A decorated 17th century gun

[dave_person]

Hi Folks,
I thought I would share some pictures of my latest work. It is an early 17th century gun with 46 inlays of bone, mother-of-pearl, copper, and brass and over 15 feet of brass wire inlay. It was fun and very challenging.

dave

 

[necchi]

Reminisant of the Jezail,
Beautiful, :thumbsup:

 

[DOUBLEDEUCE 1]

Stunning work :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[GreyWhiskers]

Beautiful work. :thumbsup: GW

 

[Roy]

Very Beautiful!! :thumbsup:

 

[Vaino]

Truly a masterful "work of art". A few questions...in what country or area was this style originally made, did you make the lock and is the butt stock made from 2 pieces?....Fred

 

[Mike Brooks]

SUPER! :thumbsup:

 

[matt denison]

.....I'm...........speechless

stunning piece of work

 

[hoochiepapa]

Magnificent, Dave!! Tha's what I want to do, is highly decorated guns. You've done well.

 

[DanC]

Well that's just awesome. Not much else to say but, ... awesome!

Dan

 

[Robby]

Beautiful job, design and execution!
Robby

 

[jerrywh]

Very nice job Dave. I'm impressed .

 

[dave_person]

Thanks everyone,
I appreciate the comments. Fred, the gun has a type 1 English lock. Most of those locks were converted snaphaunces, so I built the gun as a snaphaunce that was converted. The stock is a common fish or fan tail that was used by many western European makers during the first quarter of the 17th century. The artwork is all French inspired by the works of the LeBourgeoys family, particularly Pierre. The stock is one piece of cherry stained to look like apple wood, which was commonly used by gunmakers like the LeBourgeoys in Normandy. I made the gun as a practice piece to learn and hone my skills in that type of decoration and styling. I am preparing for some more ambitious projects involving 16th and 17th century guns. Thanks Fred, for your kind words.

dave

 

[larry wv]

WOW :shocked2: That is nice. :thumbsup: Larry

 

[mikemeteor]

wildly spectacular! :shocked2:

have you fired it?
or is a piece like that not really intended to be fired ?

 

[TARL01]

This was a practice piece???!!! :shocked2: :bow:
Incredible!
Woody

 

[flashpanner]

I think it is photo shopped! You are making us look bad!! Makes me want to give up and do some other hobby. Very nice.You have waaaay tooo much talent. Will be hard to step up to your plate and do any better that this nice piece of craftsmanship. How many hours/years do you have into it?

 

[MSW]

Dang! now i gotta get the drool out of the spaces between the keyboard on my computer!

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
It will be used. I've shot it and it does quite well although the early lock is not a great design. The lateral sear mechanism, which comes from the snaphaunce and wheellock designs, is difficult to tune in order to provide a light pull but keep safe. The true flintlock with the vertical motion of the sear is much better. I will not use the gun hard but intend to shoot some birds with it. I cannot possibly count the hours invested in it, but it doesn't matter. I had fun and learned much in the process. Plus, I am an amateur and not working for a client so speed is not important. I just muddle along in my own way. I attached some photos of the buttplate engraving. I posted these before but some of you folks may not have seen them.

Thanks for all your interest and comments,

dave

 

[bioprof]

I have an etching of that same fellow on a powder horn that I made. Your work looks better than mine though. Very nice "Old World" craftsmanship.