Smoothbores in the Colonies

[Ike Godsey]

SFAIK

???WHAT???

 

[Grenadier1758]

So Far As I Know (SFAIK)

 

[Wes/Tex]

Would also like to add that in the furniture trade the "quarter-sawn" ultra wavy pattern seen in oak or ash is done in similar fashion to this illustration but with the cuts being made in the "slice of pie" quarter log from side to side rather than from edge to center as shown here. In the furniture trade, they are looking for a more irregular wave pattern which comes by slicing along the trunk's ring edges. This is fine for cutting boards for "quarter-sawn" oak furniture, but would be wasteful for gun stocks.

"Curly ash" is a lovely gun stock wood choice, depending entirely on the style or 'school' of the gun being made. This was an option offered by Narragansett Arms at one time. Looked great on a Spanish escopeta but like yuck on a club butt fowler! :wink: :haha:

 

[Ike Godsey]

So Far As I Know (SFAIK)

:thumbsup:

ike

 

[colmoultrie]

Here's curly ash on a Tennessee poor boy...

 

[Artificer]

Thank you for the picture of the types of sawing wood from a trunk.

I did not realize the difference between Quarter Sawing and Rift Sawing as I was taught that Quarter Sawing actually was Rift sawing as shown in that picture. Rift sawing provides the most stable wood, though also the most waste.

"Flat Sawn" as described in the photo is also known as "Slab Sawing" for some of us. Depending on how the log is "Flat" or "Slab" sawn, the center slab can also have the Ring Structure that is sought when one is Rift Sawing. Some times a Flat or Slab Sawing gets rid of problems with the very center of heart wood by sawing through the center of it and then the slabs or boards on each side have the most heart wood with the best ring structure possible for that trunk.

Of course with the size of Walnut and other Trees in that period, they could "waste" more wood and still come out with slabs or planks plenty thick enough even for the very thick early to mid 18th century gun stocks.

Gus

 

[Birdwatcher]

The next question is I suppose how much did they value stock grain configuration as opposed to carvings/inlays back then?

I had heard somewhere not so much, that placing high value on grain was mostly a modern thing.

But then Henry Lehman actually painted fake grain stripes on his trade rifles (1830's on???) so by that date, stock grain was apparently valued by the Indians, perhaps this was because such guns were otherwise so plain I dunno.

Birdwatcher

 

[Artificer]

The next question is I suppose how much did they value stock grain configuration as opposed to carvings/inlays back then?

I had heard somewhere not so much, that placing high value on grain was mostly a modern thing.

But then Henry Lehman actually painted fake grain stripes on his trade rifles (1830's on???) so by that date, stock grain was apparently valued by the Indians, perhaps this was because such guns were otherwise so plain I dunno.

Birdwatcher

No doubt a lot of it had to do with the time period, origin and type of gun - as to how much a curly stock was valued. It also had to do with whether the curly wood was available when needed for a re-stock and if the customer could or would afford the added expense.

Fake or Artificial "Graining" using Iron Gall Ink or artist's pigments was popular not only on gun stocks in the early 19th century, but was also very popular with Wood Doors and "Treatments" in homes of that period. Andrew Jackson hired a Frenchman to do it on the doors and a lot of woodwork in the Hermitage outside Nashville, Tn. Perhaps it was much harder to find well figured wood in that period than it was earlier in the 18th century?

Gus

 

[Ike Godsey]

No.

The question simply is, if a gunshmith in the colonies worked between 1690 and 1720, would he had access to "curly maple" to make gun stocks from?

Or to turn it up side down: Is it worng to have a gun stocked in curly maple prior to the FIW?

Maybe because of the area this type of wood grows?

Ike

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Access? Yes.

Would he have used maple? Or would he have used cherry or walnut?

:idunno:

Would the dye that was used have highlighted the curl, Or did the dye technique needed to really bring out the curl come about later in the century, say just at around the F&I, and after, resulted in curly maple being used more for furniture and gunstocks then before?

:idunno:


LD

 

[Artificer]

Access?
Would the dye that was used have highlighted the curl, Or did the dye technique needed to really bring out the curl come about later in the century, say just at around the F&I, and after, resulted in curly maple being used more for furniture and gunstocks then before?

:idunno:

LD

The knowledge and techniques to dye wood or highlight the grain through various techniques was well known to Fine Instrument Makers (especially Luthiers) in the early to Mid 17th century. Fine Furniture makers began using the same techniques by the end of the 17th century. Were these techniques used by Fine Gun makers in the 17th century? It seems at least some were, though carving, inlaying and engraving were more common for high dollar fine guns.

So I may suggest it was not so much a question of whether the techniques were known, but at what point they known by general run of the mill gunsmiths who were available to re-stock a gun here in the 18th century, at different decades of that century?

Gus

 

[George]

FWIW:

THE VIRGINIA GAZETTE
April 13, 1776
STOLEN from the Subscriber, on his March from Augusta to Williamsburg , at New Kent Court-house, on Monday the 9th Instant, a very neat RIFLE GUN , the Stock of Sugar Tree curled, made pretty dark by Aquafortis, a Brass Box and Brass wire, flourished in the Breech, and J. Grattan on the Barrel, below the hind Sight.

Spence

 

[Artificer]

Good Documentation, Spence,

I would not be surprised at all by an original documentation of using Aqua Fortis on Gun stocks at the very first years of the 18th century, though I have yet to see one.

Besides it being used on furniture in the late 17th century, I came across this:

Aquafortis
[aque fortis; aqua-fortis; aqua fortis; aqua ffortis; aq: fortis; aq. ffortis]
The Mediaeval Latin term means STRONG WATERS though it was rarely used in the sense. More particularly it was the early scientific, and still the popular, name of the nitric acid of commerce (dilute HNO/3). Although it does not affect GOLD, it is a powerful solvent and very corrosive, reacting with most metals; hence its use in etching. It was included among DYERS GOODS in ACTS 1704/C004, being used by dyers of SCARLET to dissolve the necessary TIN. SILVER (in the form of coins) was dissolved in aquafortis, and the result was used in the preparation of FURs from animal skins and as a primitive hairdye.
OED earliest date of use: 1594
Found described as for dyers use, FOREIGN Found in units of LB, OZ Found among the DRUGS rated by the GALLON, HUNDREDWEIGHT
See also AQUA REGIA, AQUAFORTIS BOTTLE, AQUATINT.
Sources: Acts, Inventories (early), Inventories (mid-period), Newspapers, Rates, Recipes.

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/traded-goods-dictionary/1550-1820/aqua-naphae-aquatint#h2-0015

Gus

 

[trent/OH]

Zonie, and others who may know versus speculate, what causes the appearance of "Bird's Eye" in wood? I've only seen it in maple, but does it occur in other genera as well?

Now I wish I'd studied more dendrology in college.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Thanks for the info on the furniture and the acid...

Birdseye is often heavily present in briar root used to make pipe bowls today. No idea of other woods.

LD

 

[George]

Birdseye occurs in several woods, and the cause is unknown.

Spence

 

[Artificer]

Sometimes one can find information from related trades that work in the same medium, such as wood in this case, for information on staining gun stock wood. In this case, I got very lucky.

The technique of Japanning Wood was quite popular in late 17th century. Stalker and Parker’s Manual, Treatment on Japanning and Varnishing, was published in Oxford in 1688. Colonial Boston was a major center of the japanning trade in America, where at least a dozen cabinetmakers included it among their specialties. No doubt this information came to Philadelphia, New York and other large Ports and cities for their furniture makers and wood workers.

So the information was freely published and well known. For our interests, here are the valuable part/s. When the text mentions "rush the wood," it means polishing the wood by rubbing hard with cane rush.

"To Stain a Fine Yellow,
Take Burr or Knotty Ash, or any other wood that is white, curled or knotty, smooth and rush it very well, having warmed it, with a brush dipt in Aqua Fortis wash over the wood, and hold it to the fire, as you do Japan-work until it leaves it smoking: when dry rush it again, for the Aqua Fortis will leave it very rough."

"If you put filings or bits of metal, as brass, copper and Iron, into Aqua Fortis, each metal will produce a different tincture: the best French Pistols are stockt generally with this sort of wood [meaning burl wood], and in this manner."

So English wood workers in 1688 knew how the French were staining their "Burr" or Curly Wood Pistol stocks at least as early as that time. The information was available in published form here in America very soon afterward. So it is a pretty safe bet Aqua Fortis was used throughout the 18th century by American Gunsmiths.

Gus