Leman trade rifle

[Phil Coffins]

Looks dandy. Makes me wonder how long it took the stock finisher on the original rifles to paint the strips on.

 

[Pilgrim]

Nice! A work of art indeed.

 

[DuncNZ]

Looks dandy. Makes me wonder how long it took the stock finisher on the original rifles to paint the strips on.

Probably not too long , dip a piece of string in the paint and wind it around the stock , then use a brush to open up some of the stripes , Back in those days they used hand paint grain onto furniture , walls and doors and marble wood .

 

[cannonball1]

The pioneers of old would make pine furniture and trim look like maple and oak with feather staining. They probably did the same thing with guns.

 

[markh]

Thanks for showing the great work on the Leman. I'm working on one myself and enjoyed your post.

I'm glad to hear that. Hope you are enjoying your build.

 

[markh]

Looks dandy. Makes me wonder how long it took the stock finisher on the original rifles to paint the strips on.

It took me about an hour and a half to paint both sets of stripes on this gun. Really it was a lot easier than I expected

 

[Trapper Scott]

Pretty sweet rifle. Excellent workmanship.

 

[markh]

Great work! How does it shoot? What caliber? I like it!

Looking back at the thread I see I forgot to provide the answer to your question. I finally test fired in early June. I'm pretty happy with the result. These are the first three shots at 50 yards, sitting at a bench.

 

[burlesontom]

I think it looks great. The striping fooled me. I thought it was Maple. I watched that video of the guy building a Gemmer Hawken and he striped his stock but to me the stripes looked too solid. I like how your stripes have a feathered edge to them. What stains did you use to stripe the stock? I may have to try that myself on a new build or a rebuild.

And I had read when the guys who worked for Leman striped a stock they had a wide paint brush that they removed sections of the bristles in so the brush would paint several stripes at a time. And if you see some close up pictures of their guns the striping is not all that good. Not like the OPs job anyway.

I forgot to add that the period after the fur trade and the beginning of the westward expansion is my favorite time period in that part of the history of the US. The Oregon trail and California Gold Rush are fun to study. And the strength and endurance of those people that walked all the way to Oregon impresses me to no end. I believe a lot of Leman built guns probably made the journey with those people.

 

[Okurok]

Very nice.

 

[Notchy Bob]

@Okurok 's avatar appears to be Henry Leman himself. From the expression on Henry's face, I would say he approves of the rifle built by @markh .

I sure like it. That target shows it's a shooter, too.

Notchy Bob

 

[Okurok]

I wondered if anybody would notice.

 

[Colonial Boy]

Well, I for one am really impressed with your work.

Me for two.

 

[markh]

I think it looks great. The striping fooled me. I thought it was Maple. I watched that video of the guy building a Gemmer Hawken and he striped his stock but to me the stripes looked too solid. I like how your stripes have a feathered edge to them. What stains did you use to stripe the stock? I may have to try that myself on a new build or a rebuild.

And I had read when the guys who worked for Leman striped a stock they had a wide paint brush that they removed sections of the bristles in so the brush would paint several stripes at a time. And if you see some close up pictures of their guns the striping is not all that good. Not like the OPs job anyway.

I forgot to add that the period after the fur trade and the beginning of the westward expansion is my favorite time period in that part of the history of the US. The Oregon trail and California Gold Rush are fun to study. And the strength and endurance of those people that walked all the way to Oregon impresses me to no end. I believe a lot of Leman built guns probably made the journey with those people.

Thanks! Yes indeed a lot of Lemans guns went west on those famous trails. I really enjoy the history of that period too.

I used two leather dyes for the stripes, one is Angelus English Tan dye for the lighter stripes followed by very thin darker stripes made with Fiebing's Dark Brown dye. I did feather the stripes out by scrubbing lightly with a Scotchbrite pad to avoid having the stripes look too solid.

I bought a wide brush with the idea of clipping out sections of bristles like you mentioned. But when I just used a single narrow brush to test the colors on a scrap of maple I found it was pretty quick just to go ahead and paint each stripe.

 

[markh]

I wondered if anybody would notice.

I'm hoping to travel to PA soon and maybe see a couple of original Leman rifles in person!

 

[Notchy Bob]

I wondered if anybody would notice.

Henry is probably thinking, "Where was Mark when I needed him?"

Notchy Bob

 

[burlesontom]

Your build just made me order the Firearms of the indians book off of Amazon. That will go with my traps and tools book.

 

[centershot]

That is a beautiful rifle! Well done!