A friend bought one of my LRs and seeing he's an accountant, he often asks me how many hours it took to build his gun. Possibly the reason is that he wants to know my "wage". I could guess but seeing I made the Pbox and release, RR pipes, muzzlecap, trigger and plate, both front and rear sights, toe plate and made the flintlock from a Siler kit, I'm not even going to venture a guess. Undoubtedly my efficiency has increased seeing this was my 2nd LR, but I really can't make a comparison of then and now. Do any builders, first timers to the more prolific, log your hours and note what the hours were for? On the Bucks County LRs that I'm presently concentrating on, the first entry pipe took a whole lot of hours, including the hard maple form dies, but the 2nd and following entry pipes were done in a much shorter time even discounting the form dies.... anyways it seemed so because I don't log the hours. So..if a builder sticks w/ one or 2 "styles" of MLers, the time should be shorter then if multiple styles are built? Just curious if hours are kept....Fred
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Hours to build
- Thread starter Vaino
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Mike Brooks
Cannon
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I used to keep track. depending on the gun I could build it in anywhere from 25 to 125 hours. :haha:
I recently built this one from a blank in 18 hours.
Here are some other pictures of it.
LIBRTY GUN
I recently built this one from a blank in 18 hours.
Here are some other pictures of it.
LIBRTY GUN
Your example of 18 hours of work is one of the reasons I don't log my hours...some got it and some don't got it which includes me. Seeing you "turn these thing out" in short order, who does the logistics? Your secretary? Just the planning and ordering must be hectic? Evidently you do somewhat log your hours which might give a "leg up" asre planning? Or is it that you just "know" how long it will take?....Fred
nchawkeye
58 Cal.
I kept track of my 1st, it took 2 years and over 200 hours...This wasn't a kit, the barrel had been inlet and the ramrod hole drilled...I did the rest, using all hand tools, except for an electric drill for drilling holes...
mikemeteor
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I keep a notebook with a brief description of task and the hours every session.
#1 was a Dickert, Pecatonica pre-carve: 220 hrs, and about 1/4 of that was carving, and then trying to fix the carving, and then trying to salvage the fix. Shoulda left it off.
#2 was a southern mtn rifle, much simpler, no carving, 130+ hrs.
Currently nearing completion of #3, Pecatonica pre-carve early Lancaster ... and yes carving again. think I'm up to about 150 hrs. Seem like the last 10% takes 50% of the time - like building a house.
Takes me 18 hours just to inlet the entry thimble...
#1 was a Dickert, Pecatonica pre-carve: 220 hrs, and about 1/4 of that was carving, and then trying to fix the carving, and then trying to salvage the fix. Shoulda left it off.
#2 was a southern mtn rifle, much simpler, no carving, 130+ hrs.
Currently nearing completion of #3, Pecatonica pre-carve early Lancaster ... and yes carving again. think I'm up to about 150 hrs. Seem like the last 10% takes 50% of the time - like building a house.
Takes me 18 hours just to inlet the entry thimble...
Mike Brooks said:I used to keep track. depending on the gun I could build it in anywhere from 25 to 125 hours. :haha:
I recently built this one from a blank in 18 hours.
Here are some other pictures of it.
LIBRTY GUN
Mike, that is embarrassing......... :redface: I spend more hours on Finish than you do building the whole dang rifle....... :idunno:
Keith Lisle
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I have an average of 125 hours in both of my issac haines. they were built from kits. I would hate to try to add up the hours it would take me to build one from scratch slow as i am.
Swamp Buck
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I have built two flintlocks. An Early Lancaster and a Pennsylvania Fowler. I kept track of all the time spent working on each. Both took about the same amount of time. The first took 114 hours and the second took 120 hours.
It was the best amount of time spent working on anything.
It was the best amount of time spent working on anything.
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I sure don't build em to see how quick I can do it. Some just go quicker than others.
I have been building rifes for 20 years, there's a rule that I always go by. I have to have the "Vibe" to build. If I don't have the vibe, I work on other things in the shop that I want to work on. They just turn out better that way.
HH
I have been building rifes for 20 years, there's a rule that I always go by. I have to have the "Vibe" to build. If I don't have the vibe, I work on other things in the shop that I want to work on. They just turn out better that way.
HH
Mike Brooks
Cannon
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Let's keep in mind I started with the barrel and ramrod already in the stock. There is no butplate , sideplate, trigger plate and only one ram rod pipe. It's stocked in walnut which is soft and shapes pretty rapidly.Birddog6 said:Mike Brooks said:I used to keep track. depending on the gun I could build it in anywhere from 25 to 125 hours. :haha:
I recently built this one from a blank in 18 hours.
Here are some other pictures of it.
LIBRTY GUN
Mike, that is embarrassing......... :redface: I spend more hours on Finish than you do building the whole dang rifle....... :idunno:
Keith Lisle
Mike Brooks
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It's a 20 bore. I don't know how long it would have taken the old timers, probably about the same amount of time if they started with an already made barrel and lock.hawk 2 said:
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Headhunter said:
i agree with headhunter... knew a fellow who did small sewing as a hobby, got good enough at it so that he could start charging for his time, and it got to be work, and now in his spare time he does embroidery, and he won't go near his sewing machine unless there's money or the threat of imminent bodily harm involved.
bottom line: don't let your hobby become work, or it'l spoil the fun.
just one guy's opinion.
It seems to take a long time {not hrs} to build a LR, for me anyways, but then I only work 2-3 hrs a day {perhaps 5 days/ month are missed} on a LR. Nearly every morning will find me in the shop "receiving my therapy" which carries me for the remainder of the day. One disadvantage of doing it this way is "picking up" from the day before....there's always some retracing. Probably many builders spend a like amount of hrs on a MLer and therefore the elapsed time "seems" to be very long. I'm concerned that if I logged my hrs, the time spent would be the "goal" and as a tool and diemaker I had plenty of experience building w/in a job's hrs...retirement eliminated that. Changing the subject slightly...the original makers because of having to earn a living, mainly made one style of MLer whereas today's fulltime builders have to build to suit the clients' wishes which can vary greatly. This requires a certain amount of covering new ground which can slow things down a mite? I've picked 2 styles to build, not to speed things up, but because the early Lancaster and Bucks County LRs are very appealing and I don't have to cater to a client's whims. The fulltime builders of today are indeed "gifted" seeing they'll tackle any style. Sorry for the "rambling"....Fred
[/quote] bottom line: don't let your hobby become work, or it'l spoil the fun.[/quote]
That's what ended my short career tying flies. After several years tying my own, a friend to whom I had given a few flies on a trip convinced me to tie some for him for $$. Too much pressure--I had to retire from tying after that season.
That's what ended my short career tying flies. After several years tying my own, a friend to whom I had given a few flies on a trip convinced me to tie some for him for $$. Too much pressure--I had to retire from tying after that season.
Four hrs and 45 mins for the bbl and RR is super fast no matter how you did them. If I could duplicate those times, I wouldn't send them out either. The last LR {46" swamped bbl} that had this work done cost me $157 inc. shipping both ways but I'm not earning a living building MLers. The shipping is more than half that figure and increases every so often. Someday I'll jot down the shipping charges of every item on a LR and see what percentage of the selling price it comes to. Have you or has anyone else done this? Again...I can't imagine myself doing that work for a swamped bbl in that amount of time.....Fred
ohio ramrod
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Some guns are built quickly, some take a long long time. If I kept track of my total hours I would stop building guns,making arrows,ramrods, molds, powder horns, or most other "gun Stuff". The last time I did do a close estimate of time to build a gun I figure I made about two and one half dollars an hour!But then that was several hours I wasn't spending money! :hmm:
