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I wonder if the char cloth I made is the problem. Is it supposed to actually generate a flame when you blow on it? I can catch a spark with it really easily, but it just smolders and my bird nest never catches no matter how much I blow on it. The ember in the char cloth burns faster the more I...

Breaking the tips off of pipe stems just doesn’t make sense to me, if for no other reason than our forefathers didn’t live in a disposable, throwaway society like we do. Even though clay pipes were cheap, I have a hard time imagining them wasting pipes that way when they could get many more...

The type of steel definitely makes a difference. I bought a fire steel that sparks very well when struck, but on a whim I’ve tried other random pieces of steel and barely get a spark. I assume hardened steel sparks better.

I already had a tavern pipe but earlier this week I decided to order a shorter clay pipe from pipeshoppe.com. It just showed up today so I think I'll give it a try after dinner tonight. A man can never have too many guns or too many pipes :)

I've been trying to teach myself to light a fire with flint and steel, but without much success so far. Probably doesn't help that it's been rainy outside the couple times I tried it and I had a hard time finding good dry kindling. I did make my own char cloth and it catches a spark very...

On this particular piece of wood, the tannic acid made the wood far too dark for my tastes, and the lye was redder than I wanted. I was hoping for something in between the lye and the plain aquafortis colors, so I hit the plain aquafortis with a couple light coats of oil with a few drops of...

First pic is (from the left) 1. tannic acid & aquafortis, 2. tannic acid, aquafortis, and lye, 3. aquafortis and lye, and 4. plain aquafortis. The combination of all three is almost indistinguishable from just lye and aquafortis. You can barely make it out if you know where to look - it’s the...

I’ve been debating what type of stain I want to use on my upcoming project, so I decided to try a few different combinations out and see how they look. I know every piece of wood will be different, but hopefully this will give an idea of what the various options look like. The test piece is...

Rice cooked with some chicken stock, black beans, and maybe a jalapeño sliced up and cooked with the rice is a darn good meal.

I bought one from smokingpipes.com a couple years ago. Not sure if you’re a pipe smoker in every day life, but smoking a clay pipe is very different than briar or meerschaum. The bowl gets HOT and you need to hold them by the stem or in my case by a little nub on the bottom of the bowl. The...

Copper Corn Boiler, 24 oz

Crazy Crow sells them.

Thanks, I like some of the ones from there.

Does anyone have some vendors they would recommend for woven straps that would be appropriate for F&I or Revolutionary War era shooting bags and powder horns?

If you can find a copy of Rifles Of Colonial America, vol 1 or 2, they have hundreds of pictures of original rifles. I believe they’re both out of print. I found vol 2 at an online book seller a while back.

That is very nice.

I've actually used a similar homemade finish on wood furniture before. I used very strong tea followed by steel wool dissolved in vinegar to finish a bathroom vanity I built a few years back. It makes for a nice finish once you give it a coat or two of furniture wax.

Yeah, I've watched his videos and understand the process. I'm just trying to decide if I like the darker finish using both tannic acid and iron nitrate or if I want to go with just the iron nitrate. I ordered the extra fancy maple so it should have plenty of figure and I'm not sure if darkening...

Very nice. I ordered some tannic acid with my kit but I'm debating whether to use it or just go with the iron nitrate.

Beautiful rifle. I'm interested to know how you finished the wood.