Author Topic: like a new penny  (Read 1484 times)

Offline Clint

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like a new penny
« on: October 24, 2024, 03:42:54 AM »
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

Offline rich pierce

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Re: like a new penny
« Reply #1 on: October 24, 2024, 03:47:40 AM »
Looking good, Clint!
Andover, Vermont

Offline Daryl

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Re: like a new penny
« Reply #2 on: October 24, 2024, 03:51:55 AM »
I sure like the flower in the cheek piece side carving.
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a spaniel without ears" King George V

Offline Austin

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Re: like a new penny
« Reply #3 on: October 24, 2024, 03:54:48 AM »
Looks great!
Eat Beef

Offline taterbug

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Re: like a new penny
« Reply #4 on: October 24, 2024, 06:28:52 PM »
well, sounds like you took the 'easy way out' on everything!  Just kidding of course.  Very nice work, and a great write-up of the whole process.  Looking forward to more pics.  Always interested in finishing methods of Cherry wood, I've got a couple that need to turn into something other than firewood. 

Just seeing the pic of two men rolling that log was enough to make me break out in a sweat.  I rolled steel railroad rails at US Steel using the same method when I was younger.  Hard way, for sure!

Offline Clint

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Re: like a new penny
« Reply #5 on: October 29, 2024, 11:53:20 PM »
So, why is it that I need only to fire one shot from a flintlock and the entire gun and all  metal within 20 feet gets rusty, but it is such a pain to get a nice browned barrel? O well I blue-r\browned it and the barrel looks fine. I gave the stock a week in the sun to dry and have got a coat of butchers wax over the whole peice, See what you think
 
Ineed to pack this rifle up with the others and prepare to move to NewHampshire (I also need to get a new camera)
 

Offline Stoner creek

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Re: like a new penny
« Reply #6 on: October 30, 2024, 12:39:48 AM »
Different. Different in many ways. Certainly a creative piece..
W
Stop Marxism in America

Offline Tony N

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Re: like a new penny
« Reply #7 on: October 30, 2024, 01:55:16 PM »
Very different and well done!

Tony

Offline Tim Crosby

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Re: like a new penny
« Reply #8 on: October 30, 2024, 03:32:27 PM »
 Cool, Very creative, lots of fine detail work that flows together. Well done.

    Tim

Offline Kevin Houlihan

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Re: like a new penny
« Reply #9 on: October 30, 2024, 05:28:22 PM »
Clint,
 That came out awesome! Really creative.  I really like the basket weave on the nose cap. There are not a lot of people who would have taken on all the different aspects of that project - good job.
Kevin

Offline Daryl

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Re: like a new penny
« Reply #10 on: October 30, 2024, 08:54:53 PM »
So, why is it that I need only to fire one shot from a flintlock and the entire gun and all  metal within 20 feet gets rusty, but it is such a pain to get a nice browned barrel? O well I blue-r\browned it and the barrel looks fine. I gave the stock a week in the sun to dry and have got a coat of butchers wax over the whole piece, See what you think.


Looks great to me.

High humidity + BP "fumes" causes rust.
WE found that out in our basement all those decades ago, when Taylor and I were lighting off spoonfuls of BP. All dad's tools started rusting. IIRC, that brought a swift halt to flaming off BP in
the basement. ::)
 
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a spaniel without ears" King George V

Offline bama

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Re: like a new penny
« Reply #11 on: October 31, 2024, 01:05:04 AM »
If it can be done it will be done  ;D. I love the creativity and fine craftsmanship. Job well done.
Jim Parker

"An Honest Man is worth his weight in Gold"

Offline wolf

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Re: like a new penny
« Reply #12 on: October 31, 2024, 02:02:48 AM »
funny you should bring this up. about 3 weeks ago a friend asked me, i wonder why no SMR were furnished in copper? i told him i had often thought the same thing. very interesting and a nice gun,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
I have never "harvested" a critter but I have killed quite a few,,,,,,,,,,,

Offline J.D.

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Re: like a new penny
« Reply #13 on: October 31, 2024, 02:52:38 AM »
I have wondered the same thing, about copper furniture. Now we know.

Very nice work, Clint. Very nice. Creative artistry at its best.

Offline tunadawg

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Re: like a new penny
« Reply #14 on: October 31, 2024, 01:02:19 PM »
Very creative. Is the fish inlay a walleye?

Offline Daryl

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Re: like a new penny
« Reply #15 on: October 31, 2024, 06:52:28 PM »
Certainly looks like one. :)
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a spaniel without ears" King George V

Offline Craig Wilcox

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Re: like a new penny
« Reply #16 on: October 31, 2024, 07:01:51 PM »
Did you use genuine "copper" pennies?

Love the entire rifle!  That muzzle cap is precisely the niftiest MC I've ever seen!

Thank you for showing us.
Craig Wilcox
We are all elated when Dame Fortune smiles at us, but remember that she is always closely followed by her daughter, Miss Fortune.

Offline bode

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Re: like a new penny
« Reply #17 on: November 01, 2024, 12:02:22 AM »
Really fine work.  I like the color of copper and have always wondered why not copper?  Thanks for clearing that up for me.  I have inlayed small pieces of copper before and always enjoyed the color difference.

Offline Clint

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Re: like a new penny
« Reply #18 on: November 01, 2024, 05:44:42 AM »
The joke about pennies is that nowadays they are made of zinc.  They are handy when melting brass to make a whiter metal. The fish is actually a striped bass which has been traced, resized and copied on at least six rifles. I usually make them out of silver, but on this rifle brass was the 'precious metal. Black cherry was used to stock a lot of New England guns, partially because there was a lot of it and in those days it was big in size. The problem with cherry is that the bark is poison to livestock, so they cut them all down and made tall case clocks and kneehole desks and fowler stocks. Black cherry is also at the top of my list for fire wood, high heat long burn and little ash. Thanks for all the comments and encouragement, I  have started to build a direct decendant of a Reading Pa rifle and I don't think anyone will confuse it with the work of Wolfgang Haga. We will seeC S Wright