The fly on the wall

[Dave B]

Ok if you could be a fly on the wall which modern builder would you like to hang out with for the next couple of months?  I had the luck to stop by and talk with Monty Mandarino for a couple of hours durring a summer vacation. Whoooweeeee thats one talented guy. He was a great host for our short visit and I left with the feeling that I really wanted to spend another couple years hanging around him to pick up some pointers.  He laughed when I told him as much. He said he had some fellow that came and watched him for a whole week. He camped out in the back field or some such. The lucky dog.

[Cody Tetachuk]

Ok if you could be a fly on the wall which modern builder would you like to hang out with for the next couple of months? 

The one that doesn't have a fly swatter!.

[Dave B]

LOL , Your right about that. I know some times folks have bad days and its best to let things be at that point. Case and point. I was scheduled to be in the area of souther Ohio for a technical seminar and got the names of some builders to visit. Jack Haugh was on my list of got to meet people.  I called him up a month or so before the trip and he was not interested in having any body over at all. I was none plussed. He said he just had heart surgery and wasn't wanting any company. I actually met him a few years later at the CLA show and he was great to talk with. He was entertained when I asked him to sigh his section in the Contemporary Makers of Muzzleloader firearms book.  I did get to visit a very nice man by the name of Jack Rouse in Waterton KY that was very gracious to let me visit him for half a day.

[Acer Saccharum]

Dave, you know that Larry Pletcher, from MB magazine has been interviewing gunsmiths for the record? If you are interested, contact Larry for more info, or go to MB mag's website and you can listen to some of the interviews. I volunteered to do some of these interviews, so I am going to talk with some of the folks out East, like Chuck Dixon and Reaves Goehring. I think all you need is a cheapo recorder.

If interested, I will give you Larry's contact info.

T

[Dave B]

I know for a fact that when we loose these folks a whole body of iformation and wisdom gained it lost unless some one will take the time to walk down the memory lane with them.  Its funny how just talking about a subject will result in a whole bunch of side trails that turn up some real jems. 

He's not that old but Hershle House was looking over one of his students books, the Kidig book I think and Hershle was talking about the repair work that was done to many of the pieces  here and there. Many he him self had worked on. It would be great to have a notes page for each of those originals for his comments.

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

Get

Dave, you know that Larry Pletcher, from MB magazine has been interviewing gunsmiths for the record? If you are interested, contact Larry for more info, or go to MB mag's website and you can listen to some of the interviews. I volunteered to do some of these interviews, so I am going to talk with some of the folks out East, like Chuck Dixon and Reaves Goehring. I think all you need is a cheapo recorder.

If interested, I will give you Larry's contact info.

T

a big recorder and interview Don Getz for us...... He has some stories to tell and as a barrell maker  as well as a builder.. he would be terrific!... Just a little story on him.. A year or so ago I told him I was going to start practicing engraving......he went to the shop and got me a 36" piece of flawed barrel and a sheet of steel and shipped it to me to practice on.....A great guy who goes the extra mile!!

[BuffaloGun]

Since I have decided that my building skills are so limited that I have officially hidden my Christian Springs rifle away from public view forever, I would like to spend a few days observing any skilled builder.
Plus now that I have the issue with the right hand I have difficulty just cleaning my guns.

[T.C.Albert]

Don Stith...
that would be where Id like to visit...

but not so much as a fly cause Id like to ask and learn ,
Im afraid if he saw a fly going " helpppp me ....helppp me"
it would be a real short visit?
T.C.Albert
 

[smallpatch]

I'd have to say..... Eric Kettenburg, or Allen Martin.

Very young men, with SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much talent.

Maybe this old dog could learn a few new tricks.

[lew wetzel]

i would like to visit hugh tonjes,for atleast a month.and when i start my jeager rifle i would like to go hang with acer(ya you tom).i think both of thier skills are outstanding.still waiting on finished pics of that jeager.
  i have learned alot from ian pratt and jim kibler,they are both great guys and very good instructors.
  i dont think i would want to be a fly though..maybe a squirrel...

[jim m]

any number of people on this board. I'm so new at this I could learn something from anyone, but the name Steve Bookout comes to mind, and I would be awe struck to watch Jerry Huddleston work

[Ken G]

I went and worked with Steve Bookout for a week and now I'm planning a second trip.  A week is not near long enough.
I'd also like to look over Eric Kettenburg's shoulder while he is aging a gun.

[FlintRock Rob]

Eric Kettenberg, Jerry Huddleston, D. Taylor Sapergia, and, and, the list is way too long…

Although, if I only had a week, I would want to see Don Getz build one of his barn guns.

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

I hope you are a young man Rob!!!

[FlintRock Rob]

Tim,

Yeah, not so young any more 
Of course, after seeing Cody's engraving and carving on his Rupp I better add him to my list now too. Good thing I haven't made it out to the CLA or I'd probably just stay back there.

[elk killer]

i would love to spend the rest of my days in Alaska,,not far from the brennans,,,,,,,,,!!!

[Don Tripp]

Hershel House, Chuck Edwards, Mel Hankla, Jud Brennan, Frank House, Eric Kettenberg and just about everybody who is a member of this website.

[Larry Pletcher]

Dave, you know that Larry Pletcher, from MB magazine has been interviewing gunsmiths for the record? If you are interested, contact Larry for more info, or go to MB mag's website and you can listen to some of the interviews. I volunteered to do some of these interviews, so I am going to talk with some of the folks out East, like Chuck Dixon and Reaves Goehring. I think all you need is a cheapo recorder.
If interested, I will give you Larry's contact info.
T

Hi Tom,
I started on the interviews this week and found that something went wrong with each of the interviews.  I managed to save Wallace Gusler's interview, but I lost the ones of Homer Dangler, Gary Brumfield, and David Price.  Gary and I are planning to try a phone interview when I get the hum out of my equipment.  I may try that with David if we can find a time.  I live close enough to Homer that I 'll try to drive up and see him. 

I see no reason why a normal tape recorder wouldn't work.  I use a digital but I can play a tape back through my stereo and record it digitally - no bid deal.  I considered myself very lucky to have gotten those 4 interviews until I got home and tried them - another case of Murphy cropping up.

I appreciate your willingness to help out.  Dixons looks like a target rich environment.  I think I can go to CLA this August.  I might get lucky there too.

For those wanting to hear the interviews click this link and scroll through the choices:

http://www.blackpowdermag.com/audio/index.php

http://www.blackpowdermag.com/audio/index.php

(On ALR.org I'm not sure which link to se so I used both.)

[black kettle]

If I could be a fly on any gun builder's wall, and know I wouldn't get swatted
or shot with a flit gun it would have to be Jerry Huddleston. There are many
fine gun builders here and else where,but Jerry's are just----??
OH MY GOONESS LOOK AT THAT

Arlin

[Ezra]

Allen Martin
Eric Kettenburg
Brad Emig
Jack Brooks
Jim Chambers
Hershel House (now that would be fun!)
Jerry Huddelston
Ron Scott
Mark Silver

For starters...


Ez

[don getz]

Dave....where did you run into Monte?  Where is he living?  The last time I saw him was at the Baltimore Gun Show many
years ago.  He showed me some photos of a gun he just finished.  He was always out there in a league of his own, a
lot of fun tho..............Don

[J. Talbert]

Dave,

Just now came across this thread, but your post about Jack Rouse caught my attention.  He just lives 20 miles from me (in Walton KY) and was the first gunmaker I met when this bug bit me around 1976.  He's an original member of our local club, well known at Friendship, a good friend, and was a tremendous help to me getting started.

As far as the "Fly on the wall" thing... I also had the good fortune of camping at Friendship for the all the national shoots back in the days when Gunmakers Hall first opened (initially it was in a couple of stalls on commercial row).  I WAS the proverbial fly on the wall at first.  Not knowing any on them at the time, I would sit and listen to the conversations of the likes of John Bivins, Mark Silver, Jim Chambers, Ron Ehlert, Bob Harn, or whoever else I could eavesdrop on.  Eventually I was around them so much that I did get to know several of them quite well and have benefited greatly from their willingness to share their knowledge over the years.

A lucky case of being at the right place at the right time...

[Tom Currie]

I would appentice for meals for a lot of people, but if it was my choice it would be Eric Kettenburg. I like his carving style and the mind set in which he works.

[Dave B]

Don,
It was years ago now when I met with Monte at his house in Kalispel Montanna. Some one told me he's burned out on making rifles and has moved into high art furniture. The folks having more money than they know what to do with are willing to pay more for it than for high art firearms.

[jerrywh]

Don Getz.
  Monty Mondarino was at the American firearms engravers exhibition in Reno last January for three days. He had two tables right across from me. He displayed a bunch of his Griffin and Howe and other English gun collection. We talked a while and he told me he mostly does restoration work now. He lives in Montana someplace. He told me he hasn't built any guns for quite some time.
  Every time I hear the price of that French Fowler he did , it goes up. Monty told what it sold for and I know the guy who owns it. The last rumor I heard it was more than double the actual price. Not that it makes any difference. It's just amazing how rumors grow.