I built this Kibler Colonial rifle for a friend of ours. His wife asked me to build it for him. He has never shot a muzzleloader, so I thought he might as well go whole hog and jump in with a flintlock. I will deliver it tomorrow, and we will shoot it on Saturday.
You may have seen my posts a few months ago regarding carving designs for this gun. It's the second gun I've carved - (the first one is not ever shown to anyone who knows anything about carving, or rifles, or art..... etc).
Anyway, I'm most familiar with Moravian guns, so I pulled some designs from Dickert and Albrecht with the back story that it was built by a journeyman who left Christian's Spring and went to Lancaster to make his way. That's the story at least...
Tang and RR entry pipe carving:
Carving around the cheek piece and a hunter's star:
I finally felt confident enough to engrave my name on it. That was nerve-wracking, but I am reasonably happy with it:
Finally, I wanted to add a personal touch to the rifle. The new owner used to hunting for fallen meteorites. One evening while returning to the car, he saw one and thought he knew where it landed. He never did find it!
Anyway, I thought I would depict that using the toe-plate and in front of the toe-plate. If I had to do it over again, I would change the shooting star inlay, and practice more with wire inlay, but too late now.
I learned a lot from this gun, and it was fun to do.
Finish is two coats of Ye Olde Aqua Fortis, Watco Danish oil, then Permalyn Finish on top.
I made a few accoutrements for him as well. Here is a vent pick I made from some flat stock scrap steel. I'm no blacksmith, but am working on it!
Cheers,
Norm