Author Topic: Jacob Earnest/Westmoreland Co. PA  (Read 10372 times)

Offline tallbear

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Jacob Earnest/Westmoreland Co. PA
« on: December 06, 2011, 04:41:36 AM »
Heres a rifle I finished this weekend.It is inspired by the work of Jacob Earnest (1805-1884) who worked in Delmont ,Westmoreland Co Pa.He is one of my favorite Western Pa builders.It sports a 46" .50 cal barrel and a Chambers Late Ketland lock.The stock is a piece of Freddie Harrisons quater sawn stump cut wood which I really like.It is stained with aqua-fortis and finished with seed-lac and Chambers oil finish.As alway any comments and questions are welcome.

Mitch Yates


















Offline Lucky R A

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Re: Jacob Earnest/Westmoreland Co. PA
« Reply #1 on: December 06, 2011, 05:51:07 AM »
You have done well Mitch,  It looks so clean that one might think Shipman did it.   I am doing work on a Shennefelt that has a very similar cheek piece inlay.   
"The highest reward that God gives us for good work is the ability to do better work."  - Elbert Hubbard

Offline M Tornichio

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Re: Jacob Earnest/Westmoreland Co. PA
« Reply #2 on: December 06, 2011, 05:53:13 AM »
congratulations on a job well done Mitch.
I really like the color you achieved on the wood.
Is that from the seedlac below the chambers oil?
Has a nice warmth.
Marc

Online rich pierce

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Re: Jacob Earnest/Westmoreland Co. PA
« Reply #3 on: December 06, 2011, 05:53:27 AM »
If I didn't favor that style of rifle before, I do now!
Andover, Vermont

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Re: Jacob Earnest/Westmoreland Co. PA
« Reply #4 on: December 06, 2011, 06:13:02 AM »
A beautifully done rifle. I don't believe I have ever seen finer inletting. Thank you for posting the photos.   :)

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Re: Jacob Earnest/Westmoreland Co. PA
« Reply #5 on: December 06, 2011, 06:23:05 AM »
Breathless.
Great job.

Offline C Wallingford

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Re: Jacob Earnest/Westmoreland Co. PA
« Reply #6 on: December 06, 2011, 07:03:37 AM »
Wow Mitch that is some rifle. Beautiful work. Thanks for posting the pictures.

Offline B Shipman

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Re: Jacob Earnest/Westmoreland Co. PA
« Reply #7 on: December 06, 2011, 07:49:31 AM »
The box is outstanding. Sometimes I get a hinge that good and I try. Exceptional workmanship in total. Mitch makes reeally good stuff.  The only critique I can think of is the top line of the butt stock. It's a dead straight line as Jacob Earnest did. But straigt lines look swalled as if there's a dip in them. Make it look straight with the slightest curve , but not straight with a ruler. If this makes sense.
We see so much of the same thing. It's great as well to see something different. Very cool.

Offline Jerry V Lape

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Re: Jacob Earnest/Westmoreland Co. PA
« Reply #8 on: December 06, 2011, 08:09:19 AM »
I really like your work.   As noted earlier the inletting is great.  You ought to go buy Jacob's house there in Delmont and setup shop! 

Offline alex e.

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Re: Jacob Earnest/Westmoreland Co. PA
« Reply #9 on: December 06, 2011, 01:38:48 PM »
Very nicely done!
Uva uvam videndo varia fit

Offline Glenn

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Re: Jacob Earnest/Westmoreland Co. PA
« Reply #10 on: December 06, 2011, 02:39:44 PM »
Beautiful work.  I love the blend of the brass and silver with the gray steel lock.  Everything went so well together.  Engravng is perfect.  Thanks for sharing the photos !!!   ;D
Many of them cried; "Me no Alamo - Me no Goliad", and for most of them these were the last words they spoke.

Offline Majorjoel

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Re: Jacob Earnest/Westmoreland Co. PA
« Reply #11 on: December 06, 2011, 03:39:53 PM »
Mitch, you sure do know how to create a beautiful piece of western PA "eye candy"! All I can say that hasn't already been said is a quote from Robert De niro from his role in "Analyze This"  "You.....You're good.....you.....you're really good!"
« Last Edit: December 06, 2011, 03:41:18 PM by Majorjoel »
Joel Hall

Offline tallbear

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Re: Jacob Earnest/Westmoreland Co. PA
« Reply #12 on: December 06, 2011, 04:32:15 PM »
Thanks guys your kind words are most appreciated.As you can guess Bill Shipman is a great inspiration to me.Back in about 1985 I went to Dixon's for the first time.Owning and shooting a Thompson Center rifle I had no idea what a real longrifle was.I walked into the first tent and there was Bill with the neatest,cleanest looking rifles I could ever imagine.I wanted one!!!! While it would be many years before I would own one and many years before I started building Bills rifles always set a standard in my mind.While I have a ways to go to catch up with Bills work,Bill and many others have been very helpful in helping me improve and I am grateful.

Mark
My finishing steps are pretty much the same except for the never ending search for the perfect top coat.I scrape my stock then apply aqua-fortis twice blushing between coats.I then neutralize with household ammonia.Then a thin spit coat of seedlac which does tint the finish a little but not much.Then I topcoat with final oil finish.This time i used Jim Chambers which adds to the red color.I rub that back with rottenstone and paraffin oil to nock back the shine.I have different mixes of aqua fortis which give me different shades depending on what i going for.


Bill
Your comment about the buttstock is noted thanks.I never noticed it untill I looked at the pics.
Thanks again!!
Mitch
« Last Edit: December 06, 2011, 04:36:04 PM by aka tallbear »

Offline Dennis Glazener

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Re: Jacob Earnest/Westmoreland Co. PA
« Reply #13 on: December 06, 2011, 05:13:21 PM »
Top notch workmanship Mitch. Great rifle too boot.
Dennis
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Offline heinz

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Re: Jacob Earnest/Westmoreland Co. PA
« Reply #14 on: December 06, 2011, 05:28:38 PM »
Very well done.  Thanks for posting
kind regards, heinz

Offline duca

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Re: Jacob Earnest/Westmoreland Co. PA
« Reply #15 on: December 06, 2011, 06:53:57 PM »
Beautiful!!!
...and on the eighth day
God created the Longrifle...

Offline D. Taylor Sapergia

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Re: Jacob Earnest/Westmoreland Co. PA
« Reply #16 on: December 06, 2011, 08:22:07 PM »
Mitch, it's great to see a Western PA rifle done so well.  They are some of my favourites, and yours looks great.

I would have liked to see your trigger guard filed to a thinner edge.  To me, it makes the guard look "finer" and not so "robust".
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Re: Jacob Earnest/Westmoreland Co. PA
« Reply #17 on: December 06, 2011, 08:43:48 PM »
What a great site!  Every day I get to see some of the finest work being done today and I don't even have to put my shoes on.

Bruce Robb ;D

Offline Curtis

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Re: Jacob Earnest/Westmoreland Co. PA
« Reply #18 on: December 06, 2011, 08:59:23 PM »
Mitch - In my opinion some of the Western Pennsylvania gunmakers were among the best.  You have done an excellent job honoring one of them here and you should be proud.

Curtis
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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 Dr. Tim-Boone

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Re: Jacob Earnest/Westmoreland Co. PA
« Reply #19 on: December 06, 2011, 10:18:44 PM »
Mitch, It is beautiful!!  it blends into a perfect whole!!  

Are you using Ferric Nitrate solution or did you make AF from iron and Nitric acid?  Do you use different concentrations to get different effects??
« Last Edit: December 06, 2011, 10:18:56 PM by Dr. Tim-Boone »
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Offline Tim Crosby

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Re: Jacob Earnest/Westmoreland Co. PA
« Reply #20 on: December 07, 2011, 01:51:44 AM »
Wow! A Beauty and the photography is well done also.


  Tim C.

Offline tallbear

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Re: Jacob Earnest/Westmoreland Co. PA
« Reply #21 on: December 07, 2011, 02:00:38 AM »
Tim I'm making my own.I do want to try the Ferric Nitrate dissolved in alcohol,that sounds neat for heavily carved rifles to reduce raising the grain.I have a bunch of mixes including some that Jim Kibler kindly gave me and some old Whakon Bay stuff.They all produce different color on the same wood.The batch on this rifle I made,it's one part acid four parts water.I used 18'th century wrought iron(I scavenged from an old windmill here in town) and it is in large chunks.The reaction was very slow and nonviolent.I think but have no proof that the temperature that the reaction happens affect the final color of the oxide or color the stain produces.Working with and making different mixes is one of the parts of this that I find fun.

Once again thanks for the kind words and the comments about what needs to be improved.I find that after working on a rifle for a long time you begin to not be able to see the forest through the trees so to speak.By posting pics and people getting fresh eyes on it people find things that need improving .This a great help to me!!!!Thanks!!!!!

Mitch
« Last Edit: December 07, 2011, 02:11:08 AM by aka tallbear »

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Re: Jacob Earnest/Westmoreland Co. PA
« Reply #22 on: December 07, 2011, 02:28:40 AM »
Its a beautiful rifle, and I think that I've been by the JE house on my way to Bushy Run.  I only wish that I could carve and engrave like that!

As much as I like the early eastern Pa rifles, there were some western Pa makers that made beauties.  The ones from between don't do much for me.

Offline Tom Currie

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Re: Jacob Earnest/Westmoreland Co. PA
« Reply #23 on: December 07, 2011, 02:59:58 AM »
Mitch, The overall workmanship is very clean and quite impressive. Very welll done. Getting AF to give this color is quite a challenge. I will mention though that the cutouts on the patchbox side panels look sort of angular to me and distract my eye and for me take away from the overall flow of the patchbox itself. If that's a western PA style that your emulating then I'm off base here.

I'm impressed by your build here and I've seen your work over some years and it gets better all the time.

Offline Rolf

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Re: Jacob Earnest/Westmoreland Co. PA
« Reply #24 on: December 07, 2011, 08:26:45 AM »
Beautiful rifle!! The engraveing is impressiv and I really like tha patchbox.

Best regards
Rolf