All:
Boone was not a "big" man as big is perceived today or even then. He was an,"active" man ,(according to Filson and others). His supposed home on Femme Osage in MO, about 35 miles from me, was not built by him nor particularly resided in by him, but was a "family" home. For a number of years an especially ugly, crude old piece, with "D. Boon", scrawled on it was displayed in the KY Historical Museum in my hometown of Frankfort. For years I chided the old biddies who ran the museum about the distinct unlikeliehood that boon ever, purposely owned this piece. Even then, an item on which one expended what may have been a years wages, was not treated so cavalierly as to crudely scratch your name on the stock. It is recorded that later in his life, Boone, made fun of a KY gunsmith for producing "PLAIN" rifles. From that I would surmise that it is unlikely that any piece he purposely purchased was unlikely to have been as plain as is commonly thought. Incidentally, the "D. Boon", carvings are so prevalent in KY, as to be a running joke!!!i.e. "D. Boon kilt a bar on this tree". I reverence Mr. Boone, as a Kentuckian with family history in KY back to the settlement era and my final resting place is about 100 yards from where KY supposedly re-buried him, but KY did not treat Boone well at all, as "settlers" began to infiltrate KY and we must be cautious about ,making him "bigger than life".
Wolf