I have never seen a Kentucky rifle mounted in copper, and I have often wondered why. After having a stroke a year ago , I decided to find out so I poured a trigger guard and a butt plate in copper and right away I noticed that it took more heat to puddle copper than brass. Copper has an affinity to oxygen and I needed to flux the puddle with charcoal and borax to keep it from turning into a muddy mess. The pour went well but there were a bunch of small bubble holes to repair, I have a considerable amount of 1/16 inch thick copper and that material was the basis for the patch box and other inlays.I had cut a large three stemed black cherry tree down about fifteen years ago and had it sawn up into one inch planks with the section close to the heart, cut at 2-1/2” These planks were thirteen feet long by 22 inches wide and were soaking wet. I had a pick up truck, a tractor with forks and a 47 HP wood-miser band saw, and I couldn’t help but try to imagine doing that work in the 18th century. I ended up with 23 one inch planks and eight 2 1/2 inch planks, The saw service cost me $125.00 ( the saw is mounted on a double Axel trailer) and I will never buy hard wood from a store again. All the planks were sticker stacked under a lean-to and the stack was flipped twice a year, to manager mice and bug activity and eventually transformed into a bunch of tables, a queen size bed frame and a full size sofa. I got a couple os SMR stocks and lately had one rifle size stock left. I also had a flint lock that I had made a couple of years ago, The lock was made from forged wrought iron and is a later style.
I have used a jewelers saw to cut many brass and silver parts but copper is a pita to saw, so I cut the patch box out with very small cold chisels. That operation went very quickly and was very close to a file finish, It is hard to imagine where old time gunsmiths some where in the piedmont got jeweler saw blades, but easy to picture small chisels being home made. I will confess to actually buying a rifle barrel, it is a green mountain 7/8 x .40 x 42”, I tapered and flared the barrel using a right angle grinder a one inch micrometer and a curved vixen file. The taper is not huge but enough to add a little ‘life’ to the muzzle.
I am ,forever, grateful to Dave Person for publishing a stock diagram with measurements and have two pine pattern boards derived from those measurements (
https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=48844.0 ) Using the measurements I ‘lofted the stock outline and connected the dots with flexible battens to get the curves right.
Back to the copper, “why didn’t they use it for long rifle mounts?” #1 it is hard to make castings from pure copper. #2 copper does not like machine operations, drilling copper is almost as difficult as drilling lead and drill bits sometimes decide to thread their way into the metal rather than cutting a nice hole. I think that the main reason that copper was not used is because it corrodes quickly. Copper doesn’t corrode away like rusty iron. But It turns brown almost over night. 18th century lighting was poor at best. Candles and an open fire illuminated houses and the houses were not typically painted with bright colors. Things like polished drawer pulls and brass or silver candle holders added a small touch of brightness to an otherwise dim shadowed domecile. Copper does engrave well and in our modern age of antique interest it is easy to acquire a nice red brown patina that can be hi lighted with mild abrasives and ‘frozen’ with paste wax.
The barrel was inlaid by hand and although it took about a day it was not that difficult. I cut the foreshock thin so the ramrod channel is not quite half a diameter deep. That left me with a clean and thin web just big enough to get barrel pins through. The lock settled up next to the barrel easily and that left me with all of the more enjoyable parts of rifle stocking.
The barrel is browning and the stock is nearly dry, The stock was stained with one application of vinigaroon followed by one application of homemade lye. To make the vinegar stain I used hi octane vinegar which can be found in garden stores and will actually burn you and a big hand full of old nails. the lye was made from leaching wood ashes. I used 30% linseed 30% turpentine and 30% polyurethane, mixed and applied with a brush over four sunny days. The linseed oil is slow to dry, but it deepens the color of the wood and sun light will gas it off by the time the barrel is ready.More pics to come
