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Hello, Thought I would show off some of my smoke poles, Thanks' to all for the nice greeting.

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Joined
Jan 12, 2021
Messages
130
Reaction score
228
Location
Michigan
Top Rifle, We won't talk about this one on the forum.

Bottom Rack , Flint 50. Cal. Sharon swamp barrel, this was my third rifle I finished in 1982 , and carried Bear hunting. The wood took a wonderful green tint at the finishing process. Some do not like this, but I would give my left round ball bag , to repeat and duplicate the process again.

2nd from bottom is a beautiful flint I bought at a Military show called the Max , a days drive east from where I live. Master workmanship with both carving and engraving. The only glue to the maker is FS engraved flowing on the top of the barrel.

3rd from bottom is my 2nd made rifle and first flint . The eagle made patch box I created, is with a white cow horn oval insert that I always intended to scrimshaw. This 45. cal Douglas 13/16'' Octagon 42'' barrel , the lock was a Re-tuned Dixie, and I put in set triggers. I killed many a wood chuck, rats, and squirrels with this, and my first deer, a monster 9 point in the back field in 1979. She has a real soft spot in my heart as I competed with her in competition shoots also.

4th and last on the rack on top is a sweet little 36. cal . This gem was made and signed by my good friend Dennis Priddy . We did a deal on a trade for a scrimshawed powder horn and a large double edge knife. Both of which I create, and I furnish the gun parts. I had acquired a H &R barrel in another trade for one of my medium size knifes, did more swapping for brass Great lakes Indian amulets I created at the time for a nice block of curl wood, a Siler Lock I made from kit, and assembled a set of triggers and side plate and pipes and plug. Dennis did the rest and created this beautiful piece. I finished the knife , then had that accident I mentioned on my 4th rifle . I carried his horn right along with that flint of mine. And finally finished his about 3 years back, after 2 years of drawing. Tough to get inspired some times. It is a beautiful piece. There is not a blank space on that horn that does not have a picture scratched upon it. I thank him for his patience and being a good friend.

Under the top rifle is a nice .45 cal swamped Douglas barrel, Made by R Ash , this wonderful shooter has the most slender grade 2 tapper swamp , with a beautiful and most delicate wood work under the barrel I have seen. As it has has five splits in it that I have had to repair, from previous owners . This is a good lesson on why you do not buy gun is poor lighting at auction. But really for what I paid, I could not start to buy the parts to make one, and it is a very sleek fast firing rifle , and one of my best shooters.


Pictured by itself....This rifle was started in the early 1980's, my father a Michigan Game Warden, myself and two other officers went bear hunting in the upper peninsula in the late fall of 1982 . I as a avid muzzle loading hunter, I had just finished my third rifle, also a flintlock of .50 caliber, and brought it along to hunt with. During the following week traipsing threw Baraga county, we managed to blow a brake line on the VW Van we took north. Back then you could fix these , as they were nothing more then a flared end on a copper line, all you needed was a flaring tool. So we bumbled into a old run down saw mill, out in the middle of bum-puck-no-where. They had a flaring tool we could borrow, and as I was under the van fixing the break line, my father who had started up a conversation with the owner was showing off my new flint rifle I had just finished. The owner of the mill stated that years ago a guy came in looking for tiger striped hard maple, and said if he was to find a piece to save it, as he would return to purchase it. The owner said the man never returned and it had been 6 years, so I ask if I could buy it, yes he said and for $20 it was mine. I started the gun that winter, and then crushed my fingers in a work accident, and never finished it. I have carried it with me through 2 divorces, 6 house moves, ( each wife got a house ) and 5 kids. With the advent of the virus, I have had the opportunity to take the time to finish it. The rifle has early German Jager influences, I intend to finish off the patch box, with brass and bone. The 33 1/2'' Douglas straight octagon .50 caliber barrel, is tapper fluted ( I took better than a pound off weight ) . A re-tooned L&R lock, I made the side plate and the ramrod flutes, and end cap. I would like to thank my good friend's Norm Brooks, and Dennis Priddy for their kindnesses and support, as to get off my ass and finish it . And to my father who found this block of wood, it is one of the finest pieces I have ever had, the curl is fantastic. A heirloom for our next generation's, and the memory's of my father and the hunt, priceless.
 

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Want a green tinted stock? Use Dixie's Chromium Trioxide stain and let the stock cure in bright sunlight. May take a little while but the stain will transition from a nice reddish brown to green. Almost every green stock I have seen has been stained with Chromium trioxide.
 
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