Memorial Day weekend the Gun Shop at Martin's Station opened, with me as the volunteer gunsmith. I'm usually there Sunday's, Wednesday's, and Friday's. About a week ago, we made our first sand casting, a butt piece for the rifle which is being built there.
Those that stopped by the Martin's Station table at the CLA show saw the rifle in it's present form, basically a block of sugar maple with a Rice Virginia barrel, a Chambers round-face English lock, and a trigger installed in it.
Martin's Station is a 1775 settlement, including a small fort, at Wilderness Road State Park in Virginia, about 8 miles east of Cumberland Gap. For more info see:
www.martinsstation.comWe have decided to make the sand casting of some rifle mounting a regular feature of our Muster weekends, the 2nd full weekend each month, April through November. This coming Sunday, Sept 14, we will be casting a guard for our rifle project. See the website for a schedule of events.
I have put a series of photos on Photobucket that show the casting of the butt piece. You can find it at:
http://s498.photobucket.com/albums/rr347/FlintlockAndy/CastButtPiece/The pics are in reverse order, so if you start at the bottom and back up you'll get them in the proper sequence.
Andy
