Wire Work on Christian Oerter Smoothrifle....RCA #45

[tallbear]

  While I was away at the CLA Show The Museum Of The American Revolution posted this virtual shop tour and tutorial of me installing the brass wire in the Christian Oerter Smooth rifle that I recently completed for them.It was displayed at this past weekends CLA Show.This project was made possible by the generous support of the CLA,several CLA members,Jim Chambers Flintlocks,Rice Barrels and Dunlop Woodcrafts.I wish to extent my thanks for their support on this project.I previously posted part one to this series and here is part 2 where I demonstrate installing brass wire in the gun.https://www.amrevmuseum.org/artisan-field-trip-with-gunmaker-mitch-yates-part-2?utm_source=artisan&utm_medium=facebook-post&utm_campaign=artisan-facebook-post&fbclid=IwAR27AN6sLMzG-JDyvDBFZMkjPDruKY6XITQlsrMoqbMKPgdTFHCT93QqHAk.

 Hope it helps anyone hoping to learn wire work.I would be glad to answer any questions you might have.The rifle is now complete and will be displayed at The Museum of The American Revolution soon where the original currently is stored.

Mitch Yates

[rich pierce]

Excellent teaching!

[Mike Brooks]

Boy scouts have cool hats now. I woulda joined for a hat like that.

[smart dog]

Hi Mitch,
Thank you for that great video.  That is really deep brass wire.  Do you really think it was that deep on the Oerter rifles?  I understand completely the challenge of long wire lines used for borders.  It is a real challenge to keep things straight and even.  The brass wire borders on this gun were incredibly difficult to keep clean and straight.  The brass wire border along the barrel channel was almost indescribably difficult and frustrating. Well done and your teaching is wonderful.  You have a gift, Mitch.













dave

[bama]

 Great job Mitch. Your method of wire inlay is very similar to what I do. One thing I saw in your video that I am going to adopt is that pair of plyers that you used to file the end of the wire the you nipped off. I have always just used my thumb or finger to file the end of the wire but that's is rough on the fingers after several hours of wire inlay. Did you buy or make the plyers?

Jim

[mikeyfirelock]

Wow !     This came just in time !   I’ll probably be trying my hand at some wire work shortly ( that’s trying my hand at some wire work AGAIN…..something I haven’t done for…………well, 40 years.)
A very informative and useful post.

[mountainman]

Thanks for sharing that video, it was very educational. Great work!! I was glad to be able to see it at the CLA show. Thanks so much!!

[Marcruger]

I saw this beauty in person at CLA, and up close the wire work is finely done.  Bravo Mitch.  The whole gun looks super.  I know the client will be over the moon with it.  It was good to say "hello" again in person after two years.  God Bless,   Marc

[Craig Wilcox]

Mitch, others - was wire inlay ever used on Jaeger-type rifles?  And if so, brass or silver?  I do have quite a bit of silver available to me.  And love the silver work.  If I could, I would make all the hardware on some type of American longrifle.

[tallbear]

Thanks I'm glad the video was helpful!!!

Dave

That is really deep brass wire.  Do you really think it was that deep on the Oerter rifles?

I can't answer that for sure.There were a couple of places where the wire on the original was kinda pulled out and folded over.Thats the only way I could sense the width of the wire ,which was wider than I've seen on New England Guns but probably not as wide as you see in the photo.The wire you see in the video is basically the width of the wire I had "in stock"once rolled to the desired thickness.My thought was that the wider wire would stay better and since the gun will be handled daily by school kids at the museum I wanted all the extra depth I could get.I did find that on highly curved surfaces I could not get the wire to conform to the curves so I got some thinner wire and rolled it and some of the wire installed after the video was not as deeply set as what I used in the video.So there is a combination of wire depths on the gun.

Bama
 

One thing I saw in your video that I am going to adopt is that pair of plyers that you used to file the end of the wire the you nipped off. I have always just used my thumb or finger to file the end of the wire but that's is rough on the fingers after several hours of wire inlay. Did you buy or make the plyers?

Those are round mandrel forming pliers called "Wubbers"  https://www.riogrande.com/searchresults#q=wubbers%20pliers&t=products&sort=relevancy&layout=card&numberOfResults=36

They were indispensable to preforming the wire before installing.I have 3 different sizes.I found that with this thickness wire I had to preform it to shape before putting it in the groove and these helped a lot!!

Craig
I've seen wire used in all nationality of gunmaking  but it seems to fall in and out of favor at different times and in different places.Best to study guns from the period and area you're interested in rather than to just say it was used generically.

[smart dog]

Hi Mitch,
Thank you for the information.  Your work is top of the line and I admire it greatly!!

dave

[Tim Crosby]

 Well dome Mitch, somehow I missed seeing it and you at the show.

    Tim

[Daryl]

Good instructional video, Mitch. Also, nice to put a face & personality to a name.