Lester P. "Phil" Lawrence
1926-2014
A Brief Profile & Photographs
Phil Lawrence was born near Gaines, Michigan in 1926. Although he had many jobs during his life including a Flint, Michigan firefighter & a Flint custom home builder, he was always very talented & enjoyed creating art. He had hopes of becoming a professional artist early in his life. This pursuit of art included drawing, painting, & later, his real love, was sculpting & making flintlock & percussion rifles & pistols.
He semi-retired from building & his interest in building old firearms started with a visit to gun maker Roy Vail from Warwick, New York in 1965. This led him to form friendships with Michigan gun makers Art Holly & Roy Keeler. Eventually he was to meet & become good friends with William Buchele. Phil began to collect some of Buchele's rifles & pistols, Tomahawks, & a Powder horn. As Buchele began to retire from making firearms, Phil purchased many of Buchele;s tools, molds, & many other firearms related items.
Some firearms of particular interest to Phil were the pistols made by J.P. Beck. Phil was able to take molds from an original J.P. Beck pistol & cast them. Over time Phil eventually made around 20 J.P. Beck pistols. Phil estimated that he built about 16 Kentucky Longrifles & around 30 pistols. Most of the firearms that he built were given away to friends & relatives. Very few of his hand built firearms were sold & those also went to a few good friends & relatives.
When Phil passed away in 2014 he had a large assortment of firearm parts, stocks, & many items from the Buchele inventory.
Pictured here are a few of his firearms & several of his bronzes. Shown here for your viewing pleasure & as a tribute to Phil's artistic talents. Enjoy!!
