Pictures of brass barrel longrifle I am making. It is a combination of the original two rifles made by Hans Jacob Honaker (1718-1795) at his land near the small community of Waterlick on Fort Valley Narrow Passage Creek of the Shenandoah River, roughly between Front Royal and Strasburg, Virginia. The brass barrel rifle is dated 1771, and the second rifle (ca. 1775) was upgraded in 1789 (dated Sept. 15th 1789) on the replaced side plate. At that time the hook breech and draw loops were added, replacing the conventional breech plug and loops and pins.
My carving process: cut down the background in narrow strips to regulate the depth; leave small islands to witness the depth; leave a small strip adjacent to the stamped-in carving and moldings—this reduces the resistance when cutting up to the relief. The setting in by stamping needs to be refreshed as the depth increases. The setting-in creates a space by compressing the wood—this space is where the leading edge of the flat chisel corner passes without scarring the wall of the relief. Yes, I hit the wall of the relief far too often; minimizing and controlling this cut is the objective. Later I will address this issue after all background is complete.
PS: The corn cob is a file handle. I use these as a reminder of my Appalachian mountain background from the Gusler family of timbermen, who ran saw mills and made moonshine (the latter before my generation.)
Wallace Gusler
