Building an Edward Marshall Rifle

[dave_person]

Hi,
Well guys, it is starting to look like the real thing. So many details and nuances. I started the carving by doing the lock and trigger guard moldings. These are pronounced and bold on the original gun. The front finial on the trigger guard is surrounded by a beautiful molding that mimics the outline. The lock molds stand up and are particularly bold around the tail. I will eventually clean them up but then round off many of the edges.

I also cut the outline for the barrel tang carving and relieved the background.

After whiskering the stock, I will carve the details.
Here is where I am at. I have to outline the rest of the carving and carve the patch box. I also have to fit the end plate to the box and the spring. It is all coming into focus.

dave

 

[psushchyk]

Thank you for taking the time to write and post all of your work on this fine creation. Very much a pleasure to read and enjoy! I am always amazed by the artistic abilities demonstrated.

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
Outlined all the relief carving and needed to whisker the stock before carving the details. So I stained the whole gun orange! I like orange. It's a nice color.

The owner kind of likes the color because he won't lose the gun in the woods. Maybe even some flame decals would look really good and German silver hearts and stars and ........ Whew, I am losing my mind. All the color gets scraped off and it really helps to highlight rough areas and scratches in the wood. Basically, when the color is gone, the gun is cleaned up. Then I detail the carving and stain it. The owner should be shooting it by the middle of next month if the finish cures quickly.

dave

 

[springfield art]

Hi,
I am building as close a copy of the Marshall rifle as I can without having the original on my bench. I've examined the original rifle and have a large photo library of images to work from as well as Houston Harrison's excellent drawings. The first problem is the lock. No one makes the right lock. All the locks sold with EM rifle kits are too large and have curved plates. They make it impossible to capture the look of the original. So, I had to make a lock. The best choice for size and shape was M&G's "Albrecht" lock. I had low expectations and wasn't disappointed. It was good raw material but needed a lot of work.

Hear is a photo of the original lock.

The first task was adding a pan bridle, which I welded on and shaped.

Next I had to drill it for the frizzen and mount a screw from the inside of the lock plate. That meant filling the old hole in the frizzen and drilling and fitting everything. It came out well.

The original lock has a blind hole tapped for the rear lock bolt. For some reason , M&G ground away most of the bolster where that screw goes so I filled it with weld. I also added weld to fatten the tail of the plate and filed the nose to the shape of the original.

Then I had to clean up the plate and all the parts, reshape the flint cock and frizzen, and cut the border on the plate and flint cock.

Finally, I worked over the springs, reshaped the finial on the frizzen spring, fitted a high carbon sole on the frizzen to add mass, fitted and polished all the parts, heat treated everything, and engraved the lock as close to the original as I could.

The lock now has a wonderful feel, smooth, silky action, and sparks like crazy.

dave

Wow. You could easily edit this into an article for Muzzle Blasts magazine; they do lots of technical "build it" articles. Fine job!

 

[appalichian hunter]

going to be a fine rifle.

 

[rich pierce]

Dave, I learned something again from you- whispering before finishing the details in the carving. I’ve not done that but it makes a lot of sense!

 

[Pete G]

because Dave is a gun whisperer...

 

[Spikebuck]

Hi,
Outlined all the relief carving and needed to whisker the stock before carving the details. So I stained the whole gun orange!

Looks like another great use for Dangler's Orange Toner (at least I assume that's what you used). I have used it applied after other stains to create more highlight on figured stocks and I use it on my wood arrow shafts so they are easier to see and find!

 

[Nameless Hunter]

Hi,
Outlined all the relief carving and needed to whisker the stock before carving the details. So I stained the whole gun orange! I like orange. It's a nice color.

The owner kind of likes the color because he won't lose the gun in the woods. Maybe even some flame decals would look really good and German silver hearts and stars and ........ Whew, I am losing my mind. All the color gets scraped off and it really helps to highlight rough areas and scratches in the wood. Basically, when the color is gone, the gun is cleaned up. Then I detail the carving and stain it. The owner should be shooting it by the middle of next month if the finish cures quickly.

dave

Does outlining after you whisker cause issues?

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
Thanks for looking and commenting, folks. I really like this rifle. The Germanic styling is fun to copy and I love projects in which I can dive into deep weeds of details despite the fact that few will notice or care. It is just my way of staying inside my happy little bubble.

Nameless, I suspect most makers whisker their stocks before any carving and that is just fine. My way just allows me to whisker as well as see rough spots in my relieved backgrounds in one step. I would not recommend whiskering after carving the details because cleaning up the fuzzy carving may cause you to round it and lose sharp details.

dave

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
I am carving the patch box lid. I still have to clean things up, even some shapes and add a few details including the thumb hole but it is almost done. The question, is it Santa or Rasputin?





dave

 

[appalichian hunter]

Looks to me like a spirit of the woodland, perhaps a bit of luck on the hunt. I like it, it is one of those hidden touches that makes one think when they see it.

 

[Celticstoneman]

Dave, someone on this forum has a quotation which I'll paraphrase. One should hang around with old guys as old guys know stuff. I really know nothing about your age, but you sure as he'll know stuff! Bravo on this piece of art.
John

 

[Celticstoneman]

Hi,
I am carving the patch box lid. I still have to clean things up, even some shapes and add a few details including the thumb hole but it is almost done. The question, is it Santa or Rasputin?





dave

I think he resembles DOC or GRUMPY!

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
Here is the original lid.

dave

 

[Robby]

Greenman?
Robby

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
Done with it for now. I will move on to the other carving.

Robby, actually I don't think the original was meant to be a face but just some scroll and shell-like design. It just happens to look like a happy face and a greenman is as good a label as any.

dave

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
Finished the carving on the cheek side of the butt stock. I really admire how the maker created a complex and sophisticated design with very few and simple lines. You don't need to carve your gun into a totem pole to have dramatic and sophisticated effects.

dave

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
More done. I finished the carving details on the patch box side of the butt and then did the carving around the barrel tang. At first glance, the breech carving on the original seems fairly simple until you look close. Then you can see how complicated and sophisticated it is. I have a little carving to finish, then a final check up and clean up on all the details. I should have stain on it in a day or so.

dave

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
Stained the stock and put on the first coat of finish. I used very dilute ferric nitrate but I added 1 part 10% nitric acid, blushed it, and then lye mixed with water. The lye water also neutralized the acid. It came out very nicely. It is a bit redder than the original rifle but I really like the color. The finish is Sutherland-Welles polymerized tung oil thinned with mineral spirits. It was so warm and sunny that I could not photograph much of the finish still looking shiny and wet. It soaked in really fast.

dave