Melchoir Fordney

[nhs]

I am building building 2 Melchoir Fordney rifles and have very few pictures in my books of how he engraved and carved his guns. I have enough pictures of the stock work but have few pictures of his original work on butt plates, tang carving, toe plates and forestock carving. Does anybody out there have any pictures of his original work showing these details?? I would appreciate it if they could either post them or send to my e-mail address ([email protected]). Thanks Niall Sadler

 

[Mike Brooks]

There are alot of books out there that feature alot of his work. It might be time to invest in a few of those books for your library.

 

[nhs]

Thanks Mike but I have over $1000 in books but they still don't show those details unless you know of some I don't. Cheers Niall

 

[mazo kid]

Do you have Kindig's book "Thoughts on the Ky Rifle in the Golden Age"? It doesn't show tang molding or toe plates but does show other areas of engraving and carving. Emery

 

[nhs]

Thanks Emery, I have that book and about 6 others that show his rifles and have used them all to plan and design most of the side views of the rifles. But what the books don't show enough pictures of is the top view or the bottom view of things like the trigger guard or the entry pipe areas etc. I need to get a real sense of what he was trying to accomplish when he created the whole rifle. All I have are snippits of one of a toe plate or a entry pipe for example and I don't even know which rifles they belong to. Also some of the pictures in the books don't show his patterns clearly. From one I have I know that he did carve the tang area because it is raised but I don't give enough information know what it really looked like. Cheers Niall

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

Kentucky Rifles and Pistols 1750-1850 by the Kentucky Rifle Assn. might have a few photos of his work. And I think Tom Grinslade's book on American Fowlers has a couple of Fordney guns in it.

 

[nhs]

Thanks, I have both books and have been using the pictures am using the pictures as guides in my designs.

 

[Zonie]

Don't forget to give Fordneys' skip line checkering a try.
My humble attempt at building a M. Fordney uses this checkering and I think it adds a bit to the gun.

 

[nhs]

Thanks for the picture and the hint. Nice Rifle. One of my rifles is going to have thye skip line checkering and the other just carving on the wrist area. Cheers Niall