Sdahl97
32 Cal
New member from Pike County PA. As long as I can remember I have always loved the form and function of flintlocks/firelocks. From watching movies like Last of the Mohicans and The Patriot to looking through the muzzleloaders section of cabelas catalogs and playing with and shooting my grandfather's caplock hawkens as a little kid. To scouring the internet for images of original Jeager rifles and fusil de chasse as a teenager. The past few years I have really been interested in Club Butt Fowlers and doglocks, as my favorite time period to study is the late 17th to early 18th century. About 1680-1740 roughly.
I have never strayed too far from thinking about firelocks and have wanted to build one for many years now but either time or money or just life has always gotten in the way. So a few years ago after watching Mike Bellevue of duellist1954 build a couple kit rifles I said to hell with it and bought a 44" 20 gauge Colerain Fowler barrel from Track of the Wolf, cut down a big old maple that was hanging over my house and was trying to decide which lock to get from The Rifle Shoppe. I had bucked the tree to where the grain of the wood would follow the wrist and into the butt of the stock perfectly but I didn't want to wait 2-5 years for the stock to season and wanted something as a rough draft/prototype to get a little better understanding of the steps, tricks and procedures first before making one entirely from scratch on my first go. Duellist1954 made some excellent video series but I learn most by feel than sight. So I started looking at different Fowler kits that were around and came across Sitting Fox Muzzleloaders Dutch club butt fusil kit and I was like yup that's what I'm getting. Not exactly the shape of stock I was going for but hey. Then 2020 happened and didn't get any work for most the year so I barely had enough to eat nevermind enough for fuel oil so I ended up having to burn all the maple as firewood. I about wanted to cry every time I put another piece in the fireplace, the whole tree had absolutely beautiful curls and figure to it, such a shame such beautiful wood to just be burned but I'd rather stay warm the night then have a pile of wood in the shop and freeze to death. A lot of projects got burned that winter.
Well a couple years have gone bye and things haven't gotten much better and prices have definitely have not gotten any cheaper so again I say the hell with it I'm just gonna do it anyways but I see sitting fox no longer sells the Dutch club butt kits so I'm back to the original plan and make it one part at a time but I'm going to get a lock in the rough castings, I'll definitely not be able to afford an assembled lock for the foreseeable future. In the intervening years I have gotten into blacksmithing quite heavily on top of my furniture making and leatherworking hobbies and am quite confident that I can make most all of the furniture myself. So that will definitely be a money and time saver.
So here are the questions
1. Are there any videos you know of or forum posts on finishing and tuning locks from rough castings. I want to try my hand at forging a lock from scratch eventually but want one to use as reference first.
2. Is there anyone who sells stock blanks where the butt would be big enough to be carved down to a club butt. Everyone That I have seen only sell pennsylvania rifle shaped stocks and English and French Fowler shaped stocks. None of them look to be big and wide enough and lumber mills around here very very rarely have maple or walnut boards long enough let alone thick enough and when they are they're straight boards with straight grain. Not the best candidates for Fowler stocks with a drop in the butt.
Any help would be much appreciated
I have never strayed too far from thinking about firelocks and have wanted to build one for many years now but either time or money or just life has always gotten in the way. So a few years ago after watching Mike Bellevue of duellist1954 build a couple kit rifles I said to hell with it and bought a 44" 20 gauge Colerain Fowler barrel from Track of the Wolf, cut down a big old maple that was hanging over my house and was trying to decide which lock to get from The Rifle Shoppe. I had bucked the tree to where the grain of the wood would follow the wrist and into the butt of the stock perfectly but I didn't want to wait 2-5 years for the stock to season and wanted something as a rough draft/prototype to get a little better understanding of the steps, tricks and procedures first before making one entirely from scratch on my first go. Duellist1954 made some excellent video series but I learn most by feel than sight. So I started looking at different Fowler kits that were around and came across Sitting Fox Muzzleloaders Dutch club butt fusil kit and I was like yup that's what I'm getting. Not exactly the shape of stock I was going for but hey. Then 2020 happened and didn't get any work for most the year so I barely had enough to eat nevermind enough for fuel oil so I ended up having to burn all the maple as firewood. I about wanted to cry every time I put another piece in the fireplace, the whole tree had absolutely beautiful curls and figure to it, such a shame such beautiful wood to just be burned but I'd rather stay warm the night then have a pile of wood in the shop and freeze to death. A lot of projects got burned that winter.
Well a couple years have gone bye and things haven't gotten much better and prices have definitely have not gotten any cheaper so again I say the hell with it I'm just gonna do it anyways but I see sitting fox no longer sells the Dutch club butt kits so I'm back to the original plan and make it one part at a time but I'm going to get a lock in the rough castings, I'll definitely not be able to afford an assembled lock for the foreseeable future. In the intervening years I have gotten into blacksmithing quite heavily on top of my furniture making and leatherworking hobbies and am quite confident that I can make most all of the furniture myself. So that will definitely be a money and time saver.
So here are the questions
1. Are there any videos you know of or forum posts on finishing and tuning locks from rough castings. I want to try my hand at forging a lock from scratch eventually but want one to use as reference first.
2. Is there anyone who sells stock blanks where the butt would be big enough to be carved down to a club butt. Everyone That I have seen only sell pennsylvania rifle shaped stocks and English and French Fowler shaped stocks. None of them look to be big and wide enough and lumber mills around here very very rarely have maple or walnut boards long enough let alone thick enough and when they are they're straight boards with straight grain. Not the best candidates for Fowler stocks with a drop in the butt.
Any help would be much appreciated
