No. I'm just an old gunsmith and Martin is a friend. He introduced himself to me in Calgary in the mid-80's and showed me a rifle he was taking down to the ACGG show that year. He was, at the time, planning to move to Canada and the Cranbrook area. Why he came to talk to me about it, I have no idea.
There are many layers to Martin and a book based on his resume would be fascinating to any gun guy. The really amazing thing is not just the quality of his work but the matter of fact way he approaches and accomplishes it. I have recounted, on another thread, the time he wanted to show me how he made his checkering tools and how he checkered a stock. He made the tool and checkered the grip as a demonstration; all in less than an hour.
He would, occasionally, farm out jobs. He showed me some checkering he had farmed out once and I saw, right away, a spot where a mistake had been made and fixed, leaving a very slight divot in the pattern. Martin said, "I can do better than that" and I don't think he ever farmed out any checkering again. I can't imagine why he ever did.
Sometimes, when he would ask me to do something, I felt like he was just throwing me a bone! I know damn well, anything I could do, he could do better. GD
