Building a 1750s English fowler

[Pukka Bundook]

Very tidy Dave, Very tidy!

Not overdone either. very Nice!

 

[Artificer]

Hi Gus and Frank,
Gus, the demon head is actually a satyr. If you look at wrist plate, you also see a satyr head looking at a bunch of grapes on the vine. They were party hardy animals and symbols of excess. Very popular with the wealthy sportsman of the day.

dave

Ah.....OK, got it. :redface: Dionysus would also be proud of adding you them! :haha:

Gus

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
Finished the wire inlay in the butt stock. Now I have to work on the wrist. With all the wraps, overlaps and "ringy thingies", the wiring gets complicated. The bling to butt stock ratio is good though.
dave

 

[Artificer]

Elegant, lovely and not overstated!

Gus

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
Had to put my fowler aside for a while to work on other folks' guns. I finished the silver wire inlay. It is a challenge on the curved surface of the wrist. As you can see, I did not cover over much of the beautiful figure in the wood. Next is staining, finish, engraving, lock and barrel work.

dave

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
The stock is stained and the sealer coats are dry. I used a mix of aniline dyes for stain and thinned polymerized tung oil for sealer. The last photo shows one of my original fowlers along side for comparison. Allowing for 250 years of aging, I think the color match is pretty good.

dave

 

[nhmoose]

Great work!! That is gorgeous!!

 

[MSW]

stunning!

 

[Rifleman1776]

Words fail me. Absolutely beautiful.
Is that silver work a replication or creation of yours?

 

[Artificer]

That stock and silver work is downright gorgeous!

Gus

 

[dave_person]

Thanks guys,
Frank, the wire is inspired by motifs used by British gunmakers during 1730-1770 or so but the designs are all my own to fit my own objectives.

dave

 

[jrmflintlock]

Absolutely beautiful!!

I can't remember,but is this for you or will it find a new home? If so, I don't know how you part with such a beautiful piece!

Thanks for sharing!

 

[wulf]

Will you cut that out ? :bow: :wink:

 

[Ames]

I'm sending out the $$$ to cover my shipping costs in the morning. :bow:

 

[Rifleman1776]

Thanks guys,
Frank, the wire is inspired by motifs used by British gunmakers during 1730-1770 or so but the designs are all my own to fit my own objectives.

dave

:bow: :bow: :bow:

 

[Col. Batguano]

Is this going to get your best effort "top drawer" level of engraving? Worthy of a London specialty shoppe? I know you've said you have to restrain yourself on other guns because of the period or level of the intended market for the original.

 

[Capt. Jas.]

Dave,
I have of course been following your threads on this fowling piece and I must say you have done a marvelous job in constructing this gun. Even more impressive is your efforts to document and share with others. That in itself requires of course a willingness but also skill in transferring the information in the written word and with pictures.
I think the color work is spot on. I like the comparison pic with the Heylin gun. Sure miss the old girl but I know she's in caring and more capable hands. I always intended to make a copy of that wrist escutcheon. Good to see you used that design on this project.
Again, many thanks for your self less sharing!!!

 

[dave_person]

Thanks Dave and James,
James, I really appreciate your comments. Both of us love those British guns and they deserve their due and recognition for what they are: some of the most beautiful guns ever made. Folks on this side of the pond don't get to see many of them and often English fowlers built by contemporary American makers reflect that. My goal, particularly my series of threads on that "other" forum, is to try and bring some of the important details and features to light that hopefully will help folks make better British fowlers and appreciate the vast and intelligent skills of 18th century British gunmakers.

David, yes I intend to fully engrave the butt plate, trigger guard, and rear ramrod thimble in the proper 18th century British manner. However, I will not do extensive engraving on the lock, just a florid banner with my name and some thick and thin border lines. I do not care for heavily engraved round-faced locks and I prefer the look of a smooth polish and shine on a round-faced lock unencumbered by a lot of engraved stuff. If the lock was flat, I would consider more engraving.

dave

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
Sorry this is taking so long but I am working on a late flint English rifle and a New England fowler at the same time so I am really busy. Anyway, I worked on the barrel to make it look like a Spanish product from the 18th century. Spanish barrels had makers stamps often filled with gold, a counter mark stamp often indicating the location of manufacture, also gold filled, and other marks indicating the maker and religious symbols. To simulate that marking is a real challenge and I simply could not resist trying. The original Spanish marks appear to be stamped in deeply. I cannot do that with modern steel barrels. So, I decided to deeply cut the outlines of the makers and counter mark stamps into the barrel with gravers, fill the mortices with silver, and stamp the soft silver. Please appreciate the "pucker" factor here. I could ruin my barrel after all the work on this gun that I did. I made 2 stamps from a cold chisel bought at my local hardware store. I annealed the chisel, sawed it in half, and sawed off the chisel blade. I squared the ends and polished one end to be engraved. Then I engraved each stamp with my maker's name and the other with a mountain lion face, which is the symbol for Braintree, VT.

I then case hardened the engraved stamps. I traced their outlines on the appropriate locations on the barrel, and cut the borders with a square graver to permanently mark them. Then using thin and wider flat die sinkers's chisels, I cut the mortices. One of my flats is shaped so that the bottom cutting into the metal is wider than the top, so it undercuts the edges of the mortice. I then scored the bottom of the mortice with teeth cut using a square graver. Once they were cut and mortices cleaned up, I inserted a silver inlay sized just a little smaller than the mortice and tapped it in place using a small punch. That spread the silver into the mortice and locked it in place. Then I stamped the silver with my stamps to create the maker and city marks. For the other marks, which often were flowers, I love bluets, a little blue spring flower that grows in my fields. It looks like "forget me nots" but only has 4 petals. I chose to engrave bluets and fill them with silver. I have never done this kind of work before. I just jumped in and did it. It probably shows my inexperience but it does look authentic relative to what I want to achieve. I also engraved and filled a small "Catholic" cross on the top flat, a symbol often used on these great Spanish barrels.

dave

 

[MSW]

that's just wicked cool!