Northup87
36 Cl.
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2021
- Messages
- 58
- Reaction score
- 127
I'm calling this restoration "The Woodshed Vincent". This barrel was found by my father 30 years ago in a wood shed/cellar behind Cully Bergmans place where its was reported potato moonshine was made and sold to hobo village north of the tracks. It was throughly pitted & crusty but came around pretty nice in clean up. Rifling is very deeply cut. .36 caliber 40" long with a swamp making the barrel wider at the muzzle than the breech. At some point in its unfortunate neglected life the breech was cut off, but its safe to assume it started life as a flintlock and was converted to percussion. Likely made around 1780 or 90 a portion of the original makers name is still visibly engraved in cursive. Both names emerged during cleanup as it was rusted so badly they couldn't be seen otherwise. The block name stamping is from a famous maker in Ohio Joseph Vincent though there is question of authenticity as the J. VINCENT stamp is crooked. I feel it still warranted a restoration. I sourced actual period components for all the important hardware like the lock and screws and made most of the rest from blanks. It is truly a great honor & priviledge to watch something lost to the passing of time swim back to life from the murk, Im glad I played a small part in its story here is its journey over the last month.
