw material. The lock was a mess but it had so much extra steel that I could remake it into almost anything. Here are photos of the gun and lock.
(https://i.ibb.co/5LstFbR/India-gun-barrel-bottom.jpg) (https://ibb.co/L19b5VZ)
(https://i.ibb.co/Rc70j0d/India-gun-barrel-channel.jpg) (https://ibb.co/M79VBVQ)
(https://i.ibb.co/svb16NT/India-gun-breech-inlet.jpg) (https://ibb.co/LzYgJcT)
(https://i.ibb.co/h7ct4gr/India-gun-front-sight.jpg) (https://ibb.co/ZLSkFfv)
(https://i.ibb.co/N10KZF7/India-gun-rear-thimble.jpg) (https://ibb.co/hXGVDgC)
(https://i.ibb.co/XyNpjJm/India-gun-trigger-guard-mortice.jpg) (https://ibb.co/wJ3CB6D)
(https://i.ibb.co/VYmMXcw/india-gun-vs-real-guns-2.jpg) (https://ibb.co/RTyQLkj)
(https://i.ibb.co/kSScwNg/Inida-gun-lock-mortice.jpg) (https://ibb.co/rwwyzDG)
(https://i.ibb.co/wrtt57q/India-made-lock-1.jpg) (https://ibb.co/h1003cN)
(https://i.ibb.co/4KZfj02/india-made-lock-2.jpg) (https://ibb.co/PFZY5VM)
We ditched the stock, barrel, side plate, and butt plate but should be able to use all of the rest of the parts. My first task was to rebuild the lock. This was a fun project. It appears that John Hills made his own locks and I cannot duplicate one exactly with the India-made lock but I can duplicate the rustic look of a lock made in NE and with some Hills features. It turns out that the steel on the lock is a delight to work and I treated it like it was a very rough kit. I replaced most of the internals with Chambers Siler parts and used a new flat flint cock. I am almost finished heat treating the components and will post photos in the next few days. I have a really nice red maple stock blank and a good barrel for the project. I'll post photos as I go. With the high price of gas, Josh will only be working with me occasionally plus he and his wife are building a new house with Habitat For Humanity. He'll be busy.
dave
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You're a good man, Dave. Josh is lucky to have a friend like you. I'm looking forward to seeing this project.
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Those India made guns are quite lovely.
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Those India made guns are quite lovely.
Hi Mike,
Yeah, in a "how to inlet with an ice pick" sort of way.
dave
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Those India made guns are quite lovely.
Hi Mike,
Yeah, in a "how to inlet with an ice pick" sort of way.
dave
An ice pick and a shingle hatchet helped by friendly termites.The mechanism in that lock is about the same as the original Shoults locks from
the late 1950's.
Bob Roller
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Those India made guns are quite lovely.
Hi Mike,
Yeah, in a "how to inlet with an ice pick" sort of way.
dave
The India guns I have had apart looked like they used and old wore out screwdriver for inletting.
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Hey Dave - Any chance we could see a bit more of your comparative original fowler in the 4th photo up from the bottom. At your convenience of course. Thanks, Tom
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Hi,
Well, I reworked the lock. I may make a new stronger mainspring but I will leave the reworked original on for now. It is a little weak and I initially thought it was too stout on the lock as it came. However, that heavy feel was not the spring rather the shoulder on the post of the tumbler did not protrude above the lock plate so when you tightened down the tumbler screw, you tightened the cock against the plate! No wonder it was hard to cock the lock. The fit of the frizzen to the pan was bad enough that 4F powder could leak from it. The tumbler post was not perfectly round and the hole in the bridle was not true with the tumbler hole. However, there was plenty of excess metal to work with considering the plate was almost 1/4" thick. I decided to thin and flatten the plate, reshape it more like those on Hills' guns and replace the flintcock, tumbler, bridle, and sear with Chambers Siler parts. Here is the original lock.
(https://i.ibb.co/wrtt57q/India-made-lock-1.jpg) (https://ibb.co/h1003cN)
(https://i.ibb.co/4KZfj02/india-made-lock-2.jpg) (https://ibb.co/PFZY5VM)
First, I had to drastically thin the plate from both sides, clean up the surfaces and file a bevel on the outside of the plate. I used my coarse single cut files and they did a speedy job of it. I don't have a milling machine so I work with hand tools but I can file very flat, even, and clean surfaces. I put a bushing in the tumbler hole because the original hole was not perfectly round and too large for a Siler tumbler. I've done this before. I drill the hole to 5/16" then counter sink both sides of the hole. Then I cut a 5/16" steel plug to fit in the hole, flux it, and solder in place with low temp silver bearing solder. Then I peen both sides of the plug to fill the counter sinks. This works really well even if I want to later case harden the plate. During that process, the solder will flow again but the bushing is held in place by the peening and when the plate is quenched, the solder simply congeals again. The photos show the plate with the bushing in place.
(https://i.ibb.co/kmH93Dz/lock-1.jpg) (https://ibb.co/3RrMfFV)
(https://i.ibb.co/jDKyck0/lock-2.jpg) (https://ibb.co/bXhsS5w)
I file the bushing flush and then fit the bridle. I used the existing hole for the upper screw anchoring the Siler bridle. I had to fill the sear hole just like I did the tumbler hole. Then I used the bridle to mark the location of the sear hole and drilled and tapped it. I installed the bridle and used the tumbler spindle hole to mark the center of the new tumbler hole in the lock plate. Using my drill press, I drilled through the bridle hle and through the lock plate. Then, without moving the plate in the drill press vise, I removed the bridle and drilled a hole through the plate just a hair smaller than the tumbler post. I then reamed that hole to fit the tumbler. It came out great. I reused the sear spring, which was a very nice forged spring and could be bent a little to work perfectly. Now, I was able to install the tumbler, sear, bridle, and sear spring and make sure they all worked. I selected a flintcock from a deluxe Siler lock to replace the round-faced original. It fit perfectly with a little filing and looks just right. I reused the top jaw from the original lock after reshaping it a bit.
Next I had to work over the frizzen. I annealed it and reshaped it. Then I fit it to the pan to close any gaps. I came out well but could be a little tighter. I am not sure if I will worry about the fit any further. Next I worked over the frizzen spring, reshaping it, closing the bend, and cleaning up the uneveness of the steel leaves. I reshaped the finial. I polished it, hardened and tempered it and installed it on the lock with the frizzen. Next I worked over the mainspring and reshaped it to give it a little more strength. Its architecture is fine but it may need more thickness. I may have to make a new spring. Anyway, the lock works very well, has a nice smooth feel and function. I would say it is now at least the equal of any well assembled Siler lock. It will need some tuning and cosmetic work but it is ready to be inlet on Josh's new fowler. It has a nice rustic, hand made look much like the locks typically found on Hills' guns.
(https://i.ibb.co/2jbs01k/lock-3.jpg) (https://ibb.co/4jQYwnV)
(https://i.ibb.co/dkJbYSH/lock-5.jpg) (https://ibb.co/ssJ5YhX)
(https://i.ibb.co/PwFnwDQ/lock-6.jpg) (https://ibb.co/GcnLcHT)
(https://i.ibb.co/WxLZtBy/lock-7.jpg) (https://ibb.co/YRxmZfk)
dave
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Hi Tom,
If you go here and follow through with all the parts, you will see many photos of that original English gun.
https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=48841.0
dave
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Awesome!! That lock looks great!
Anthony
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Siler guts? I don't have time to read the text.
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Thanks Anthony!
Mike, yes, Siler guts except for the main and sear spring. A nice advantage to that is the tumbler has a fly. The India-made tumbler did not.
dave
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Dave, just checking you have the July 1982 and January 1996 Shumway Muzzle Blasts articles on John Hills guns. I love the funky “VERMONT” engraving on the top flat of the barrels.
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Hi Rich,
Thanks for asking. I have those articles. I wish Eric Bye still had his John Hills gun. There is one in the Shelburne Museum but I am pretty sure it was restocked in the 19th century. I am going to include that funky engraving but I don't think I will engrave the patch box on the rifle exactly the way Hills did and I probably will make it a little narrower.
dave
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An I (J) Hills gun is now on my to-build list.
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Hi Rich,
The Hills family were remarkable. At one time during the Rev War years they had as many as 28 blacksmiths and gunsmiths within the tiny village of Goshen, CT working on muskets for which they may have made everything. John Hills quickly became an important person in the town of Charlotte, VT within just a few years of moving there. I visited his grave in Barber Hill cemetery in Charlotte. FYI, "Charlotte" is pronounced "Sha LOT" by Vermonters.
dave
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And here I was, thinking that Rich Pierce was the first gunsmith in Vermont!
Looked at the reference J. Hills guns mentioned - the man was talented!
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Hi,
It was time to make the trigger guard. One goal Josh and I have is to salvage as much from the India-made gun as possible. John Hills used a simple design that he modified a little over time but he used the same basic design over and over. The guard from the "Ketland Officer's Fusil" was very different but it had so much extra brass thickness that I thought I would try and use it. I like this part because I get to use my torch and a big ball peen hammer. There is nothing I like more than bashing stuff. So I annealed the old guard and started beating the snot out of it to flatten and stretch the brass. It worked really well. The resulting guard is a little shorter than it should but not by much. It will work just fine.
Here is the original guard and mortise.
(https://i.ibb.co/18NxVJX/old-guard-2.jpg) (https://ibb.co/2grB2YM)
(https://i.ibb.co/ScftDj1/old-guard.jpg) (https://ibb.co/T1W4Dfn)
(https://i.ibb.co/XyvGRh7/old-trigger-guard-mortise.jpg) (https://ibb.co/q0P2QtN)
Here is the new guard.
(https://i.ibb.co/6mN1R8x/trigger-guard-1.jpg) (https://ibb.co/g36PMdp)
(https://i.ibb.co/vzbYS6y/trigger-guard-2.jpg) (https://ibb.co/rygsVR8)
(https://i.ibb.co/LgF3v9p/trigger-guard-4.jpg) (https://ibb.co/94D7GyY)
(https://i.ibb.co/pPGZpDT/trigger-guard-3.jpg) (https://ibb.co/QcznGBV)
It still needs some detailing and clean up but it is basically ready for inletting.
dave
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Hi,
I fitted the breech plug today. It was really easy. I measured the depth of the shoulder in the barrel and ground the face of the plug to that depth. Then I twiddled the end of the plug on my sanding disc attached to my stationary belt sander to create a nice, even chamfered shoulder. Tried it in the barrel and I was just 1/4 flat short. I just cranked on the plug bolster so it swaged its way into the shouldered breech and it was done. I checked with Prussian blue and it makes contact all around in the shoulder. One detail, most commercially machined plugs have a radius where the bolster meets the tang. Get rid of that radius. File it into a right angle. Inletting will be so much easier.
(https://i.ibb.co/3dbmq1H/drawing-3.jpg) (https://ibb.co/9g0HLnj)
I've not made a John Hill gun before so I made a drawing based on scaled measurements from photos of originals and requirements to fit Josh. As you can see from the drawing, it should be an elegant gun. I fuss over the drawings because I will cut the stock blank to within 1/8" of the lines in my drawing.
dave
(https://i.ibb.co/w7trrGM/drawing-1.jpg) (https://ibb.co/nBp88dz)
(https://i.ibb.co/X4znsHk/drawing-2.jpg) (https://ibb.co/TTHQ8yq)
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Hi,
The barrel I am using is a Colerain 20 gauge smoothbore, 1 1/16" at the breech and 44" long. The barrel is too heavy but the saving grace is Josh is 5'7" and benefits from a shorter, lighter barrel. So I cut it back to 40", which improved the balance tremendously. I scribed a line 4" from the muzzle using calipers, put tape on the breech side of that line, and cut the excess off with a hacksaw butted against the tape. Then I held the barrel vertically in my vise and cleaned up the muzzle with a medium cut file walking the file all the way around the muzzle. I chamfered the bore by using a 3/4" round stone mounted in a "brace and bit". The results were great.
Next I had to make a butt plate. I had a wax cast plate with thick brass that had the right profile to the shoulder plate but needed the tang lengthened and reshaped. I annealed the brass and then used my cross peen hammer to stretch the end of the tang almost 3/8". You use the cross peen like an adze, hammering the metal in the direction you want it to move. Anneal, hammer, stretch, anneal, hammer stretch etc.
(https://i.ibb.co/R9QzVXV/butt-plate-1.jpg) (https://ibb.co/HVGnkck)
Then I filed it to shape like those used on John Hills guns. It is scaled a little smaller because my whole gun is scaled 7% smaller than the original gun I am using as a model so it fits Josh.
(https://i.ibb.co/JvH29mj/butt-plate-2.jpg) (https://imgbb.com/)
(https://i.ibb.co/FY05ryz/butt-plate-3.jpg) (https://ibb.co/3FMp3jc)
You can see the shape and also the final shape of the trigger guard. I also wet the maple stock to show the nice figure.
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Good progress!
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Hi,
Some folks asked to see pictures of an original John Hills gun. Unfortunately, I don't want to post my best photos because of copyright violations. Examples of John Hills work are online but none of the ones I've found are very typical of his work. Here are some photos of one of Hills' Vermont guns from one of Guthman's long out of print books.
(https://i.ibb.co/PFC5VYk/original-Hills-gun.jpg) (https://ibb.co/7jyG0zh)
The gun was recently up for sale at auction and sold for $8000.
Other examples are in Grinslade's book "Flintlock Fowlers" but the guns I am working from are shown in George Shumway's "Longrifle Articles Published in Muzzleblasts" volume 2 available from Track of the Wolf. An interesting sidebar is that both George Shumway and the great contemporary gun maker, John Bivins had strong strong attachments to Vermont. Shumway went to Middlebury College and always traveled to VT for skiing, and Bivins had a second home here. In fact, I think John died here, while at his second home.
dave
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Hi,
Got a bit done. I inlet the barrel, which is a Colerain 20 gauge octagon/round barrel shortened to 40". I find these barrels to be pretty easy. The round sections rarely taper much so they are almost like inletting a pipe but the octagon section is more challenging because it tapers a lot. On this barrel, I used a 3/8" wide dado cutter on my table saw to cut a narrow groove just shy of the bottom of the round section. Then I used the dado set for 3/4" to cut a wider barrel channel just under sized for the minimum dimension of the barrel. I inlet the breech and that allows me to set the barrel in so I can trace the outline. Then I just cut that outline with a mortise chisel controlling for depth of the side flat (by eye). I use Gunline round barrel floats and octagon barrel floats to mostly complete the inlet, although scraping flats with a 3/8" flat chisel helps a lot.
(https://i.ibb.co/LpQqgfG/barrel-inlet-1.jpg) (https://ibb.co/dKb3pyh)
(https://i.ibb.co/WWZHwXy/barrel-inlet-2.jpg) (https://ibb.co/cc0yH9F)
(https://i.ibb.co/TvXggQL/barrel-inlet-3.jpg) (https://ibb.co/8K377yc)
Unless the owner or my objectives preclude it, I always coat my barrel channels with a varnish thin coat of AcraGlas. It seals the wood but more importantly, adds a great deal of strength to the barrel channel side walls. I know this from actually testing the process. The strength increase ranges from 3 fold to 10 fold over untreated wood. On this gun, I mixed 10 ml of hardener with 40 ml of resin and a heaping teaspoon of fiberglass flock. I tinted it with 3 drops of Laurel Mountain Forge Lancaster stain. This is what a varnish thin coat looks like. Note it is so thin you can see the wood grain underneath.
(https://i.ibb.co/BVTtshX/barrel-inlet-4.jpg) (https://ibb.co/0jYcJ0g)
(https://i.ibb.co/pdNS5gr/barrel-inlet-5.jpg) (https://ibb.co/M7KmQb5)
To prep the stock for the coat I make sure the barrel can be pressed in place with firm finger pressure and removed by a solid tap on the bottom of the stock with a mallet.
(https://i.ibb.co/y6jpcpM/barrel-inlet-6.jpg) (https://ibb.co/6HC878p)
(https://i.ibb.co/CQ7sH0D/barrel-inlet-7.jpg) (https://ibb.co/4pTgVN3)
(https://i.ibb.co/6RDfgDw/barrel-inlet-8.jpg) (https://ibb.co/JRrM5rt)
After squaring up the stock, I used my router table to cut a 3/8" groove for the ramrod.
(https://i.ibb.co/X8dzcBP/ramrod-groove-1.jpg) (https://ibb.co/5Fz5bD3)
Then a brace and bit and 3/8" drill to make the ramrod hole.
Finally, I trimmed the stock with my bandsaw.
(https://i.ibb.co/3mYyqyY/ramrod-hole-1.jpg) (https://imgbb.com/)
(https://i.ibb.co/9gPy7Zp/trimmed-rough-stock-1.jpg) (https://ibb.co/LRK93N0)
(https://i.ibb.co/GdQT12T/trimmed-rough-stock-2.jpg) (https://ibb.co/S6wr1nr)
More to come.
dave
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No moss growing on that one! Talked to Josh last night. He’s excited.
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Hi,
Did some shaping. There is a John Hills gun in there. I just have to cut away all the unnecessary wood to find it. The stock is hard red maple with a lot of figure. It does not plane well because you can only work in one direction and it always seems to be the awkward direction. It will be fine.
(https://i.ibb.co/tQn3G2y/rough-shaped-stock-5-30-22.jpg) (https://ibb.co/hLrC6dp)
I positioned the lock understanding I will install a 1/4" "white lightning" liner so I made sure the vent hole is sufficiently far in front of the breech plug so the liner hole and threads don't interfere. I inlet the lock plate but will do the guts later. I worked over the lock a bit more before starting to inlet it. I wanted the cock to rotate a tiny bit further forward overhanging the pan a little more. Now the shoulder of the cock hits the lock plate just as the rear of the tumbler hits the back of the bridle. It is a very good lock.
(https://i.ibb.co/54z4KPz/lock-inlet-1.jpg) (https://ibb.co/1QpQzkp)
(https://i.ibb.co/M7JZjs0/lock-inlet-2.jpg) (https://ibb.co/L1sYq87)
Note that the plate is already drilled for the lock bolts from its previous incarnation. The line on the stock forward of the forward lock bolt hole represents the bottom of the barrel. You can see that the bolt hole will just miss the barrel but it will just snick the top of the 3/8" ramrod. That will present no problems.
After installing the plate, I trimmed off a lot more wood and began shaping the wrist, lock area, and butt. Then I installed the butt plate. It went in really easily.
(https://i.ibb.co/cFy5yc6/butt-plate-4.jpg) (https://imgbb.com/)
(https://i.ibb.co/x8NXzgY/butt-plate-5.jpg) (https://imgbb.com/)
Now I can thin and shape the butt more and refine the profile a bit more. After that I shift to the fore stock.
dave
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Hi,
Got back to the John Hills' fowler after several diversions. It is ready for final shaping. All the components are installed and working. It will be plain with some simple "John Hills like" carving around the barrel tang. The red maple stock has nice figure so it should be a very nice elegant gun. Everyone who shoulders it falls in love with how it feels. The simple side plate is fashioned after Hills, There will be an oval wrist plate. I have to reshape the trigger a bit to be more like Hills' work but the trigger pull is a crisp 2 lbs. The rest of this project should go fast.
(https://i.ibb.co/yszGJgF/stock-ready-for-final-shaping-1.jpg) (https://ibb.co/QmWzGYv)
(https://i.ibb.co/vZN7mMY/stock-ready-for-final-shaping-2.jpg) (https://ibb.co/jgCcGjR)
(https://i.ibb.co/ByNK8dn/stock-ready-for-final-shaping-3.jpg) (https://imgbb.com/)
(https://i.ibb.co/hWPtQdr/stock-ready-for-final-shaping-4.jpg) (https://ibb.co/G2KbYMG)
(https://i.ibb.co/hZJMH15/stock-ready-for-final-shaping-5.jpg) (https://ibb.co/Nmd3pnh)
(https://i.ibb.co/WxdZ72J/stock-ready-for-final-shaping-6.jpg) (https://ibb.co/vwrpfjn)
(https://i.ibb.co/f4G5SVg/stock-ready-for-final-shaping-7.jpg) (https://ibb.co/2gYQ609)
(https://i.ibb.co/pRFt2K7/stock-ready-for-final-shaping-8.jpg) (https://imgbb.com/)
dave
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Looking at the pictures it made me wonder how long did it take to get rid of what seems to be an extreme amount of wood on that butt stock? What kind of tools?
Bob Roller
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Looking at the pictures it made me wonder how long did it take to get rid of what seems to be an extreme amount of wood on that butt stock? What kind of tools?
Bob Roller
Hi Bob,
Band saw, gouges, planes, and pattern maker's rasps. It does not take long to whittle that squared stock down to almost final form, maybe 4 full work days complete with a lot of time just looking at the lines.
dave
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Hi,
Two John Hills features on many of his guns (not all by any means) are a double line border along the ramrod channel and an octagon faceted muzzle. The molding lines simply start at the rear pipe and fade out near the muzzle.
(https://i.ibb.co/djTvbDw/molding-lines-1.jpg) (https://ibb.co/VJ1GHTc)
(https://i.ibb.co/sq3f49L/molding-lines-2.jpg) (https://ibb.co/Fz7r14G)
The faceted muzzle is more work. The octagon facets flare toward the muzzle and are often bordered by a wedding band. I don't have any way to turn a 40" barrel in a lathe so I just went at it with files. First I put tape on the barrel marking the edge of the round to octagon transition and used the tape to guide my triangular file creating a deeply cut ring around the barrel. Then, using a coarse flat file with safe edges, I filed the muzzle into a flared cone. To keep it even, I counted strokes of the file, then turned the barrel about 20 degrees and filed the same number of strokes again, repeating all the way round until I had a nice even cone. I filed a flat on the top, turned the barrel 90 degrees and filed another flat, turned it 90 degrees and filed a flat and then another 90 degrees and a flat. Then I filed the flats in between at 45 degrees. I counted strokes to keep them even. Next I rounded off the corners and dressed the muzzle. Finally, I filed the bordering wedding band. It came out well.
(https://i.ibb.co/F7Fztsb/muzzle-1.jpg) (https://ibb.co/zfzZw8h)
(https://i.ibb.co/BybcgxL/muzzle-2.jpg) (https://ibb.co/qNK7RfB)
Finally, I cut back and reshaped the stock.
dave
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Hi,
Doesn't the end of the stock look like a sperm whale with the barrel pin his eye? The "white whale"!.
(https://i.ibb.co/BybcgxL/muzzle-2.jpg) (https://ibb.co/qNK7RfB)
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Hi,
What do you think guys? Should I get the decals?
dave
(https://i.ibb.co/c1z96M3/Picture1.jpg) (https://ibb.co/7X7Dn8C)
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Too funny on the decal. :-)
Seriously it looks like Jack Duprey may have studied JOhn Hills' guns at some point. I see that flavor in his work.
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Hi Marcruger,
John Hills had a distinctive style and it is elegant. I carved around the barrel tang today. John Hills had a distinct carving design with minor variations that he used over and over again. It was a fluted fan, shell, or shield and varied in quality from fairly well done with some fine details to pretty rustic verging on crude. I wanted to honor his style but while I admire rustic, I dislike crude. So I came up with a design that fits in with Hills' work and is simple, easily carved, and looks rustic but is not crude.
(https://i.ibb.co/YWvY03B/carving-1.jpg) (https://ibb.co/dcn1mr4)
It needs some clean up but after the final whiskering of the stock. A feature very common on New England guns from the 18th century is that there is rarely carving other than around the barrel tang and the design usually is placed at the end of the tang without any flowing design around the tang leading into it. It is kind of stuck there like a potted plant on top of a featureless table. Often there is not a lot of creativity shown and not much complexity. That is just as well as this red maple stock is a pain to carve. I have to keep sharpening my knives because the softer wood just compresses under the blade rather than shearing off. It tears out easily and is difficult to scrape because of that. Everything has to be scary sharp all the time or I get nowhere. Any John Hills experts out there, please comment. I think I got the flavor and style of the man right.
dave
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Doggone, Dave - you sure do some fine work! Really admire the sticking to Hills original style.
those trim lines from rear pipe to near the muzzle might be easiest done using a skip-line checkering tool. You kept them nice and crisp. And I love the tang carving. Not crude at all, but also not the typical shell carving. I will probably copy that shell on one of my guns in progress.
Blue whales do not have teeth as such, but otherwise, I vote FOR the decal!
Josh should be really tickled pink at this fowler. I predict he will be shooting ducks in no time at all. Not too sporting but start him out with sitting ducks rather than on the wing.
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Hi Craig,
Thanks for the note. I am almost done with the gun. I just haven't had time to post photos but will very soon. I ran into a snag while engraving. I made the side plate from a simple solid plate I cast years ago that was larger than I needed. So I just filed it to the new shape I needed and saved a bunch of time rather than cut a new one from thick sheet brass. Or so I thought. I must not have heated the brass high enough when I cast the old plate because as I engraved it, it just chipped away rather than cut clean lines. It was like taking a chisel to a brittle stone like flint. It was impossible to engrave. So I had to make a new plate from sheet brass. I made it slightly larger so it has to be inlet into the finished stock. No big deal but I sure did not save myself any time of effort. The gun is mostly done and I have to finish the engraving. I also have to adjust the trigger.
dave
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Hi,
Just got done engraving the new side plate. The sheet brass was a dream to cut compared with the previous bad casting. I am trying to capture the style and flavor of John Hills' work but not the crudity of some of the decoration. I want a true rustic feel to it but also evidence the engraver has some skill. Double line borders are a great skill to master when learning to engraves. They are far better than scrolls to learn tool control. I wanted my lettering to show skill but keep with the rustic feel of the gun. I do that by applying beeswax to the metal and hand drawing the lettering with a pencil. Then I coated the plate with Dykem blue and scribed the wiggly borders around the lettering. I used an oval template to scribe an even guideline for both names but scribed the wavy lines freehand. I think the result captures the feel of the real thing.
(https://i.ibb.co/fpZ2wB0/rufus-green.jpg) (https://ibb.co/r6qmrTy)
(https://i.ibb.co/wLVxKcz/engraved-side-plate.jpg) (https://ibb.co/X41vzYC)
dave
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Hi,
Finished the John Hills fowler. It was fun but unfortunately the owner, who is blind, was not able to help build it. High gas prices and building a home prevented him from traveling over the Green Mountains to my shop. The objective of the gun was to use as many parts as I could salvaged from an India-made "Ketland Officers's Fusil", which was a piece of junk but some of the parts served as good raw material for a new gun. The second objective was to make a gun that could be the plausible product of John Hills anytime between 1776, when he moved to Vermont from CT, and his death in 1808. Hills is the first documented gunsmith working in Vermont. I did not copy any gun but anyone familiar with John Hills' work should recognize the features. The first challenge was salvaging the lock from the "officer's fusil" and turning it into one that looks like a lock found on NE fowlers. I showed what I did in previous posts. Then I salvaged as many of the other components as I could. The barrel is 20 gauge and cut down to 40" from 44". The stock is red maple from Allen Martin. During salvaging I essentially remade all the other components. including the butt plate. The engraving borrows much from Hills' style and I wanted it to look rustic and a bit amateurish. This is not meant to look like a high end British fowler. It supposed to be the product of a rural Vermont gun shop. I engraved the owner's name on the side plate al la the famous "Rufus Green" gun. I put my name on the lock and butt plate with my shop location on the butt plate as well. I also engraved "Vermont" on the barrel as Hills often did. Note that you read the engraving on the butt plate one way and then have to turn the gun around to read the engraving on the barrel. That is simply the way Hills did it. The muzzle decoration was commonly used by Hills and is something of a signature. However, he did not always do it. Enjoy. Next up is a John Hills rifle. Two surviving rifles by Hills are described in Shumway's "Longrifles of Note Vol 2".
(https://i.ibb.co/gRBMTDd/finished-fowler-1.jpg) (https://ibb.co/nL5scDB)
(https://i.ibb.co/48R8gsF/finished-fowler-2.jpg) (https://ibb.co/CbKbsJw)
(https://i.ibb.co/q7fb24Z/finished-fowler-3.jpg) (https://ibb.co/yd1LxM3)
(https://i.ibb.co/1mp2kZy/finished-fowler-4.jpg) (https://ibb.co/hmn8SsQ)
(https://i.ibb.co/NSD0Mqt/finished-fowler-5.jpg) (https://ibb.co/GTYZqDn)
(https://i.ibb.co/271WXy6/finished-fowler-6.jpg) (https://ibb.co/8DLNF0B)
(https://i.ibb.co/fD9jXqk/finished-fowler-7.jpg) (https://ibb.co/RjNRgY3)
(https://i.ibb.co/6tZzWWT/finished-fowler-8.jpg) (https://ibb.co/dpcF55V)
(https://i.ibb.co/ZMgLMRZ/finished-fowler-9.jpg) (https://ibb.co/jrw6r9p)
(https://i.ibb.co/yy0y83j/finished-fowler-10.jpg) (https://ibb.co/hWsWKqz)
(https://i.ibb.co/stLwwW9/finished-fowler-11.jpg) (https://ibb.co/9GRTTZH)
(https://i.ibb.co/SmYS0hp/finished-fowler-12.jpg) (https://ibb.co/B6WkjXR)
(https://i.ibb.co/0BTg5fR/finished-fowler-13.jpg) (https://ibb.co/bHTStrM)
(https://i.ibb.co/3MZQjjR/finished-fowler-14.jpg) (https://ibb.co/RBwdssj)
(https://i.ibb.co/vjBpy7w/finished-fowler-15.jpg) (https://ibb.co/z45p9yn)
dave
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Simply wonderful! I have greatly enjoyed observing your journey making this piece and know that the recipient will greatly appreciate your work. I think that it captures Hill's work very nicely.
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That's very beautiful!!! I'm glad you were able to do this for Josh, I can imagine him rubbing his hands over his engraved name on the side plate, and I know he'll be proud of it! Blessings to you!!
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Beautiful. That wrist....wow.
Would you mind sharing what you did for the stain and finish?
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Elegant in so many ways… this is another masterpiece. Have you had an opportunity to shoot it, Dave? It would be thrilling no doubt 😃
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Hi,
Thanks for looking and commenting. HU, the finish is very dilute tannic acid and then ferric nitrate dissolved in water and blushed with heat. The wood is red maple and the dilute tannic acid still made it a bit darker than I wanted. I think in hind sight, I would rather have just used the ferric nitrate although the tannin did accentuate the curl. I almost always make the same mistake and I don't understand why I fail to learn from it. I always underestimate how much the finish darkens the color. I know better but I make the same error over and over again because I guess I don't trust that the finish will darken a lighter stain enough to suit me. Someday if I live long enough, I'll get it right. The finish is Sutherland Welles wiping varnish medium sheen. This is technically new to me and I like it. S-W mixed polymerized tung oil with urethane resin. I say technically new to me because when I lived in Alaska, I used a finish that was a mix of raw tung oil and urethane varnish very successfully. The application is the same as using polymerized tung oil. You apply the finish with a brush, rag, or Scotch Bright pad, let it sit for 10-15 minutes depending on heat and humidity, and then wipe off all of the residual finish completely, even in the tight corners. Let dry for 24 hours despite the finish feeling dry in just a few hours. Repeat until you have the sheen you desire.
Bob, I probably will shoot the fowler soon. I checked it with my laser bore sighter and the windage should be zeroed in, and the elevation should put shots on paper at 50 yards.
dave
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Shoot it with pride!
Just as a side question, Dave- when did you begin building flintlocks?