Chambers English Fowler

[Buckskinn]

I'm going to have to contact Chambers then because the ram rod tip they sent at tapered end would just fit but the other end measures. 0.060 wider than the drilled hole. What's odd it the tip they sent for this fowler is larger than the tip that was sent for the 54 caliber and that one does not fit either, but it's close, only .005" too big.

Honestly, I don't know what the real difference is between British and American built fowlers. Gonna have to go over your tutorials a bit more and look through the Grinslade's Fowler book as well. Either way I go, I would like to bring out the figure as much as possible. I have some time before I get to that stage.

 

[Buckskinn]

Talked with Barbie today and she is sending me a 5/16" ram rod tip and pipes. Hopefully the pipes will work where already inletted, if not I will deal with the 3/8th's. She's also sending me another Fancy English Fowler side plate, because the one that came with the kit has vanished. Or possibly I hid it on myself because it intimidates the hell out of me!

 

[Buckskinn]

Got some work done yesterday before ringing in the new year!

Got the butt plate drilled and installed. No gaps anywhere, so happy with that, because that steel is not very forgiving... I'll countersink a bit more and clean it up later.

Drilled and tapped the tang screw, which is always a bit of a hair-raising process for me. But no issues.

And installed trigger, another step that I could see going very wrong. I don't know how others do it, but I put a vertical and horizontal line on the trigger plate crossing where I wanted the pivot hole and placed a dot where my mind said it should be and by golly it worked.... Still have some filling to do on the trigger plate, but I'm waiting for the side plate to get here so I can drill the lock plate bolts before final trigger adjustment.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Years!

 

[Hatchet-Jack]

That's looking good! Happy new year!

 

[Buckskinn]

Got some more work done. Side plate inlet and lock bolts tapped. Trigger guard inlet and partially pinned.

Also finally got the 5/16th ram rod pipes from Chambers unfortunately they only sent two for some reason. So, one more call on Monday, hopefully last one...

They look like they will work just fine, but the tail pipe pipe tang was shorter on the 5/16th than the 3/8th.

I considered gluing in piece of wood in gap but remembered Dave cutting off tang from one thimble and soldering it on another so went that route.

Unfortunately like a knucklehead with not enough coffee in my system I cut off wrong end initially! So had so solder on both ends. Have a little cleaning up to do on it but should work fine.

 

[Loja man]

Looks good from here!!

 

[Buckskinn]

Well, I've gone about as far as I can with this fowler so next step is whisker, stain, finish and blue - my favorite steps!
I've tested several dyes:
red whisker yellow whisker yellow
whisker yellow whisker yellow
whisker orange whisker orange (more yellow than orange)
and just whiskering with water

Very subtle difference between stained wood, but definitely a purple hue to the unstained. So, leaning toward the yellow or orange prior to sealing with Sutherland-Welles polymerized tung oil mixed 50/50 with mineral spirits as Dave recommends.

Wish me luck!!!

 

[Loja man]

Slow is fast!!

 

[Buckskinn]

Dumb question, but I can't seem to find a definitive answer. So I have steel furniture on my fowler. Is just the barrel and lock generally blued or all steel parts and just rubbed back more? I've looked for answers and pics and it seems it's all over the place.

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
Your gun represents a fowler made during the 1740s-1760s. Lock, hardware and barrel would be polished bright. No bluing or browning anywhere except the barrel might be temper blued or charcoal blued in some cases but most commonly left bright. Now if you moved to the 1770s-1790s, your lock would be flat faced, your trigger guard would likely have an acorn finial, and the barrel might be browned but the hardware left bright. The browning became a fashion I believe to show off the patterns in the twist and stub twist barrels becoming popular. Move to the end of that period and the beginning of the 19th century and your barrel would likely be browned and the hardware often browned but just as often charcoal blued, and your trigger guard would have a pineapple finial.

dave

 

[Buckskinn]

Thanks, Dave.
They must not have had any wild turkeys over there back then, tough enough with a full fully camouflaged shotgun... I guess we are going to call the barrel faux charcoaled blued then, I rubbed it back quite a bit though.

 

[Loja man]

Hi,
Your gun represents a fowler made during the 1740s-1760s. Lock, hardware and barrel would be polished bright. No bluing or browning anywhere except the barrel might be temper blued or charcoal blued in some cases but most commonly left bright. Now if you moved to the 1770s-1790s, your lock would be flat faced, your trigger guard would likely have an acorn finial, and the barrel might be browned but the hardware left bright. The browning became a fashion I believe to show off the patterns in the twist and stub twist barrels becoming popular. Move to the end of that period and the beginning of the 19th century and your barrel would likely be browned and the hardware often browned but just as often charcoal blued, and your trigger guard would have a pineapple finial.

dave

So never having a polished bright barrel before… what is the method to keep it from rusting? Will it take on a patina with time? Or did they polish them frequently enough to keep the bright look?

 

[Colonial Boy]

This is a very interesting thread.
Love that side plate

 

[dave_person]

Hi Colonial Boy,
Here is a side plate for you.

A polished barrel does not rust that quickly and they simply took care of their guns. Cleaning and oiling.

dave

 

[Buckskinn]

Yeah, that's a side plate! And real sliver has an elegant hue to it as well. In hindsight since I'm not doing any carving on the fowler I probably should have gone with a simpler sidle plate but that's what came with the kit.

I got the whiskering and staining done and first coat of sealer last night and I am extremely pleased with how it turned out. I went with yellow with just tiny dab of red added to it.

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
No they did not have turkeys in Britain, at least not the animal kind. Instant bluing the barrel and lock and then rubbing it back will produce a nice tarnish that will darken over time. Remember to keep those flats around the lock almost vanishingly thin when using a large round-faced lock like the Chambers.

dave

 

[Buckskinn]

Dave,
I think I have them pretty thin, tried to anyway.

On a side note, how many coats of the tung oil finish do you generally put on? I've done 2 so far, but going to need several more I think. I went a little light on the sanding with the sealer so I have a lot of open pores. I don't mind, there is a lot of color in those pores that I really didn't want to mute with sawdust anyway.

 

[Buckskinn]

Just applied 3rd coat of tung oil.

 

[Buckskinn]

I just applied 10th coat of tung oil finish. I have been applying very thin coats daily and have the butt stock about where I want it, but for some reason the forearm and around trigger guard is a bit dull. Just wondering if there is a point of putting on too many coats or diminishing return?

 

[2 shots]

hi, thank you all for the great info here. im starting a chambers english fowler kit i picked up second hand [ no work started] it came with a cherry stock. what would the proper finish be for it. thanks .mike