Peter Neihardt

[Stophel]

Well, here it is. It was a LONG time in coming, and a nightmare all the way, but I'm finally done with it.

A Peter Neihardt type rifle with red varnish and all.
www.photobucket.com/albums/v326/Fatdutchman/Flintlocks/Neihardt

They say what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. I ain't so sure about that...

 

[poordevil]

WOW super cool :thumbsup:

 

[rabjr]

Wow very very nice work Stophel. :hatsoff:

 

[Jaeger]

Nice lookin' gun, Stoff! You're all done with it now, so take a deep breath and enjoy using it. What caliber?

 

[Trench]

Very well done!

 

[colmoultrie]

Nice work! Is this for you yourself, or for someone else? Did you make your own varnish, or use a commercial product?

 

[Tom Compton]

You done good!

 

[rkmeyer]

I would be more than happy to relieve you of your nightmare sir, I will even pay the shipping. :surrender:
Thanking you in advance,
Dusty :wink:

 

[Stumpkiller]

She amuses me. Have her bathed and sent to my tent.

Very nice.

 

[mazo kid]

Well, the important thing is that you persevered and ended up with a magnificent rifle. The only thing wrong that I can see is the lock and cheek piece are on the "wrong" side. :rotf:

 

[qtrhrs7]

:applause: :rotf:

 

[D. Bowman]

Very nice, Barrel length? cal.? Details!!!!

 

[Robby]

Stophel, I think you nailed that Lehigh architecture but good! I really like your carvings, very clean, and appropriate. I would prefer a longer barrel, but even so, you made a very elegant rifle.
Robby

 

[Stophel]

It's the Getz 38" barrel. He had it and said "make something with it". It's a nice barrel.

The Lehigh shaping is HARD to do anywhere near "right", and I'm not sayin' I got it "right"...but perhaps a reasonable facsimile... The wrist to comb transition was very troublesome. Lots of details that are like nothing else. It's even harder than doing a Berks county gun (and Berks county guns are odd, and hard to do...). "Pinched" wrists, very little drop in the wrist, "sheath" buttplates, Low cut almost heart shaped Vee fore ends, above-center locks, below-center fore ends, the nearly flat top of the wood around the tang, etc.

 

[rabjr]

I know I'm a novice but I must ask.

If some of these styles are so hard to shape why would they be used in the first place? I mean was this man so blessed with talent with a chisel that he could whip out this gun no problem and others find it difficult? Forgive, I'm just trying to understand, time is money and if a gun is hard to shape and takes longer, why would he do it in the first place back then? Don't get me wrong it's a beautiful gun, one of the best I've seen posted here, just trying to understand why he would make it so difficult to shape. :hatsoff:

 

[agill]

Beautiful rifle! :applause: :applause: :applause:

 

[Mike Brooks]

You're a brave man Chris, not a project I would have cared to take on. :thumbsup:

 

[Stophel]

It's just the way that the style evolved in that area. If you were from there, that was just the way you would have done it, it would be natural to you. But they are nothing like an ordinary Lancaster gun. It just takes study and practice. Any yahoo can make a Lancaster rifle. Not too many surprises here. A Lehigh gun, on the other hand, is not so simple and straightforward. Nuances that you just cannot see in photographs...particularly in the lousy photographs that we generally have... Once you have things figured out, going from there wouldn't be a problem (I would have no problem with building another Lehigh gun now). It's just getting to that point. Getting things figured out.

I see a lot of attempts at Lehigh guns today. I would consider only a few to be successful.

 

[Robby]

I agree with you Stophel, the subtle nuance of the Lehigh is a hard thing to capture at first blush. The real art, to me anyway, is to capture that essence, and still have a gun that doesn't pop you in the cheek. That is the complaint you hear most often about these guns, especially from some of the guys that have been making them for years.
Robby

 

[Stophel]

I am a cheekpiece fanatic. A cheekpiece MUST be done right.

A Lehigh cheekpiece/comb is really no different than anything else. For some reason, people think they have this big hump in the middle or something. They don't. This combline is not much different than on anything else I might do.

Now this gun DOES jump when you shoot it. It is noticeable, but it doesn't hit you in the cheekbone. I think the reason is because of the straight wrist. I can't get a solid grip on it like I could with a more normal gun with more drop in the wrist, so it is not as well anchored. It takes a solid grip, and a lot of getting used to.