Froggy went a courtin'

[Mike Brooks]

I've been cautiously approaching French guns for several years, building New England guns was a good primer. And, with Gladysz's new book I couldn't put it off any longer. So, here's a full blown French gun, ca, 1735-45. I don't know whether to call it a fusil de trait or a fusil fin.....Back in the "day" the main difference was the quality of the lock and barrel. These days we can't call up one of our barrel makers and request a barrel that has a 50/50 chance of bursting. Our modern locks are problematic for a detrait also as the quality is light years beyond what was available. So, call it what you may.
 Getz oct fading to rnd barrel with a full length sighting plane in 20 bore, 46 1/16" long. Chambers Ketland lock with some modification to bring it around French. The trigger guard, pipes and sideplate are all commercial castings. The buttplate is home brewed from sheet brass which I'm quite pleased with. Every time I pull off one of these sheet brass BP's I thank the Lord. The stock is Orygoon walynut, a pretty piece, no color was added. Of course all of the wobbly carving and engraving are mine.
 So, what do you think? Did I nail it or miss it? Please give it a critique if you are willing. Always a fun and educational exercise.

[Keb]

It looks great IMHO. Maybe I'm mistaken but I'd call it a fuzil fin with the carfing & engraving

[bnail]

Mike, that's rockin'.  I think you did the right thing leaving off the thumb piece,  the carving on the wrist is perfect.

What was the most difficult part of the build?

[Mike Brooks]

What was the most difficult part of the build?

The butt plate.

[realtorone]

Very nice looking piece.I'de be proud to have ir on my wall.

[Longknife]

Mike, That one need to be in Gladysz's book!!! How did you make that full length sighting plane? I would like to see a pic of it....Ed

[THOMAS PICUCCI]

Hi Mike, very very nice. Sure is a close representation of what we've discussed and I've pictured my future build from you will look like except with a longer Getz barrel (51-1/4" - 4 pieds) and a Chambers Tulle lock (based on an original 1727 lock on a TOTW gun). A fine depiction of a 1730's fusil fin. Gladysz's new book certainly brings a clearer perspective to the St. Etienne guns but also somewhat confuses what to call the whole fusil de traite type C & D classifications and the fusil fin guns from the first half of the 1700's. It seems that carvings and engravings were similar in both the de trait and fin as they evolved over that time period and your observaton that the main difference was the quality of the lock and barrel is what probably really separated them. I'm no expert on this, nor a builder - just my opinion.

My anticipation and expectation grows!
Tom P.

[rich pierce]

The moldings fore and after the guard are my favorite bits.

[Mike Brooks]

Whew! I was beginning to think I cut a bad @$#% in the Yugo and everybody lost their ability to speak!
The sighting plane is just a flat draw filed down the full length of the barrel, just like my original de traight  barrel. I have a dutch gun of the same era that has a "sculpted" sighting plane. I don't know how they did those, seems it would have been incredibly labor intensive. I've only seen these on higher quality barrels though.

[Kermit]

That piece of claro walnut certainly was a good choice. I'd like to see more of it used. A lot of guns stocked in plain black walnut kind of fade for me. I'm of the any-walnut-but-black-walnut opinion.

The last photo of the guard and attendant carving stopped me with my mouth hanging open. Wonderful.

[Acer Saccharum]

OK, ok, I'll say something.

I like the engraving at the breech. That adds so much interest.

The lock still looks English to me, but it doesn't bother me one iota.

The gun speaks fowler, totally. Proportionally, it's just wonderful. The stock shape you nailed perfectly. I have not seen better.

The mouldings around the guard, and then the fore and aft extensions are so French. Well done.

Your engraving looks American, not Continental done. If you are serious about making Continental pieces, you must bone up on technique and patterns. I know, because I struggle with this very issue.

A really nice gun.

T

[B Shipman]

Clearly I'm not even educated on the genre. Yet I know a really good architectual piece when I see it. Very cool. The devil is probably in minor carving and engraving details.

[Osprey]

Looks great, but I don't know enough about the style to offer much critique.  I do love when you do animals and birds on your guns though, a very playful style, reminds me of 1920's/30's cartoons.  Is that a rabbit with big lips or a pig with oversized ears on the sideplate?   

[bgf]

One thing that I noticed is that the transition area b/t wrist "extension" (along the side of the buttstock) and comb on the lock side, esp. where the hollow meets the wrist, looks a little awkward, as if there should be one more step in tooling to make it smoother (possibly a large scraper?).  I know it sound snarky, but trust me, I don't know enough about what it should look like to be that way !  It is entirely possible that you nailed it from the perspective of originals, in which case, I will have also learned something about French guns.

[LynnC]

Mike I Like!

I'm really impressed with the butt plate.  Did you form it entirely off stock and then inlet or did you screw
down the finial and form the curvature while mounted?

It Really turned out well 

[nchunter]

The sighting plane is just a flat draw filed down the full length of the barrel, just like my original de traight  barrel.

I can't tell from the photos provided: how does this work?  Is there a front sight?  Or do you just kind of "line up the runway" with your eye down the flat of the barrel?

[Mike Brooks]

The sighting plane is just a flat draw filed down the full length of the barrel, just like my original de traight  barrel.

I can't tell from the photos provided: how does this work?  Is there a front sight?  Or do you just kind of "line up the runway" with your eye down the flat of the barrel?

It has a standard brass barlycorn front sight soldered about 4" back from the muzzle.

[Mike Brooks]

Mike I Like!

I'm really impressed with the butt plate.  Did you form it entirely off stock and then inlet or did you screw
down the finial and form the curvature while mounted?

It Really turned out well 

I cut it out of 1/16" sheet and filed it to form. Then I shaped the buttstock......rounded the top and formed the back to the profile I wanted the finished buttplate. I inletted and pinned the upper extension after a quick rough forming of only the upper extension in my swage block, then started hammering it over the heel. Once I got it more or less over the heel I sunk the heel screw and finished the bend and sunk the screw at the toe of the BP, setting the hole up so it would pull the BB down. Then there was alot of hammering to get it all to lay down. I probably annealed 3 times....could have done a 4th. All of this would be easier with a really hard piece of wood.

[LynnC]

Thanks for the instruction and inspiration Mike

I'm still very impressed with how good the BP turned out and will give your method a try on my fowler project.  I hope I don't knock the toe off or something while forming

[Mike Brooks]

Take a look at the grain in the buttstock on that gun, no way you'd knock the toe off, the grain goes almost straight out the top! Most all you're pounding is at the heel anyway so you shouldn't have to worry even if the grain comes out in the toe.

[LynnC]

I see what you mean about the grain on yours.  Not gonna knock the toe off of that.  I'll have to be careful on mine.  Budget stock 

I don't see any fastener in the BP forward extension.  Brass pins filed flush?  No pins?

[Mike Brooks]

I soldered a tab on the underside where it's the narrowest  and ran a pin through.

[LynnC]

Knowing where to look now I see the pin 

There isn't a smiley for a Homer Simpson "Doeeeee"

[Jackie Brown]

A beautiful piece of work, Mike.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Mike, I am enjoying your pictures immensely!  The wood is perfect for the gun and the furniture too.  I love the short lower forearm which exaggerates the length of the gun, and the way the barrel appears to rise up out of the wood at the breech.
I am becoming more and more intrigued with the use of patination...it suites this gun so well.
Love it!!