Author Topic: Circa 1700 burl-stocked horse pistol finished  (Read 5763 times)

Hemo

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Circa 1700 burl-stocked horse pistol finished
« on: January 12, 2018, 08:48:10 PM »
Greetings, all,

I just finished (?) this pistol after several starts and stops over the past year.  (I won't say finished for sure unless it sits in one place for a few weeks without my finding something to add or change!)

My goal here was to reproduce a long-barreled English horse pistol of the period around 1690-1710 using burled maple, similar to these examples:

http://jamesdjulia.com/item/lot-2524-good-and-rare-pair-of-flintlock-holster-pistols-period-1690-1720-signed-g-frugone-49805/

http://jamesdjulia.com/item/2480-358/

Burled maple does not grow on trees, so to speak, and it was a little difficult to find a good burled maple stock blank. I was able to get one from Jim Kibler, and I believe this piece came from the same piece of wood he used to stock his spectacular fowling piece:

https://www.jimkibler.net/burl-stocked-fowling-piece.html

The piece I got was a little daunting, having numerous large cavities, but there was indeed a pistol stock inside it waiting to get out.






The wood was not English or European walnut but probably western bigleaf maple. Another name for this pattern of figure is "stump wood", since wood cut from near the stump of a large old tree may be compressed into whorls and ripples. I don't think this piece could have come from a single "burl" growing from a site of damage on the trunk of a tree.

Note that in the pictures of the original pistols, there are several cracks extending through the "burled" portions of the wood. Dave "Smart Dog" Person in his ongoing tutorial on British fowlers on this site noted that burl or stump wood was very prone to cracking and consequently the popularity of this wood lasted only over a short span historically. I found this piece of wood to be the most difficult and frustrating blank I have worked with. After cutting down the blank and inletting the barrel channel, there were large gaps passing through the wood from the outer surface and into the barrel channel, as well as deep voids around the grip area. You could actually see light passing through the voids in the fore-end. These gaps were filled with colored Acraglas. (Jim warned me about this in advance and said it would require a fair amount of patching.) After finishing shaping and carving the blank and just before finishing, the stock suffered a rather short fall to the floor (caused by an over-exuberant puppy) which resulted in a complete break through the fore-end passing through the rear pipe pin holes. This was repaired with colored epoxy (and the puppy wasn't thrown in the stew pot), but it broke again at the same site later during finishing requiring repeat epoxy repair using high-strength T-88 epoxy. Another crack appeared in the fore-end as the front pipe pin was being tapped in. This also was repaired with epoxy.

Bottom line is, burled maple is beautiful wood but very unpredictable, difficult to work with, and prone to breakage. I would think twice before using it again.

The lock I used is another Kibler product, the Dolep lock casting set, which I assembled as I previously described here in this tutorial:

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=41684.0

The barrel is a twelve-inch smoothbore .62 caliber octagon-to-round barrel from Muzzleloader Builders Supply, which I modifed to a sixteen-agon just behind the round section.

Trigger and triggerplate were handmade by myself. Spurred buttplate, butt cap, and triggerguard also came from MBS. Pipes were highly modified castings from TOW. Front sight is a modified silver casting from TOW. Ramrod is ebony, tipped with burled maple and a brass end cap.

The sideplate and thumbpiece were designed and cast my myself using Delft clay technique, as I previously posted in this tutorial:

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=45872.0

Wood was finished with Kibler's tannic acid and iron nitrate (I swear I don't have stock in Jim Kibler's company!) and touched up in some light spots with LMF stains (Lancaster maple and ebonizer), finished with many thin applications of LMF stock sealer and an application of dark brown Briwax. Metal parts will get a coat of Renaissance wax.

All that being said, here are some pictures:

















file and image uploader













lightshot

I'd like to be able to take personal credit for the nice grotesque mask buttcap, but this is a casting from MBS. I toyed with the idea of creating my own buttcap casting using Delft clay, and I still might in the future, but this one will do for now.

Thanks for looking, hope you enjoyed. Comments and criticisms are welcome!

Gregg
« Last Edit: January 16, 2018, 02:49:48 AM by Hemo »

Offline Daryl

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Re: Circa 1700 burl-stocked horse pistol finished
« Reply #1 on: January 12, 2018, 09:08:04 PM »
Criticism? LOL - that is absolutely gorgeous.  Pistol fit for a King!
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a spaniel without ears" King George V

eddillon

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Re: Circa 1700 burl-stocked horse pistol finished
« Reply #2 on: January 12, 2018, 09:10:47 PM »
Fantastic piece.  You are a true artist.  Great design.  Everything flows beautifully.  You have a perfect grasp of just how wide the lock molding should be.

Online smylee grouch

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Re: Circa 1700 burl-stocked horse pistol finished
« Reply #3 on: January 12, 2018, 09:16:28 PM »
In a word, WOW.

Offline Bob Roller

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Re: Circa 1700 burl-stocked horse pistol finished
« Reply #4 on: January 12, 2018, 09:26:47 PM »
Criticism? LOL - that is absolutely gorgeous.  Pistol fit for a King!

Stunning craftsmanship but just HOW does anyone manage to fire it with that
oddly angled grip?

Bob Roller

Offline BOB HILL

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Re: Circa 1700 burl-stocked horse pistol finished
« Reply #5 on: January 12, 2018, 09:31:09 PM »
Excellent piece of work. Thanks for posting.
Bob
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Offline D. Taylor Sapergia

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Re: Circa 1700 burl-stocked horse pistol finished
« Reply #6 on: January 12, 2018, 09:36:12 PM »
The workmanship is outstanding.  Great hardware.  The grip shape wouldn't be my first choice either, but in its defense, pistols of the wheellock, snaphaunce and early flint eras took their design from rapier hilts, and this one is reminiscent of that genre. This one is perhaps a little exaggerated, but is very graceful.  Overall, I like it.
D. Taylor Sapergia
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Hemo

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Re: Circa 1700 burl-stocked horse pistol finished
« Reply #7 on: January 12, 2018, 10:49:09 PM »
Criticism? LOL - that is absolutely gorgeous.  Pistol fit for a King!

Stunning craftsmanship but just HOW does anyone manage to fire it with that
oddly angled grip?

Bob Roller

Fire it? You think I'd actually FIRE it?  ;)

Seriously, I see what you mean about the grip. It's quite long, slender, and has little curve relative to the barrel. It actually fits my hand not too badly, and my hands are in the normal anatomic range. If I were doing it over, I might shorten and fatten the grip a bit, and start the downward curve of the grip closer to the trigger. Since the barrel is quite long, I thought it would be appropriate to balance the barrel both aesthetically and functionally with the long grip. As Taylor wrote, early pieces going back to wheellocks had fairly straight grips, and I think this one is in the realm of historically acceptable. Here's another example of the genre with an even straighter grip:

http://jamesdjulia.com/item/3486-369/

Thanks for your comments, all!

Gregg

Offline Justin

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Re: Circa 1700 burl-stocked horse pistol finished
« Reply #8 on: January 12, 2018, 11:08:18 PM »
That's a beautiful piece of art there!

Offline Marcruger

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Re: Circa 1700 burl-stocked horse pistol finished
« Reply #9 on: January 13, 2018, 12:25:55 AM »
Criticism?  Not from this goober!

I like the way you set the tone with all of the problems encountered before popping our eyeballs out across the room with the finished photos.  Well played sir.  :-) 

Gorgeous work, and I'd say that working with that piece of wood was worth it, in spite of all of the trouble. 

Loads of beautiful details to enjoy. 

Thank you for sharing the wood staining recipe.  I love the deep tones. 

All in all a great way to end the week was seeing this fine handgun. 

God Bless, and best wishes,   Marc

Offline elk killer

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Re: Circa 1700 burl-stocked horse pistol finished
« Reply #10 on: January 13, 2018, 12:51:24 AM »
veryyyyyyyy nice..lots to admire
only flintlocks remain interesting..

Offline Mike Brooks

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Re: Circa 1700 burl-stocked horse pistol finished
« Reply #11 on: January 13, 2018, 12:54:44 AM »
I'll add nifty into the mix. ;) I have always assumed that pistols with that architecture were meant to be shot from horse back. Probably wrong..... ???
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Offline conquerordie

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Re: Circa 1700 burl-stocked horse pistol finished
« Reply #12 on: January 13, 2018, 12:56:45 AM »
Love the whole gun, but really neat ramrod!
Greg

Offline dogcreek

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Re: Circa 1700 burl-stocked horse pistol finished
« Reply #13 on: January 13, 2018, 12:59:10 AM »
That is excellent craftsmanship and a work of art. Beautiful horse pistol. Good photos, too.

Offline oldtravler61

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Re: Circa 1700 burl-stocked horse pistol finished
« Reply #14 on: January 13, 2018, 01:17:46 AM »
  Ok being no expert....how long did it take to inlet that side piece....as for critique or comments....WOWWWWWWser.....!
Is all I can say...
  Have shot a couple of pistols...with that style of grip....not bad at all...Just let your wrist ride up with your firearm...at the shot...Thanks for showing.....Oldtravler

Offline smart dog

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Re: Circa 1700 burl-stocked horse pistol finished
« Reply #15 on: January 13, 2018, 01:45:38 AM »
Hi Gregg,
You did a wonderful job!!  I so admire folks who risk all and jump in and just do it.  That is exactly what you did, learning the style and construction methods of the time in which the artistry of firearms was at its peak.  Many folks would be intimidated, you said "@!*% the torpedoes, full speed ahead" and just did it.  Well done.

dave
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Offline SingleMalt

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Re: Circa 1700 burl-stocked horse pistol finished
« Reply #16 on: January 13, 2018, 01:52:55 AM »
I really like it.  Aristocratic looking.
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Offline Jim Kibler

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Re: Circa 1700 burl-stocked horse pistol finished
« Reply #17 on: January 13, 2018, 03:05:57 AM »
I really like the sideplate, thumbpiece as well as the rest of the hardware.  The shape and carving forward of the lock is nice.  I like how you have captured the bold bolbous nature of carving from this period.  I agree the grip region is a little big and could benefit from a little different shaping.  Compare this to original work.  A really great job overall though!  Great work.

Jim

Offline Cody Tetachuk

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Re: Circa 1700 burl-stocked horse pistol finished
« Reply #18 on: January 13, 2018, 03:21:18 AM »
Beautiful. I particularly like the way the colour came out. I will add some critique though. Personally, I would like to see more detail in the engraving. Specifically, the trigger bow engraving and the running leaf up the butt extensions. Looks unfinished to my eye especially compared to the rest of the piece. Nicely done.

JVavrek

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Re: Circa 1700 burl-stocked horse pistol finished
« Reply #19 on: January 13, 2018, 03:38:50 AM »
Fantastic work!!! Thank You for sharing.

Offline Curtis

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Re: Circa 1700 burl-stocked horse pistol finished
« Reply #20 on: January 13, 2018, 06:02:40 AM »
That's awesome Gregg!  I have a piece pf burl I got from Kibler as well, perhaps I should just have you stock up a pistol for me with it!!!  ;)
I am stunned and amazed how the pistol turned out considering the trials and tribulations the wood gave you.  Thanks for posting it!

Curtis

P. S. Nice touch with the ramrod end!  The burl wood really set it off!
« Last Edit: January 13, 2018, 06:04:57 AM by Curtis »
Curtis Allinson
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Sometimes, late at night when I am alone in the inner sanctum of my workshop and no one else can see, I sand things using only my fingers for backing

Offline Rolf

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Re: Circa 1700 burl-stocked horse pistol finished
« Reply #21 on: January 13, 2018, 04:23:29 PM »
Beautiful work. That bulwood sounds like a real Challenge to work With.

Best regards
Rolf

Hemo

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Re: Circa 1700 burl-stocked horse pistol finished
« Reply #22 on: January 13, 2018, 07:44:15 PM »
Thanks for your comments and input, all! It's much appreciated!

Oldtravler, the sideplate took a couple of hours or so to inlet. It's not the most complex sideplate I've inlet--it has only seven piercings. A couple of years ago I inlet a big pierced sideplate into a wheellock that had seventeen piercings--my record. That one did take a bit longer.

Dave, your feedback is very appreciated and humbling! Thank you. Since this time period and genre is one of your favorites (based on your comments in your ongoing British fowler tutorial), do you have anything to add to how the shape of the grip could be improved?

Jim, thanks also to you for your feedback and the numerous components and products that you supplied for it! Same question for you--you say the grip is "a little big"--when I compare to photos of originals I can see it's fairly long, maybe a bit too slender, and the downward curve of the grip starts at the back of the lock and probably should have started around the midportion ot the lock. Am I getting this right?

Cody, I agree those two areas of engraving look a little unfinished compared to the rest. I could probably enhance and clean up the engraving particularly on the butt extensions. The grotesque face on the triggerguard bow was reproduced fairly closely from an original pistol which was fairly simple in character, with little or no shading, etc. But I see your point.

Curtis, I'm glad you and Greg (Conquerordie) like the ramrod! Even a lowly ramrod can add a nice touch to a piece, with a little attention. I'd use your burl to stock up a pistol, but I think you should experience the joy of working with burled maple yourself!

Best to all,

Gregg

Offline Ed Wenger

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Re: Circa 1700 burl-stocked horse pistol finished
« Reply #23 on: January 13, 2018, 10:04:03 PM »
Beautiful piece, Gregg.  Tons to like, and pretty much what everyone else has said. Love the finish!


          Ed
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Re: Circa 1700 burl-stocked horse pistol finished
« Reply #24 on: January 15, 2018, 12:24:28 AM »
Well done, I will print this one out for inspiration. Thanks for sharing your work.
 
Mark