aged look

[lew wetzel]

yes robby,i got your point,maintain your rifle to maintain your life.i think everybody missed my point and read in between the line.i never stated that i wanted to make this rifle look 200 years old.at the end of my first post i stated...it is easier to make something brand new look 200 yrs than it is to make something brand new look flawless...lol.............humor!!!!i wish we really had an existing rifle from the frontier of a everyday mans rifle.lots of highend guns survived this long.nice thing about building rifles is we can interprete what we want to into each rifle we build unless we are building an exact copy.and having a place like this to dicuss our interpretations is nice.others mileage will very!!! 

[don getz]

Here's something else to consider.  I have seen comments on the forum about not leaving their gun loaded overnight,
during deer season.  How do you think they operated in the 18th century?  An empty gun would have been worthless.
I am sure there were guns left loaded for many months, maybe a year or more.......and that would have been without
cleaning the bore.  Is it any wonder that they had all those freshing sticks.   In todays guns, it isn't shooting that wears
out a barrel, it's only when it isn't cleaned properly that eats away at it............Don

[Ionian]

Like Robby above, I'a military veteran (Army Engineer). Our firearms were very well taken care of, but at the same time they would not rust I believe because of all the handling, if that makes sense. They were held almost 24 hours a day and are always rubbing up against something. They take a beating but the finish stays clean I believe because they are constantly abraded.

[Larry Pletcher]

Don,
I like your comments.  I'd speculate that rifles were reloaded as quickly as possible after that deer was down because you may be in country where you were not the only predator.  You might have waited to walk up on your deer, waiting to see if anyone else was drawn by the sound of your shot.  Going home with a loaded but dirty barrel might have been the  least of your worries.  I will qrant that these comments are speculation, but common sense leads me to believe that one didn't worry about a dirty barrel until you were within log walls or in the company of other loaded rifles.  I bet with a group of men, the rifles were never all cleaned at the same time.   All MHO.

Regards,
Larry

[T*O*F]

common sense leads me to believe that one didn't worry about a dirty barrel until you were within log walls

Larry, the log walls comment just lit the bulb, because these discussions always involve the extreme, not the common.

1.  As always, you gotta consider "time and place."  Other than the long hunters, of which there were fewer than 100, people spent their nights at home.

2.  There is nothing in black powder residue that is corrosive.  Fouling will not promote rust, its water that causes the problems.  If kept dry, it will not rust.

3.  Log cabins were heated with wood fires which suck the humidity from the room like a vacuum.  Guns would remain dry and loaded, as would the powder inside them.

4.  With the advent of the percussion system, all of the above changed.  Percussion caps of the time were highly corrosive which necessitated regular frequent cleaning or suffering the consequences of not doing so.  Problems that didn't exist with the flintlock now became a major factor when the gun was converted to percussion.

[Rick Sheets]

How did Lew's rifle look? Who knows! Not not new looking for sure. If an artificially aged gun adds to your enjoyment of trekking, that is great. (Come on guys he ain't fumbling with 209 primers or anything.)

I think the original guys with the original guns would:
1 Buy the best they could afford. (They would not have been impressed by bad inletting or bad lines. Most would have passed on a gun that did not have an acceptable quality.)
2 Keep it as nice as they could.
3 Make repairs when the had to.
4 Upgrade when it was advantageous.

Of course, there were goofballs back then too. Just like the guy at the range with a rusty (cringe) 1500 dollar rifle who drove up in a car that needed an oil change 20.000 miles ago.

I can imagine a spirited camfire session giving $#@* to one of the original guys who did not keep up his gear.
Rick

[flintman-tx]

Observations so far:
     1-some people like their guns looking new and shiny.
     2-some people like their guns looking  sorta old.
     3-some people like their guns looking really old.

      We seem to be saying " I like this" or " I like that" or I don't like what you like".Nice thing about it all is you can like what you like and I can like what I like and we can still enjoy the sport. After all it is just a matter of opinions and this is supposed to be fun.

[cal.43]

thats how a more than 20 Years old flintlock rifle look





thats the stone after more than 60 shots.
This rifle is the gun that rest most of the time in the garage not those shiny things just a working horse and sometimes I think for what are those other rifles I own.

 

[Brian]

I'm with Don.  Back when an empty gun could mean you died, one would have a tendancy to re-load as soon as possible after shooting at anything.  Then of course when you got home, you would either have to pull the ball to clean the rifle (a lot of work when tired), or fire it to get it empty (a waste of expensive and hard to come by powder).  I think a lot of them just sat around loaded and not necessarily cleaned.  Certainly not the way we usually clean them.

A dirty and perhaps somewhat corroded barrel was far preferable to an unloaded gun when your life depended on it,

[Acer Saccharum]

Nice thing about it all is you can like what you like and I can like what I like and we can still enjoy the sport.

I do like what I like, and sometimes I like what others like, but not always. But because I like something what you don't, doesn't mean I don't like you, it's just we don't like the same thing. It's not like I have to punch you because you don't like what I like, that's what I like about the liking thing, like, it's Ok.

Acer

and I did have a nip of the old Irish, which I must confess I like.

[long carabine]

 Lew, i guess its all in what the person who is buying the rifle likes. I like both a aged rifle and i also like a new looking rifle. I saw pictures that you posted of your newly built rifle and it is a dandy! Build them the way you like them and pay no never mind to what anyone else thinks or says. Keep up the great building. best regards, Long Carabine

[lew wetzel]

long carabine,thanks for the compliments.i build rifles because i love flintlocks and enjoy shooting them.i am a member of this board because i enjoy the fellowship and knowledge it gives.i post pics for my peers to see how my skills are developing and to keep things interesting on this site.thanks again for the compliments.....

[Robby]

I don't make guns that look like they were made 200 years ago, at least not intentionally, but, I do like the look on some of them, and appreciate, and have respect for the the hard work, research and experimentation that goes into achieving those results.
However, I believe, Lews' solicitation was for comments on "grungy" guns, and how it would apply to the original Lew Wetzel. Maybe I, and the folks at American heritage Dictionary" are mistaken, but I, or we, take grungy to mean: "Being in a dirty, run down, or inferior condition." Personally, I don't care if a man keeps his gun in that condition. Unless its his job to cover my six, a situation I can't see ever happening, especially with a flintlock, its of no concern to me, $#*! he can recycle his bum swipes into ball patching for all I care, I'll just stand up wind. My previous comments were meant to give Lew a perspective on his living history using the same technique as an archeologist would use, What does modern man do in the same or similar circumstances, that we might understand those who came before us. That is what my comments were directed towards and I stand by them.
I can find no instance in history where any man at arms took anything but the best of care for the tools he lived by, and even developed such affection for them as to give them names.
I have never studied Lew Wetzel specifically, but, you can't read much about that area and time without his name and some of his feats being told, in a variety of publications. I don't remember specifics about the man, but I do remember my impressions. He seemed to feared more than respected, by both sides, he was a bit of a peacock, or as the greeks might have said, a narcissist, and being the unforgiving man that he was, I believe, had you walked into his camp with you equipment in a state of grunge, he would have considered you, well, bait.
I'll allow that I might be mistaken in my impressions of the man, but there is no way I will be convinced he did anything but take the utmost care in all the tools of his trade, not polished and ready for parade, but clean as a whistle and well maintained. One thing a man in that business has, in between fighting and hunting, a whole lot of time.