Jacob Young Rifles at the CLA Show

[G-Man]

There were many great originals on display at the show, but some of you will be excited to know that another great Jacob Young rifle has turned up and was displayed along with the Woodfork and Whitley rifles at the CLA show.  The metalwork on the new gun is very impressive - great engraving and lots of metal-on-metal inaly work.

That makes 4 now, including the iron mounted one that turned up a couple of years ago.  It is good to see more examples turning up, and more information, coming to light about this great American gunmaker.

Guy

[bgf]

Seeing those three rifles in one place was much like staring into the sun, except in a pleasant way .  I would like to thank the owners and caretakers of each rifle for giving us this opportunity.

[whitebear]

Any chance you could post pictures for those of us who didn't get to the show?

[jcmcclure]

I will see if I cant get some pics up. I know that I took some but I have never posted any pictures. At the least I could email them to someone who is more up to speed on posting pics and they might be able to post them for everyone to view.

Personally It was the best display of Young Guns there has ever been...but I might be bias.

[Gary Tucker]

Seeing those rifles together really was a thrill.  Jacob Young was such a fantastic engraver!  His metal work on the "newest" rifle is amazing, with silver inlaid into the brass, and gold inlaid into the silver.  Another aspect I really like is the slight step in the wrist that is not only apparent in the 3 brass mounted rifles, but also in the iron mounted one.

[M Tornichio]

I was lucky to have a table close by the display this year. I think I made at least a dozen passes to view the rifles. It was great that they were all together in one case. It was really helpful for comparing the different rifles. He surely was a great gunsmith. I am amazed that all 3 that were displayed together all had equally huge barrels. Maybe that is why they have lasted so long in great condition. Definitely would not want to be hauling one of them around the mountains.
Marc

[jcmcclure]

The Whitley Rifle is a beast to shoulder...like you state the barrels are massive on the three guns that were displayed together. It is interesting though, the barrel on the Iron mounted rifle is not nearly as massive.

[bama]

This is one shot of the rifles in the case, pretty good bit of glare from the glass. I have some pictures of the top rifle out of the case and will post them on in another post so they can put in the VM.

[Larry Luck]

Thanks, Jim.  I'm really looking forward to seeing them.
Larry Luck

[hankaye]

Howdy;
Think this is my first post here. 

Those are some kinda good lookin' guns. Have you got a of the particuliars on the 3 of them. You mentioned a bit about each but which is which?

By the way I like what ya'll have done here.

[bgf]

Hank,
The bottom rifle is the Woodfork, the middle is the Whitley, and the one on top is the most recently discovered. 

[G-Man]

Jacob Young was a great American southern gunmaker who apparently worked west of the Appalachians from around the 1790s through the first few decades of the 1800s.  He is believed to have worked in several places in Tennessee and possibly in Kentucky.  

The top Jacob Young rifle surfaced recently and I don't know much about its history.

The middle rifle was made for the famous Kentucky frontiersman William Whitley, probably some time between 1800-1810.  Whitley died iat the Battle of the Thames/ Moravianatown in 1813.

The bottom rifle was made for William Wade Woodfork who lived in the Cumberland Plateau region of Tennessee.

He has long been my favorite longrifle maker.  The new pieces that have surfaced that are by his hand reinforce this.  

You can read more about him on Mel Hankla's "Kentucky Longifles" webiste and "American Historic Services" Website.

Casey - it was a fantastic display and thanks for bringing the Whitley rifle out.

Guy

[jcmcclure]

Guy,

I love bringing the Whitley Rifle every year. It is one of the highlights of our year at the park...and I have always told the Mel Hankla and others that as long as we are welcome I will continue to bring the rifle.

Come by and see us!!!

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

Is it just me or do these guns appear as though they were strong ionspiration for Woodbury School Guns??  I guess geograhically it might make sense... the patch boxes etc just have that feel to me...

[jcmcclure]

Lol well I guess you could say they had a few things to do with it. Hershal once showed me a picture of himself at a very young age standing in front of the Whitley House hold the Whitley rifle. I had a pretty good conversation with him about how much he admired the Jacob Young school of building. Frank also has a close connection to the Young School of building.....good eyes!!!

[G-Man]

When it comes to iron mounted contemporary guns, there are really two eras - BH (before Hershel) and after.    

Hershel went through a phase where he built a number of guns with architecture and patchboxes directly inspired by the Young rifles, blended with influences from other southern rifles of the late flint period - Bulls, Beans, and others.  He was really the first one I know of to use the Jacob Young rifles as a significant influence.  The first rifle of this sort I ever saw was when I was about 12 years old and got to meet Hershel when he brought one in to show a local gunshop owner he used to visit up near us on occasion and had several of his rifles.  It made an impression that stuck with me to this day.  

Lots of folks who learned from Hershel carried the idea forward as well - Steve Davis is a good example.  Hershel later took elements that had inspired him from the Jacob Young rifles, iron mounted guns by the Bulls and others, but "de-evolved" them and blended them with influences from early rifles he had studied, handled, restored, admired -  to produce his vision of what early iron mounted guns of the 1770s-90s might have been -  to develop his unique early styled Woodbury guns with the wide butts, big triggerguards, etc. I am sure Earl Lanning was a big influence on his work in this regard.  If you are familiar with the originals, it is fun to look at his guns and see glimpses of familiar things reinterpreted through his vision, and set to metal and wood by his hand.  Frank's guns also do this, and he has taken his toward his own unique styles and vision of early rifles made and used in the Watauga region.  

It is funny - there are so many great southern guns coming to light these days that are not in any of the well known books, but whenever I see a new one I have not seen before it looks to me like Hershel has already been there and absorbed it into his palette 30 years ago.

It is like all great art.  To me it it is sort of like when you look at your kids faces, and something they will do or look at you a certain way all of a sudden makes you see a glimpse of one of your parents, or a sibling or grandparent, in their countenance.  They are unique in their own way, yet carry forth the traces of those that came before.

Guy

[art riser]

well said my friend...