{"id":124,"date":"2011-10-12T10:39:39","date_gmt":"2011-10-12T15:39:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jarootfarms.com\/journal\/?p=124"},"modified":"2011-10-12T11:03:42","modified_gmt":"2011-10-12T16:03:42","slug":"the-off-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jarootfarms.com\/?p=124","title":{"rendered":"The “Off Season”"},"content":{"rendered":"

There isn’t a lot to accomplish around the farm during the long months of Winter, except to keep the home warm and the water thawed for the chickens. When it is warm enough to feel my fingers I’ll work in the shop and possibly make progress on an antique tractor, repair equipment or maybe fabricate a new piece needed to make life easier while playing in the dirt.<\/p>\n

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Most of my time is spent on my artistic outlet(s),\u00a0 the main pursuit being the recreation of 18th century long rifles. I’ve always been artistic and I’ve always enjoyed working with wood. I also enjoy fine firearms and craftsmanship. Thus I took on this “hobby” of recreating period muzzleloaders 5 years ago.\u00a0 Prior to this I’ve mainly built plain Jane 700 Remingtons.<\/p>\n

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To date I’ve completed 3 rifles of various flavors and I am about to begin on my 4th. I am far from an expert but I am accomplished enough to achieve a good result with a roughly shaped stock and rough cast hardware.\u00a0 By no means can I consider myself a custom gun maker in this field, not yet anyway.<\/p>\n

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\"\"My first project was a rather simplistic Lyman Great Plains percussion rifle.\u00a0 This rifle was 50 Caliber and a straight barrel of 34″ length.\u00a0 A heavy gun as plains rifles generally were.\u00a0 A very generic 19th century rifle of the type that would have been found post 1830 West of the Mississippi.\u00a0 These are a decent “kit” for a beginner and require minimal tools to complete. The stock comes shaped and 95+% inlet.\u00a0 Lately it has been seen that some of the inletting is actually too large or out of position, something to be aware of if you purchase one of these kits.\u00a0 A working knowledge of wood and metal working \/ shaping \/ etc is beneficial to achieve a good result but a novice can accomplish this kit with some patience and thought before doing.\u00a0 While not a custom or even semi-custom gun it is a straight forward project that will yield a fine firearm.\u00a0 They are accurate and with a bit of work to the lock internals and the double set triggers they will rival some of the best aftermarket components.\u00a0 I sold this rifle a couple of years back as I wanted to venture into the realm of Colonial period (1750 – 1790) flintlocks.<\/p>\n

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\"\"My first flintlock was a mish-mosh of components.\u00a0 A pre-carved stock of what was called a Pre-Revolutionary Kentucky pattern from Pecatonica.\u00a0 It has no real “school” in which it fits but with an English style lock and the butt profile it’d probably pass as a Maryland or Virginia built rifle of the 1770’s or 1780’s.\u00a0 The stock is a nice piece of Red Maple with good curl\u00a0 that I requested only as roughly shaped with a barrel and ramrod inlet.\u00a0 It holds a 42″ tapered and flared Green Mountain barrel in 50 caliber.\u00a0 The lock is a Jim Chambers Round Faced English with a “waterproof” pan.\u00a0 The trigger is a simple pinned trigger.\u00a0 The hardware is a mixture of\u00a0 elements from Reading to Lancaster to Virginia.\u00a0 I finished the wood in a series of aniline dyes and sealed it with tung oil.\u00a0 Steel components were heavily cold blued and rubbed \"\"back with oiled 4\/0 steel wool to a gray patina. \u00a0 Stock decoration is simple and you can easily tell it was my first attempt at relief and incised carving with hand tools as the relief carving lacks shape and depth in execution.\u00a0 It is an accurate fine shooting weapon but the LOP is a bit long for my short stature.\u00a0 This rifle is currently for sale and you may contact me to inquire about more photos, details or pricing.<\/p>\n

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My latest completed rifle began life as a Jim Chambers Isaac Haines stock and accompanying hardware.\u00a0 This stock comes 95% inlet and includes hardware that is easily passed off as Dickert, Albrecht, etc with some modification.\u00a0 I chose a standard \"\"“grade” of stock so that it has some curl but not overly embellished.\u00a0 I like understated simplicity.\u00a0 The barrel is a 38″ Rice C profile tapered and flared in 54 caliber and was acquired elsewhere prior to my decision of the stock.\u00a0 The lock, supplied with the stock is a Jim Chambers Golden Age Germanic. I wanted to build a personal rifle in 54 with a shorter barrel because it is easier for me to load.\u00a0 At 5′ 7″ a 42″ or longer barrel makes it awkward for me to load as it puts the muzzle at face level.\u00a0 I had had good success with the Pecatonica stock that had inletting omitted but Chambers pieces come highly recommended so I took a chance.\u00a0 I was only mildlydisappointed that there wasn’t a “ton” of extra wood which allows for more creativity in shaping.\u00a0 I also am now blatantely sure that I don’t like all of the components pre-inlet because I am stuck with \"\"wherever the stock maker decides to put them.\u00a0 The execution of this piece is much more advanced than my previous attempt and my abilities with design, execution and vision have improved greatly.\u00a0 The carving is a reflection of an early 1770’s Albrecht rifle found in RCA 1.\u00a0 It again uses a simple pinned trigger and I have substituted sheet brass thimbles and added a simple sheet brass patch box.\u00a0 This rifle is finished with a traditional Linseed Oil & Pine Rosin finish which is “in” the wood rather than on.\u00a0 Currently there are 4 coats with at least another 4 to go.\u00a0 This provides a traditional, hand rubbed, durable, satin “antique” finish.\u00a0 My next educational venture is to begin to develop my engraving skills.<\/p>\n

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On my bench now is my first “paying” project.\u00a0 This is an old Sharon Trade Rifle kit (untouched) that an acquaintance purchased via auction and asked me to put together after seeing my completed Lyman as \"\"well as my Virginia flintlock.\u00a0 I have not begun on it physically but I have been investigating period guns and their attributes in order to hopefully make this gun look like it fits in the 1840’s rather than like the modern day Hawken kits you see from Thompson Center or Cabelas.\u00a0 I hope to have it complete sometime in January.<\/p>\n

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For #5 I have been studying New England fowling pieces (shotguns).\u00a0 Something I can use both for shot as well as patched ball, most likely a 20 bore (62 Caliber). \u00a0 Many of my ancestors immigrated to New England between the time the Mayflower arrived and the early part of the 18th Century.\u00a0 They eventually\u00a0 migrated from New England to Eastern and Northern Pennsylvania before and immediately after the Revolutionary War.\u00a0\u00a0 Therefore I feel it fitting that this would have likely been the type of firearm in their possession.\u00a0 It’s a way for me to honor their memory, sacrifice and suffering that in documented cases they endured and sometimes perished from.\u00a0 I am proud of my lineage and my ancestor’s perseverance.<\/p>\n

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There isn’t a lot to accomplish around the farm during the long months of Winter, except to keep the home warm and the water thawed for the chickens. When it is warm enough to feel my fingers I’ll work in the shop and possibly make progress on an antique tractor, repair equipment or maybe fabricate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-farmlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jarootfarms.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jarootfarms.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jarootfarms.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jarootfarms.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jarootfarms.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=124"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/www.jarootfarms.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134,"href":"https:\/\/www.jarootfarms.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124\/revisions\/134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jarootfarms.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jarootfarms.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jarootfarms.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}