Flintlocks wanted/for Sale

[Cap'n Pete Straw]

Here is my progress on the Queen Anne to date:

(1) Opened box, took out all the parts. Checked their fit. Wiped off skin oil from parts, put back in box.

(2) Repeat of Step One.

(3) ... There is actually a trend here already, see if you can guess what it is.

I really plan to document the assembly of the gun through photography. A missing step from above is re-reading a great chapter on assembling a flintlock kit in a gunsmithing book I picked up for a dollar in a resale shop (again, great day to be a pirate). Also refreshed my supply of smithing tools.

A weekend real soon....

[Cap'n Pete Straw]

Here is my progress on the Queen Anne to date:

(1) Sat out in the back yard on Memorial Day (starting at 1:30 pm), with a tankard of Guinness, the box of Queen Anne flintlock parts, and my gun cleaning tools.

(2) Kept getting up every 20 minutes, alternately to refresh my tankard, obtain another tool needed for gun assembly, or to move EVERYTHING slowly across the lawn to stay in the sun as it tracked across the yard.

(3) Six hours later, gun was complete.

(4) It took me almost half an hour to pick up all the tools I had brought outside. Jeez.

Sorry, no pictures. Too much beer. I really had no idea at all that I would build the gun in one sitting. Strill need to brown the barrel. Perhaps tomorrow.

But the gun looks GREAT!

[Ace of Harbor Bay]

HAHAHAHA!!

Good on you Cap'n Pete!

And I was half expecting you to say you ended up picking up all the parts and placing them back in the box for another weekend!

Here's to your new firearm

[MadMike]

I'm waiting to pick up a Dublin Castle (iron mounted) Land pattern musket I ordered from Loyalist Arms. Will eventually post some pictures...

Yours, &c.

Mike

Pirates of Massacre Island

http://www.geocities.com/flpyrate/index.html

[capnwilliam]

Cap' Pete, we work much the same way: starts and stops and spurts; takes us a while, but we do get there eventuallY! :)

Capt. William

[Cap'n Pete Straw]

Speaking of stops and starts...

Yesterday afternoon I pulled the gun back out, and was disappointed by (1) the stain job and (2) my sad acceptance of having used nothing finer than 80 grit emery cloth to sand the handle (which is why I hate the stain job, I guess). What, had I been drinking beer or something?

With a much finer grade of sandpaper, I sanded the handle to a satisfying smoothness (thus removing much of the unsatisfying stain).

Then I used a technique I perfected when making realistic magic wands for my kids (ask me about that another time): I thinned down some water based enamel paints to make an ink wash... (this allows me to apply any of an infinite spectrum of colors to an exact degree of darkness). I first applied a very, very dark grey (with a hint of russett) wash, and wiped off the excess.

When this dried, I attacked the handle with steel wool -- the grain of the wood had absorbed and was darkened by the ink, while some of the black remained in teh deep recesses of teh carved handle.

I then applied a deep rust-colored ink (again wiping off the excess to control darkness). Then a light work-over with steel wool, and another light wash with the ink.

The result? The handle is stained an almost transluscent cherry-color, through which the blackened grain of the wood stands out, giving the perfect impression of age, without looking old. I keep pulling it back out of the box (three times while typing this) to admire how nice it turned out.

First gun I ever built. Won't be the last.

[Patrick Hand]

Capt. Pete...... now play with some hand rubbed linseed oil for the final finish..... (a bit of work...... but dang it looks good.......)

[Cap'n Pete Straw]

THAT'S it! Linseed oil!

I swear, I have been wracking my brain trying to remember what to use to seal the handle! Thanks!

"A bit of work"? Can't be more work than building a flintlock from a kit...