At the ALR tent this weekend past, we had crowds of people watching ALR members demonstrate various hand skills. These presentations were for relief carving, graver sharpening, casting small gun parts, forming an entry pipe, how to make your own scrapers, gunstock finishing, stitching leather shooting bags, and so much more.
What sets this venue apart from a YouTube video or a book, is that the presenter will stop and answer questions, will talk about a technique from several perspectives so that the audience truly understands the material, will often speak about different ways to reach the same goal. This is a hands-on, personal kind of one-on one way to transmit the material. From the crowds, I'd say this was a hit.
Below is Ed Wenger, talking to the crowd about relief carving. He's discusses the tools he uses, his techniques, and he carves right there in front of everyone. He pauses while working to talk about what he's doing, the pitfalls, and all the steps from layout to a finished piece.
Long John talks about a variety of topics over the weekend. He goes deep into making and sharpening custom scrapers for stock finishing, from forming the steel, to hardening, sharpening, and finally, using the finished scraper on a stock. This is a brilliant topic, and so useful for the builder.
John does another topic, which he calls "fixing inletting mistakes". This is so useful, form newcomers and experienced builders, because we all make mistakes, and John has several tricks up his sleeve that are genius. In the image below, John shows a visitor the 'fix' he's made to an inletting gap. To fill the gap between a sideplate and its inlet, John carefully hammers out the brass to stretch it until it fills the void. Brilliant.
Smart Dog (Dave Person) demonstrated casting small parts from brass or silver, using Delft Clay. With a few simple tools, Dave shows how to make your own cast parts using a wooden or wax pattern. He also talked about the process of building the mold, the heating and casting of the metal. As the casting cooled, he talked about the various tools and methods he uses to clean up his castings.
In this photo, he's got his mold over the workbench, packing it with Delft Clay (the reddish sand on the bench)
In Chuck Dixon's opening remarks one year, I vividly recall him stressing the importance of education and passing on of skills. That's what this Fair is all about; every builder and vendor is teaching and sharing information about the longrifle culture. There is no event quite like the Gunmaker's Fair. A big "Thank You" to Chuck Dixon, to Brenda and Greg Dixon and their family, and their loyal hardworking staff for making this one of the most heavenly weekends of the year.
