Joel, thanks for asking about Carl, I'll try to give you a short take on the kind of guy he was.
Carl grew up in Bladensburg Maryland and spent most of his life there. Bladensburg itself boarders Washington D.C. and was the site of several historic events. During the War of 1812, "The Battle of Bladensburg" was fought near Carl's home and the Bladensburg Dueling Grounds was practically in his back yard. He also told me of finding cannon balls when he was a kid and rolling them home from nearby Fort Lincoln (a Civil War Fort). In his youth, he spent most of his time in the woods or on the nearby Anacostia River, I guess you could say he lived the life of a Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn.
Every Wednesday evening, Carl would host a get together in his basement/gun room. You never knew who or what would show up there, but some of the best rifles I ever saw would pass though his basement at those get togethers. I usually arrived early to show him my latest project and get his advice. His most common dislike was too much wood left on the gun. He liked the forearms to be almost paper thin and he always said that there are no flat spots on a Kentucky Rifle, everything was supposed to flow. But if he liked what you had done, he was quick to praise that at well. Generally, he was a soft spoken man who had worked as a printer until he retired, he wasn't wealthy, but what he lacked in money he made up for in friends.
I think his favorite gunsmith would have been George Schroyer. He always said that Schroyer was creative and always made changes in his work from rifle to rifle. He also Liked J.P. Beck and Christian Hawkins work as well. Before I knew him, he became interested in Nicholas Hawk and he owned a Nicholas Hawk rifle, swivel breech and pistol. Eventually he sold (or traded) them to acquire more golden age rifles.
Carl liked to use nitric acid to color his guns, but said that it wasn't always easy to get the look he was going for with it. Eventually he started using orange stain for his first coat (he said this made the stripes on maple pop) and then he would use what ever color he was trying to achieve (usually brown) to finish it. He would usually then use boiled linseed oil and powdered burnt umber. When the finish was partially dried, he wiped off the burnt umber, but left some to highlight the low areas and carving. An example of that finish can be seen on the Lauck style rifle of his I posted.
Of course there is much more, but that's what I can think of for now. As I've said before, Carl was a good guy who loved Kentucky Rifles until the day he died. By the way, I still miss his insight and knowledge of the Kentucky Rifle, it's hard to replace all of those years of experience.
Frank
