You got it ALL wrong, son…

[Panama Red]

Oh, Powder Valley has shipped my four pounds of black powder. WOOOT!
Guess I better buy a few flints… Does anyone on here just pick up a chunk of flint and knap their own? Now I got to go research that. Do we have flint in Florida?

 

[Panama Red]

Also, planning on blackening the brass on this thing. Wonder how hard it would be to make my own trigger guard? I really like the dark look of the iron better than I do the brass.
I see a small forge in my future…

 

[Panama Red]

AND THE RIFLE HAS SHIPPED! Yes! Alrighty, time to re-arrange the shop, from motor head mode, to mountain man mode.
Man, I love me some new toys!

 

[Gum Slough Muzzleloader]

Oh, Powder Valley has shipped my four pounds of black powder. WOOOT!
Guess I better buy a few flints… Does anyone on here just pick up a chunk of flint and knap their own? Now I got to go research that. Do we have flint in Florida?

Yes you can find flint in Florida, Chert also. Not sure how well it works or how many shots you would get out Chert but some I've found throws a good spark from steel striker for starting fire.
I'm in West Sumter County. Where abouts are you in Florida?
Also feel you did right by trying the Traditions kit. I'm in the same boat on that. I bought a real cheap Blazer to tear apart and re do. Plus two others my wife picked up in Webster real cheap.
After them I will get either a Kibler or a Chambers kit.
Take care.

 

[Panama Red]

Yes you can find flint in Florida, Chert also. Not sure how well it works or how many shots you would get out Chert but some I've found throws a good spark from steel striker for starting fire.
I'm in West Sumter County. Where abouts are you in Florida?
Also feel you did right by trying the Traditions kit. I'm in the same boat on that. I bought a real cheap Blazer to tear apart and re do. Plus two others my wife picked up in Webster real cheap.
After them I will get either a Kibler or a Chambers kit.
Take care.

Over here in Suwannee county. South Suwannee county. We don’t like the North Enders down here. I’m talking with a fellow on here right now whose second, third, fourth, and fifth rifles are all hand carved from planks. He has done some really nice work. I’m starting to lean his direction for my second, and away from the Kibler already… matter of fact, I’m definitely headed that direction. Sorry Jim! Beautiful kit, but it is still a kit. Let me get this build down, and I’ll start whitlin’ on a yellow pine 2x8 just to practice!
Yep, hand carved is the only way to have a real flintlock.
I’m kidding about that part. They’re all real flintlocks. Shoot what you got, and be proud of it!
But I’m not kidding about the carving my own. Me and Track of the Wolf are going to get to know each other real well…

 

[BadDaditood]

I started with a Traditions Kentucky partly because Kibler hadn’t started making kits yet but mostly because I’m cheap. The locks are sketchy but the barrels are real good.
I stained it orange and paid a guy $100 to blue it.
Then I joined a club and they said why did you pay someone to blue it instead of browning it yourself?
I didn’t know what they were Sposed to look like, I’d never seen a real Flinter before joining the club.
One member was a builder, took one look at my stockwork and said “that’s gonna drive you nuts- you’ll end up carving another stock”. He was right, I carved a curly maple plank, aqua fortissed and blushed the wood, plum browned the steel, Jax brassed the brass replacing everything but the barrel and buttplate along the way.
The fella I sold it to just sold it for $1200, so even with a Traditions you’ve still got value in those parts.
Don’t mess with boiled linseed oil, it’s not water resistant and it may never dry.
There are tons of better finishes nowadays.

 

[Panama Red]

I started with a Traditions Kentucky partly because Kibler hadn’t started making kits yet but mostly because I’m cheap. The locks are sketchy but the barrels are real good.
I stained it orange and paid a guy $100 to blue it.
Then I joined a club and they said why did you pay someone to blue it instead of browning it yourself?
I didn’t know what they were Sposed to look like, I’d never seen a real Flinter before joining the club.
One member was a builder, took one look at my stockwork and said “that’s gonna drive you nuts- you’ll end up carving another stock”. He was right, I carved a curly maple plank, aqua fortissed and blushed the wood, plum browned the steel, Jax brassed the brass replacing everything but the barrel and buttplate along the way.
The fella I sold it to just sold it for $1200, so even with a Traditions you’ve still got value in those parts.
Don’t mess with boiled linseed oil, it’s not water resistant and it may never dry.
There are tons of better finishes nowadays.

Thanks! It just seemed like the way to start… About ten years ago I refurbed a 1974 AirStream. I knew nothing about them when I got it. It was a derelict. Back 8 feet of floor completely gone, font 6 feet rotten and had to replace. Had to fabricate my own frame outriggers. placed about a third of the frame. Huge job. Came out nice though, cause I got on AirForums (I was Panama Red there as well). I know AirStreams like the back of my hand now. Can tell you where to purchase shimmed butyl rubber gasket material, fabricate your own stainless bathroom sink, how to weld HDPE Plastic, what the difference between HDPE and LDPE is, LOL, what year they added gray water tanks, which years have rebuildable vista view windows, etc. etc…
Anyhooo, I’m hoping this Traditions kit takes me there. Yeah, I could have spent 100 grand and got me a nice shiny new AirStream, but The LoveStream (tm) was completely mine when I was finished with it. I will do the same with flintlocks. I obsess on things when I start, usually, much to the aggravation of my wife.
And now that you said it, I’m thinking the first stock I will carve will be for this rifle. that is an awesome idea. I’ll have one that fits it sitting there for a model.
1200 bucks for a Tradition’s Kentucky… man, that was some nice upgrade!

 

[Grenadier1758]

@Panama Red, do get the books on assembling muzzleloading rifles. One of the best is "The Gunsmith of Greenville County" by Peter Alexander. If one book doesn't clearly explain how to build something, look in another book.

Don't limit yourself to one supplier. Track of the Wolf is a great supplier, but so is Muzzleloader Builders' Supply, Dixie Gun Works, Stonewall Creek or several other vendors. Some have access to different sources for molds for parts. Look at different suppliers for the wood as you will need to wait about 2 years for the wood cut down on your farm to fully dry out.
There's Pecatonica, Tiger Stripe, and several others that offer more styles than Track.

Waiting to see what you end up with as you work on your Traditions rifle.

 

[BadDaditood]

Grenadier always has solid advice- and it’s Free!!
These are two of the best books ever written (in my opinion) on building flintlocks. The top one is written in English, Alexander writes in Canadian ;-)
Either will help immensely to shape a Traditions to look more like a longrifle than what I came up with the first time!
PS- keep us posted on your first two rifles, I’m positive you will want a swamped barrel on your third !!!

 

[Panama Red]

@Panama Red, do get the books on assembling muzzleloading rifles. One of the best is "The Gunsmith of Greenville County" by Peter Alexander. If one book doesn't clearly explain how to build something, look in another book.

Don't limit yourself to one supplier. Track of the Wolf is a great supplier, but so is Muzzleloader Builders' Supply, Dixie Gun Works, Stonewall Creek or several other vendors. Some have access to different sources for molds for parts. Look at different suppliers for the wood as you will need to wait about 2 years for the wood cut down on your farm to fully dry out.
There's Pecatonica, Tiger Stripe, and several others that offer more styles than Track.

Waiting to see what you end up with as you work on your Traditions rifle.

Hey, thanks!
A friend on here recommended Gunsmith of Greenville County in a chat, along with Recreating the American Longrifle. I’ll be getting both of those.
The cherry was cut down years ago, and sawn in to a plank for a mantle for my sister’s fireplace, but she decided to go a different route, so I have a really nice piece of dried cherry. I’m going to practice in a few other blank before chopping up that cherry though.
And thanks for the suppliers list! I was perusing TotW last night, thinking, man, they are out of stock on EVERYTHING. I will def check out all the others!
I’ll be posting up plenty of pictures of each build as they go. It’s amazing the amount of knowledge in a forum like this, and I plan on taking advantage of it. It’s like taking college courses for free…with professors that will lead you by the hand.
From looking at quite a few builds, the brass spacer is the first thing to go… I have some aircraft grade plywood, in varying thicknesses I might use. Would make an interesting looking accent. Or, I may just cut an oak shim and see how that looks, try to blend it in, give it a single piece look. There’s some guys I’ve watched that have done a pretty nice job dressing that thing up.
I’m definitely blacking the brass. And I’ll be contouring that stock a bit, try to give it a little more lean appearance…
Looking at different finishes now. Thought I was going with linseed oil, but I have heard a few times that it takes a loooong time to dry, so I’m reconsidering that.
Kit gets here Wednesday. Start watching for pics.

 

[Panama Red]

Grenadier always has solid advice- and it’s Free!!
These are two of the best books ever written (in my opinion) on building flintlocks. The top one is written in English, Alexander writes in Canadian ;-)
Either will help immensely to shape a Traditions to look more like a longrifle than what I came up with the first time!

These two just keep coming up in conversation. Will be ordering them shortly.
Does Google Translate support Canadian?

 

[BadDaditood]

I speak pretty good western Canuck, but not eastern Quebecoiseses.
My first Kibler I ordered cherry- very soft and easy to work. It looked great just clear coated. Some guys blacken it with oven cleaner then rub back highlights. Kibler used to show one in his customer finished pics.
Here’s some metal finishes I’ve evolved into:
Brass black is Selenious and Phosphoric acids.
BC Plum needs heat (250ish). I got a free toaster oven for all but the barrel. I built a vertical oven for barrels- didn’t work.Then I built a horizontal oven- it didn’t work either, so it’s back to the torch!
Laurel Mtn Forge is real popular - I built a sweat box for it but I just can’t get that plum color I like and it takes days. 8-10 coats BC Plum in one day.

For wood Kibler recommended Tried and True and I love it. A thin coat wiped off after an hour. 24 hour recoat. It’s not shiny unless you really want to do a lot of coats. Goes on just like linseed but actually dries! What a concept!

 

[yellowhammer]

...I settled on the Kibler ...but...ordered a Traditions Kentucky flintlock…

Panama Red, I'm going through the EXACT scenario, except I've been procrastinating for a lot longer about the Kibler lol. I would have already bought one but I waited around for the Woodsrunner, and then the wait times due to demand sorta bugged me (he seems to be getting caught up), not to mention the $$$ - I ain't a cheapskate, but still...

 

[Panama Red]

Panama Red, I'm going through the EXACT scenario, except I've been procrastinating for a lot longer about the Kibler lol. I would have already bought one but I waited around for the Woodsrunner, and then the wait times due to demand sorta bugged me (he seems to be getting caught up), not to mention the $$$ - I ain't a cheapskate, but still...

Whichever way you go, just enjoy the heck out of it. The guys on here have been incredibly helpful, even before the kit has gotten here, lol. I’ve completely changed what I’m going to do to this rifle about four times, and still have a few different ideas I’m looking at. If you go with the Traditions, check out JB67’s build, and Phill Coffin’s, and 5 or 6 others that did an incredible job with a budget kit.
MANY will tell you that you’re putting lipstick on a pig… they got a right to their opinion. I guess they feel this disparages their choice to buy a higher end kit, so they have to chime in on a thread like this. You don’t see the custom/hand built rifle guys on here chastising them for buying a kit and not building it by hand… or the guys who forge their own barrels mocking those who buy a barrel. Heck, somewhere in the world is a guy who has mined his own iron ore, smelted it, mixed it up to get steel, then forged his own barrel… I guess he would be “King of the Flintlocks”. But I digress…
Whichever way you go, enjoy yourself, and the hobby. As I said in another post, I’ve made a friend on this forum who hand carved his next four rifles, I believe it was, might have been three, but either way, he is hand making his own now, hand carved, from parts, not kits. Beautiful work! I’m heading that direction on #2! I believe I could hand make all the parts for a rifle, excluding the barrel, with a little practice. I’ve got a few projects to get under my belt before all that happens though.
Best to you, whichever way you go! Keep me posted on what you do. I’d love to see how it turns out. I’ll be starting a new thread when the kit gets here next week to document the build. It won’t be as nice as some I’ve seen (looking at you, JB) but I’m really hoping for a nice rifle in the end.

 

[Panama Red]

I speak pretty good western Canuck, but not eastern Quebecoiseses.
My first Kibler I ordered cherry- very soft and easy to work. It looked great just clear coated. Some guys blacken it with oven cleaner then rub back highlights. Kibler used to show one in his customer finished pics.
Here’s some metal finishes I’ve evolved into:
Brass black is Selenious and Phosphoric acids.
BC Plum needs heat (250ish). I got a free toaster oven for all but the barrel. I built a vertical oven for barrels- didn’t work.Then I built a horizontal oven- it didn’t work either, so it’s back to the torch!
Laurel Mtn Forge is real popular - I built a sweat box for it but I just can’t get that plum color I like and it takes days. 8-10 coats BC Plum in one day.
View attachment 216135For wood Kibler recommended Tried and True and I love it. A thin coat wiped off after an hour. 24 hour recoat. It’s not shiny unless you really want to do a lot of coats. Goes on just like linseed but actually dries! What a concept!
View attachment 216136

If you ever get down this way, I can give you a crash course in North Florida Cracker. I’ve lived here my whole life, apart from my military days and a few years of contract work, on the property my great grandfather owned, so we go back a little ways, and there are still people here that I can’t understand, their accent is so thick. It’s a nasally slur of southern drawl. No where near as elegant and refined as Texas, or proper Georgia speak. Our accent screams ignorance and inbreeding, neither of which are necessarily true, but are completely possible in either case.
I ended up ordering Laurel Mountain browning solution, after watching a few videos. I may regret it, but I guess I could always steel wool it off and get some plum brown if I don’t like it. I’m still trying to decide which finish to use. I’ve seen a few different people comment on the boiled linseed oil taking sooooo long to dry… still trying to decide. I’m liking the idea of an oil finish because of the ease of fixing scratches and blemishes. But if it’s going to stay tacky for a month…
I’m def going to black the brass. Saw a few rifles on here that had done that, and I love that look. I’m starting to lean a bit darker on the color stock I’m looking for, but haven’t decided that yet either. I’ve got a week before it even gets here, so I’ve got a little playing to do with colors.

 

[th1840]

If you ever get down this way, I can give you a crash course in North Florida Cracker. I’ve lived here my whole life, apart from my military days and a few years of contract work, on the property my great grandfather owned, so we go back a little ways, and there are still people here that I can’t understand, their accent is so thick. It’s a nasally slur of southern drawl. No where near as elegant and refined as Texas, or proper Georgia speak. Our accent screams ignorance and inbreeding, neither of which are necessarily true, but are completely possible in either case.
I ended up ordering Laurel Mountain browning solution, after watching a few videos. I may regret it, but I guess I could always steel wool it off and get some plum brown if I don’t like it. I’m still trying to decide which finish to use. I’ve seen a few different people comment on the boiled linseed oil taking sooooo long to dry… still trying to decide. I’m liking the idea of an oil finish because of the ease of fixing scratches and blemishes. But if it’s going to stay tacky for a month…
I’m def going to black the brass. Saw a few rifles on here that had done that, and I love that look. I’m starting to lean a bit darker on the color stock I’m looking for, but haven’t decided that yet either. I’ve got a week before it even gets here, so I’ve got a little playing to do with colors.

Personally Laurel Mountain products are my choice used them on dozens of guns I've made and sold and response from customers has been great

 

[yellowhammer]

Whichever way you go, just enjoy the heck out of it <snip>

Nostalgia for my boyhood shooting prb's started all this with me. Other ml's I have are "unmentionable" twist. While waiting on the Kiblers (at one time he quoted 6 mo lead) last Fall I visited Old South Firearms (link) down in Bham. Filled with ML stuff, floor to ceiling - no waiting (what a relief) - SUPER helpful owner. He had a few factory finished Trad KY's for not much more $ than the kits, so I got one. It's finished WAY better than I could do a kit. Heck, I bought a complete gun ready to shoot for not much more that Kibler's bare lock. Like I said, I ain't no cheapskate, but still... At least it's not ChiCom. That little gun feels good in the hand. The length, and size fit me well, especially when slung over my shoulder riding my ATV. Goes bang every time. I am frankly shocked at the 50 yd accuracy (.490, tick/mink, 55 gr Goex ffg). So, concerning these little rifles, most of the expert advice was, I won't say wrong, just maybe unjustly harsh [In all fairness, even the "experts" admit the Spanish barrels are good]. I don't worship at the altar of historically correct longrifles; I just like to shoot and hunt with rifles that have that "form". I want to support US enterprise, so there is that. So, you can see why I'm lagging.

 

[BadDaditood]

If you ever get down this way, I can give you a crash course in North Florida Cracker. I’ve lived here my whole life, apart from my military days and a few years of contract work, on the property my great grandfather owned, so we go back a little ways, and there are still people here that I can’t understand, their accent is so thick. It’s a nasally slur of southern drawl. No where near as elegant and refined as Texas, or proper Georgia speak. Our accent screams ignorance and inbreeding, neither of which are necessarily true, but are completely possible in either case.
I ended up ordering Laurel Mountain browning solution, after watching a few videos. I may regret it, but I guess I could always steel wool it off and get some plum brown if I don’t like it. I’m still trying to decide which finish to use.

LMF is a great browner and easy to do-
My issue may be this desert southwest DRY heat.
I have to ‘introduce’ humidity to my sweat box, I’m probably over doing it cuz it looks like condensation on a tall glass of summer sweet tea and that leaves the barrel all spotty.
I got the last one right but it it wasn’t plum’.
As for humidity all y’all gotta do is go outside! Just speak slow to them inbreds!
;-)

 

[büchsenmacher64]

If you ever get down this way, I can give you a crash course in North Florida Cracker. I’ve lived here my whole life, apart from my military days and a few years of contract work, on the property my great grandfather owned, so we go back a little ways, and there are still people here that I can’t understand, their accent is so thick. It’s a nasally slur of southern drawl. No where near as elegant and refined as Texas, or proper Georgia speak. Our accent screams ignorance and inbreeding, neither of which are necessarily true, but are completely possible in either case.
I ended up ordering Laurel Mountain browning solution, after watching a few videos. I may regret it, but I guess I could always steel wool it off and get some plum brown if I don’t like it. I’m still trying to decide which finish to use. I’ve seen a few different people comment on the boiled linseed oil taking sooooo long to dry… still trying to decide. I’m liking the idea of an oil finish because of the ease of fixing scratches and blemishes. But if it’s going to stay tacky for a month…
I’m def going to black the brass. Saw a few rifles on here that had done that, and I love that look. I’m starting to lean a bit darker on the color stock I’m looking for, but haven’t decided that yet either. I’ve got a week before it even gets here, so I’ve got a little playing to do with colors.

The LMF will work very well in your humidity. I tried the BC Plum Brown and couldn’t get it to work correctly for me. The humidity here in the high desert is very low. I built a rusting tent and I get great results from the LMF.

 

[Hawk54]

I use the Track of the Wolf browning solution and it is very easy to use and one coat a day over a week and you end up with a very nice finish. Don't need any extravagant equipment either.