Alacran: your comment gave me pause for thought. This was my fifth Lehigh styled rifle and its serial number is 114. With this many rifles under one's belt as it twere, one gains a confidence so that there isn't so much time spent pondering and more time paring away wood. Along that vein, I bandsaw the wood right to the profile line - I don't leave much extra wood 'in case'...1/32" max. Building a rifle to to point of being able to shoot it takes "X" amount of time. But finishing it...engraving, inlays, carving, scraping and sanding etc. takes at least "2X" or twice as long as the actual build. But it's nice to build a rifle like this without having some time constraints - I was able to lavish as much time as I needed to finish each of the elements that make the whole. Also, although Brian had an idea of what he wanted, he left it entirely up to me as to how far to take it. The engraving is an example. those who have followed some of my builds know how much I like to lavish a piece with engraving, and this one could have easily followed suite. But I chose to follow Herman's lead and gave the rifle a more historically accurate treatment. In retrospect, I believe that was a wise choice.
I'm pleased that you all are enjoying this rifle.
