Does these two photos look like fine wood work to you? The patchbox finial is pretty obvious but the warrior is a bit different. You see, the head and body are carved wood. The head is then covered with bone, ivory and other materials.
Is this just too far out to be featured in FWW?? Techniques used in these works could be used in different ways by other talented builders…if you knew a little more about it.
I wish FWW had a section dedicated to materials and subjects that Knots readers could feature and propose to them for use in their magazine. A serious input point where subjects could be reviewed and …. I repeat now and feedback would go for why the subject was rejected.
I think this would give some of us a more clear idea of how the selection process works at Taunton. It is not clear to me at this point and maybe a little back and forth would be good for all??
I know some readers are wondering?? Does this guy know there is a FWW magazine section here?? I sure do and it has nothing to do with input or feedback with regards to the magazine from where I stand.
Edited 11/17/2007 9:22 am ET by danmart
Replies
FWW could do a seven page spread detailing how these pieces were attached to their MDF display bases, and the process whereby he or she selected the screws used to attach said artwork.
To me Carving is a ART and as such I like seeing all kinds.
In fact I love things that are different even if it is not to my taste I still enjoy the 'ART'..
That said, I like the rifle stock better. And the Indian looks like drawings/carvings that my next door neighbor has. He is an American Indian (In fact his parents are 'elders of the tribe. I believe that is the term he used). None of his carvings/art look 'real' to me. It is the way they express people and animals I would assume.
Just me...
From this cynics viewpoint the problem seems to be that "art" is always more expensive than "craft". The next stage is art for arts sake, in other words so way out as to be nonesense.
Do not misunderstand me, if something appeals for reasons I cannot define, in proportion, subtlety or line, be it furniture, painting carving or what have you then to me that may be my interpretation of art. However it seems easier to recognize that which is not art. And it is an appellation to be bestowed rather than claimed, only in my always personal opinion of course.
dan,
Eww, a gun in FWW? I doubt it. Maybe if the barrel were twisted into a pretzel, then it'd be art.
Isn't Gordon's book something? Mark Thomas, featured inside, is a friend. D'you know him, by chance?
FWIW, the contemporary longrifle makers ####'n have some of the finest craftsmen I've ever come across.
Ray
I would love to see (and maybe wouldn't have cancelled my subscription, had I) some woodworking by gunsmiths. A firearm, just as any piece of furniture, requires careful joinery and shaping to fit to the action and barrel. And Just as a 24" slab of cherry or poplar becomes a canvas so does the entire CURVED surface become a lasting place to put fine detailing and adornment. I was really expecting fine woodworking to keep raising the bar but I guess it got too heavy!
Ray
If you have the shop in some order and you can see your way up to Pennsylvania in the last week of July, let me know. All of the CLA guys and lots more converge on Dixons homestead for the Dixon XXn Fair.
There's wood, carving, inlay work, patchbox, tomahawk making, clothing, and barrel making and lots of people you won't meet on the internet. I would recommend this to woodworkers that only make furniture or most any other creative builders. The skills and ideas you might pick up in one weekend would be worth the trip.
The specialty camps are just amazing. I came to longrifles as a woodworker and engine mechanic. I like metal and I like wood. Put them together and you're rolling. Along comes the wire inlay gurus, lock builders(forge work), specialty tool makers, engravers, ... and on and on.
Unlike most of the woodworking gatherings that I have been to, its not an opportunity for Freud to pass out hats and give you their pitch on their new diochromium oxide tipped whiffer dill. It's a gathering of builders on all levels.
Tons of demonstrations and guys just hoping you will ask for help. One of the things you will notice on your first visit would be the directed effort at attracting young kids into the building world. This is not a shooting gathering, its a builders pow wow.
Like many of the high skill woodworking fields, the ranks are thinning out. Pulling a young kid away from a video game takes a big bang. Right. A 50cal ball with 90 grains of 2F does the trick. Dress them up in Buckskins and they are in there.
Ray, I'm building a plain, uncarved 50cal flint and commiting to keeping it simple and unembellished. I have the tendency to over detail it. It ends in too many man hours and no owner.
Its a push - pull thing you have to find the middle ground on to make it work. This one is going to be for a "weekend 18th century" guy who doesn't want to leave his good rifle at home.
I am putting some "southern lines" on a brass mounted rifle.. this is a first for me. Its got lots of drop on the stock and a little cast off to make it fit a man 5'10"-6'2" very comfortably. After this one I'm taking a big leap. Building 3 lefthanders. Its been 2 years since my last frontal labotomy so I think I'm ready.
Who knows?? It is fun and it keeps me out of the bars.
later
dan
Ray,
Gordon's book is a killer. I have got to have a copy. In your earlier message you asked about it and I had not seen it. At a gathering in Raleigh, one of the more well-heeled guys put one on the table for the common folk to examine.
The cover blew me away. I met Frank down in SC during the Patriot filming. Its like seeing Mozart in blue jeans. Talent you can't imagine. He can draw a lion pickin' his nose- with a piece of charcoal from the fire.
I love GB's stuff. Soon.
danmart:
I am a member of the Contemporary Longrifle Association. I've also been a student of the Kentucky rifle for the past thirty years. At the present time my son and I are both working on "Issac Haines" longrifles, the components of which we purchased from Wayne Dunlap. While I will never have the talent of H. House or Allan Sandy I don't let that fact keep me from longrifle building. This is my third rifle, two from pre-carved stocks and one from scratch.
Building a rifle of this type does involve a lot of woodworking skills, especially with hand tools and carving chisels. There is certainly as much art in this craft as you will find in any furniture making.
I think it would be great to have Fine Woodworking do an article on one of the modern longrifle builders and his shop."Heaven is North of the Bridge"
Hey Good to hear from you
Like you say, there's no limit to the level of craftsmanship out there. What makes me fired up about the future is getting more woodworkers interested in trying their luck at a rifle stock. For many its a big leap. Don't need a tablesaw and many other powertools. On the other hand, you need good sharp hand tools and an adequate bandsaw to jump in.
Currently, I am into using horn like plastic. After all in the 18th century, it was the plastic for them. I am learning how to heat in oil not water and bring it up at the right timing. Tons of fun. I just made a muzzle cap out of horn and it looks as good as I could hope for.
If I can put in a pitch: If you are inletting swamped barrels, take a look at the Rice Barrel Co in Asheville NC. I have done the Getz and Colerain over the years and I have been happy. Tried a Rice 40cal/42" swamp. You have got to shoot one to believe it. Its like using your fist carbide bit. You don't go back.
Send a photo or two of your work.
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