Artistry in Wood and Steel

Artistry in Wood and Steel

Over the last couple years, I’ve become pretty good friends with Ron Durrant—one of my coworkers who recently moved back to Utah from Texas, where he worked for Bell Helicopter.

Ron is a Quality Assurance Specialist, so I “rub shoulders” a lot with him in my role as a Production Controller of a machine shop.

Like so many people in the QA field, Ron is a stickler for detail and doing the job right—brought on no doubt by his many years in military and commercial aviation.  After all, if your engine quits at 20,000 feet, you can’t just coast to the curb and call a tow truck, so things have to be done right…

As I’ve grown to know Ron, I discovered that he leads a dual life… at his day job he is constantly scrutinizing processes and products to ensure they meet requirements…by night, he’s a talented gunsmith with a passion for antique firearms.

A couple weeks ago he sent me some pictures and commentary on his latest project—a beautiful .58 caliber flintlock rifle.

.58 cal Flintlock Rifle. Note the Knife Handle has similar wood.

With his permission, I’d like to share them with you as well. 

Ron starts out by relating how he went to Fort Eustis, Virginia for two months for some training on the Apache helicopter.  While there he had an opportunity to meet, and work with, the gunsmiths at Colonial Williamsburg. They actually have a working gunsmith shop that repairs and builds antique firearms, using tools and methods from the late 1700s to the early 1800s.

Ron spent all his spare time in the shop, learning all he could about the tools and processes for making an antique firearm. He says it was one of the great experiences of his life.

He speaks of holding a 700 year old “lock” that was sent to the Williamsburg gunsmiths by the Queen of England with a request that they make a copy of it. The lock is the firing mechanism for a flintlock or caplock firearm—the metal sideplate plate and hammer along with the interior mechanism, springs, etc.)

Picture of Lockwork on .58 Cal Rifle. Note the Buffalo track mark in front of the hammer and the hand formed and tempered hairpin spring under the frizzen (upright curved metal piece that is struck by the flint clamped in the hammer).

 

Ron tells the story in his own words:

 “It was a great experience seeing the file marks made from a gunsmith from the long
past. The workmanship was exceedingly fine and you would never know that
that lock was forged and filed by hand from raw materials. It looked like it
had been machined from modern tools, but the file marks indicated
otherwise.... actually it was better made than what is made today by
machines.”

Ron continues:

“In early muzzleloader history, the gun architecture was set apart in
different regions of the colonies by "schools of manufacture."  For example the
Bethlehem school, Lancaster school, and so forth.

You could actually tell who was the apprentice of a master in the area by the
influence of the master in the new smith's products.

There was a reason that it took an apprentice so many years to become a
master. Many of those years of study and practice under the guidance of a
master were spent learning how to make their own tools and getting prepared
to strike out on their own with all of the tools and knowledge needed to
make a firearm from scratch.”

Bear in mind that there were no Computer-controlled lathes or mills in the 18^th Century—all of the parts of a firearm were made by hand using files and saws. As a result, every weapon made, even the same models by the same gunsmith, were really one-off pieces.  Viewed from that perspective, even the utilitarian infantry musket or Dragoon (calvary) pistol was a work of art.

Ron’s experience at Williamsburg was a source of the motivation to try his hand at the same type of work.

He said,

“I designed this rifle taking some of the features I liked from several of
the schools and incorporating them into this gun. As I was building it, I
found that a rifle very much like this one was made in New England in the
very early 1800's. And it also has some of the lines of the Harpers Ferry
rifle that Lewis and Clark used in the Corps of Discovery. I didn't really
know it at the time I was designing the gun. It just goes to show that most
of what we do has already been done before........”

Right hand side of the rifle shows the lockwork with flint clamped into the serpent-shaped hammer. Note also the hand-cut screw heads and coiled tip on the trigger.

With the exception of the barrel, which came rifled, and some rough cast parts for the lock, Ron did all the work himself, including tanning the hides for the leather “possibles bag” and knife sheath as well as making the powder horns.

For a stock, Ron selected red tiger-striped maple.  This wood has a similar appearance to that used on the neck of  quality violins, cellos etc. He inletted the barrel channel as well as the areas for the lock, capbox, and wire inletting in the stock.

The beautiful, hand rubbed stock of tiger-striped maple glows likes it lit from within... Note the Buffalo hoofprints engraved into the cheek piece and the engraved scroll work at the rear of the stock.

If you look carefully, you will see buffalo hoof prints stamped into the steel parts and carved into the cheekpiece on the stock.  The rear sight is actually a hand-filed buffalo skull as well.

It’s work like this that makes a gunsmith a true artist—he has to master skills in woodworking, forging, metal working, finishing, and assorted related skills as well.

Ron sent a picture of a 25 yard target group made by the rifle.  As beautiful as it is, he intends to go hunting with it…

This target was actually shot at 25 yards.  Note that the three holes are all "cloverleafed" and touching each other.

I think you’ll agree that Ron has a passion for artistry in wood and steel.

Smitty