Why Age Contemporary Pieces?

[Eric Kettenburg]

You know I was just thinking to myself, 'I bet as soon as I say something about nobody mentioning such a thought to me, someone is surely going to mention it.'  And of course immediately subsequent, Mike strikes as usual with "I made one "as new" gun once at a customer's insistence. I couldn't stand the sight of the thing when it was done."   

I should have bought a lottery ticket today.

[WadePatton]

Great gun Mike, thanks for sharing.

I like developing these skills, is it not how antique restoration folks make their paypay?  The ones who restore/maintain patina I mean.

[bob in the woods]

Here is a small side note. Perhaps you all know of someone like this, however..my hunting companion's guns look like they have been through the trenches of WW1 and more.  He buys a new gun and in a year or two it's the same as his others. I've seen carpenters/framers treat their hammers better.  He'll clean the action and bore , the rest .....??   If I wanted to really age a gun, aside from leaning it in the corner of the chicken coup, I could just let him use it for a while   

[ron w]

dennis, maybe I worded my last post wrong,...I never meant to suggest that these guys want people to think their guns are originals, just that I personally think that making a gun look old and used for the satisfaction of having a collection of what looks like original guns is somewhat misleading so to speak. you see, I've been involved in building all sorts of wooden things all my life and I;ve worked from prints and plans that are over a hundred years old and never thought once to make what I am building look like it was built when the plans were drawn, simply out of respect for the design and the age of the plans (that they stiil exist). as mentioned,....it's just a personal thing,...everybody has to adopt their own philosophy about this issue.no-one is wrong or right about liking it one way or another on a societal level,....I just think it is wrong for my own satisfaction. 

[WadePatton]

dennis, maybe I worded my last post wrong...I never meant to suggest that these guys want people to think their guns are originals...I just think it is wrong for my own satisfaction. 

Thanks for clarification.

As to using old plans and not beating up your completed projects, I'm going to build a cabin and let it age as it is supposed to-zero stain/sealant/junk on the exterior surfaces.  But that there are LOTS and maybe a majority of "cabin-type" home dwellers who stain/paint/seal/ their logs (or log-like products) to serve their aesthetics and notions of what has to be done. 

They will surely "think I'm dumb" when they see my raggedy "old" cabin in much the same way as I simply "look away" when I see their stained/sealed/painted wooden dwelling.  But thems ain't rifleguns neither- just a parallelogram to your old plans/projects. 

I could accelerate the graying process, but I won't. Not on the cabin anyway.

[ron w]

 I live in a log sided home that I built .  my log siding has a stain on it mainly because it is in a subdivision with 40 or other homes and I have to get along with all the neighbors. I tried to keep the log siding looking a natural as possible, yet somewhat sealed and finished, so that the other homeowners don't call it an "eyesore". . I was one of the first three houses built in the subdivision .

[Dave Marsh]

I like my rifles aged.  Mike Brooks style.  I live in a log home we built 35 years ago.  We have oiled it 5 times in those 35 years as the wife does not like the too aged look but fortunately no stains just an oiling now and then.


Dave. 

[hanshi]

Due to laziness and the desire to have my guns age naturally, I don't polish the brass.  Also, it doesn't take long at all before I have dings in the stock, worn spots on the barrel and so forth.  I never seem to recall what cause the dings in the first place. I did drop one twice and had another blown out of the rifle rest (very brisk wind that day) where guns are placed when someone goes down range.

[ron w]

it's hard to get them to age if you're constantly cleaning and polishing them.....they have to be subjected to some amount of abuse and neglect to get them to look old and well used,......just sayin'.  I used to be very careful about all my guns, never setting them down just anywhere, never letting them bump into anything, all those things you see neophyte gun owners do. now a days they get used,....and if they show it,.....so be it.

[Ky-Flinter]

Aw, just forget about it.....
 Makes my intended post about "Artistic inspiration" a complete waste of time.

Mike,

I hope you will reconsider.

-Ron

[hanshi]

I do actually take care of my guns; but they still live a hard life.

[Mike Lyons]

I grew up around artists and I’ve always loved art.  It was hard for me to understand how some people have a hard time drawing pictures, faces, animals etc.  but,  I get it now.  Some folks can’t make it happen and for some,  it comes naturally. It’s like music.  My son and I started playing guitar the same day. He can listen to a song and play it in 20 minutes.  I struggle and end up breaking things.  He will play all up and down the neck looking for the sound he wants.  He has no idea what chord he is making.   I have to learn the chord, learn the picking pattern and then the beat. Aging a rifle is an art that tells a story about the artist. It’s more of a gift.  Some are good at it and some are not.  Some like it and some don’t. I like it.

I’m new to this hobby/lifestyle/group and have met some of the best people I’ve ever met and have had some of the best times in a long time.  It’s hilarious to me that some in the flintlock world would think it’s weird to make something look historic. Isn’t that what this is all about?  People are wearing leather pouches, coonskin hats, moccasins etc. We look like Daniel Boone in the woods in the 21st Century.  How in the world can anyone that enjoys this criticize something for looking like it’s from the past?  Something just doesn’t make sense about this thread.

[Huntschool]

I am an old guy and I want my guns to look older then me...…  LOL

I like hand rubbed finishes and patina on my guns from day one. I may not live long enough now to get them messed up.   I dont like light colored wood and bright metal.  I remember the first time I saw one of Hershels guns.  I thought, "that hilbilly is shootin and original."  Wrong (obviously) as I found out later from him.  That sent me on the quest to "age" my builds......

This is all, just me, an old guy.  To each his own.  I applaud those makers that can age a production in such a wy as to make it look like it just came out of the home place for a hunt back when.

JMHO

[ClaudeH]

I've got to say that as a newcomer to the longrifle culture I was a little puzzled by the idea of aging a newly built gun.  I had a glimmer of hearing of furniture being falsely aged to pass it off as antique.  But after more thought and observation, this is not that.

A lot of participants like to emulate a person from the day, but that person is not usually a greenhorn with his brand new rifle nor a dandy living in town whose rifle is a hobby instead of a tool.  So aging seems like a natural avenue of that pursuit.

But I've been trying to think of another hobby/culture to draw a parallel to and not much comes to mind.  Until I thought of the stereotypical painter/artist/student attempting to paint a copy of a great masterpiece.  I believe that those who can create a nearly indistinguishable copy are accepted as highly skilled, so I ask this:

If someone were to paint a perfect copy of the Mona Lisa would it look like it did the day it was completed or would it look as it does today with some fading of the colors, some dirt absorbed into the paint, some aging of the canvas creating a off-color cast, some cracks and checking?

And so the master artists of our culture create a rifle that looks like it did during most of its period of use, not like it did on the day it was hung on the pegs with a price tag.

[Eric Kettenburg]

The concept of "aging" is fairly wide ranging.  It's not merely these old guns.  It's quite common within the realm of reproduction furniture, and it has REALLY become a popular thing when it comes to electric guitars, to the point that major manufacturers are turning out thousands and thousands of artificially "aged" models, many of them not just lightly aged but in fact extremely heavily worn.

[Hungry Horse]

You can’t get just a Willie Nelson reproduction. It come As a set, one Willie Nelson, and one Keith Richards. Talk about wrinkle overload.

  Hungry Horse

[Eric Kettenburg]

More like weed overload!

[ron w]

to be honest, the few guns I've built ended up looking somewhat aged by the time i'm done building them. it's hard to keep corners sharp and surfaces void of little dents and scratches as you build. i'm not that good yet. I don't mind those "character marks".....they say to me that I built that rifle myself.

[Mike Brooks]

to be honest, the few guns I've built ended up looking somewhat aged by the time i'm done building them. it's hard to keep corners sharp and surfaces void of little dents and scratches as you build. i'm not that good yet. I don't mind those "character marks".....they say to me that I built that rifle myself.

I hear you, I can't seem to get them shipped out of here with out having a door close on them or hitting a corner or counter in the house....pre made aging before it's even shipped!

[ron w]

makes you wonder if the original builders had the same problems …..given that if they took as long as we do to build a stock,....they would be out of business.

[kentuckyrifleman]

The concept of "aging" is fairly wide ranging.  It's not merely these old guns.  It's quite common within the realm of reproduction furniture, and it has REALLY become a popular thing when it comes to electric guitars, to the point that major manufacturers are turning out thousands and thousands of artificially "aged" models, many of them not just lightly aged but in fact extremely heavily worn.

Yep. And aren't kids running around in aged/worn jeans these days? Holes and all....

[ron w]

I'm waiting for a reproduction "Willie Nelson".

 
    he probably won't like keys and chain thrown at him.....

[Mike Brooks]

I'm waiting for a reproduction "Willie Nelson".

 
    he probably won't like keys and chain thrown at him.....

He looks like he has already had the treatment.

[Treebeard]

A while back Mike Brooks had a “poor Boy” .36 for sale — no buttplate, etc. that I felt showed true art.
The lines just flowed together in a way that was a pleasure to look at. Made me wish I had left the darn buttplates off of mine!

[Dennis Glazener]

You know that this contempoary topic has been aged enough. I am locking it now.
Dennis