This is a relocated thread from "L&R vs. Siler&"
Back to surviving firearms vs. what was produced. A single but complete example of a dateable and/or signed firearm is a blessing for an art historian and archeologist. Paleontologists would kill for a complete skeleton of an extinct beast. They work off 10 or 20% of a skeleton, often much less, and fill in the blanks based on what came before and followed after. The whole point of reenactment is so that we can put ourselves in a facet of a prior civilization's mind as well as their technology. We can examine what they left, but have to rely on conjecture for what they felt and thought.
My Mother's side of the family is Deutsch "Dutch"("Low" Dutch - from what is now the Netherlands. Most folks confuse the Swiss Amish and Mennonites with the German/Bohemian Moravians and the High-Dutch/Germanic settlers of the 1700's. These people were VERY image conscious, and VERY proud of their equipment and utensils; whether in manufacturing them or the ones they owned Oral tradition: "There's an excuse for being poor, but no excuse for being dirty." It didn't matter if your stomach growled as long as your barn had a fresh coat of paint, the horse was curried and the tack had harness bells, and even if the windows were greased paper there was an accurate clock in the living room. They embraced technology, but still took the time to carve animals, leaves and vines in the handles of saws and the sides of block planes, painted distelfinks on everything from crocks to wedding certificates. Bed coverlets weren't just quilted - they were pieced from pretty cloth and embroidered. (Don't be thinking it was the plain-order Amish that started that). A folk that would put so much decorative work into an item you use with your eyes closed certainly wouldn't hesitate to purty up a rifle that would last a lifetime and might cost a man as much as $12 or $15!
Not every man was a longhunter. There were plenty of shopkeepers, clerks, businessmen, clergy, sustenance farmers, carpenters, millers, butchers, smiths, etc. (heck, they even had teachers in these things they called "schools" - buildings only used for educatin - imagine that!) who owned firearms but not moccasins. Proper shoes have sport buckles. You don't hear stories about Hans Dunkel, Jaeger of the Mountains. These people were relatively sedentary, preferring to settle down and build a country from the inside instead of the edges. The Moravians and Quakers were opposed to war and violence as religious tenets, but still produced and appreciated a heady lager, an accurate rifle and a venison roast. The Schutezenfest was the biggest event a town held.
I never heard the term "Schimmel" used to describe a plain PA longrifle until recently. Makes me wonder if that isn't a modern ploy to appease a current market. I always heard "ferschimmel" used to describe something that was broken, out of place or wrong.
Back to surviving firearms vs. what was produced. A single but complete example of a dateable and/or signed firearm is a blessing for an art historian and archeologist. Paleontologists would kill for a complete skeleton of an extinct beast. They work off 10 or 20% of a skeleton, often much less, and fill in the blanks based on what came before and followed after. The whole point of reenactment is so that we can put ourselves in a facet of a prior civilization's mind as well as their technology. We can examine what they left, but have to rely on conjecture for what they felt and thought.
My Mother's side of the family is Deutsch "Dutch"("Low" Dutch - from what is now the Netherlands. Most folks confuse the Swiss Amish and Mennonites with the German/Bohemian Moravians and the High-Dutch/Germanic settlers of the 1700's. These people were VERY image conscious, and VERY proud of their equipment and utensils; whether in manufacturing them or the ones they owned Oral tradition: "There's an excuse for being poor, but no excuse for being dirty." It didn't matter if your stomach growled as long as your barn had a fresh coat of paint, the horse was curried and the tack had harness bells, and even if the windows were greased paper there was an accurate clock in the living room. They embraced technology, but still took the time to carve animals, leaves and vines in the handles of saws and the sides of block planes, painted distelfinks on everything from crocks to wedding certificates. Bed coverlets weren't just quilted - they were pieced from pretty cloth and embroidered. (Don't be thinking it was the plain-order Amish that started that). A folk that would put so much decorative work into an item you use with your eyes closed certainly wouldn't hesitate to purty up a rifle that would last a lifetime and might cost a man as much as $12 or $15!
Not every man was a longhunter. There were plenty of shopkeepers, clerks, businessmen, clergy, sustenance farmers, carpenters, millers, butchers, smiths, etc. (heck, they even had teachers in these things they called "schools" - buildings only used for educatin - imagine that!) who owned firearms but not moccasins. Proper shoes have sport buckles. You don't hear stories about Hans Dunkel, Jaeger of the Mountains. These people were relatively sedentary, preferring to settle down and build a country from the inside instead of the edges. The Moravians and Quakers were opposed to war and violence as religious tenets, but still produced and appreciated a heady lager, an accurate rifle and a venison roast. The Schutezenfest was the biggest event a town held.
I never heard the term "Schimmel" used to describe a plain PA longrifle until recently. Makes me wonder if that isn't a modern ploy to appease a current market. I always heard "ferschimmel" used to describe something that was broken, out of place or wrong.
