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OP
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Ok, we showed off our Hawken rifles now let's see some Lancaster rifles. This is mine; 40 cal, swamped Rice barrel, Chambers deluxe Siler lock. It's bigger brother, 50cal swamped Rice barrel, Chambers deluxe lock. It belongs to a friend. Both by the same builder.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke 1795
"Give me liberty or give me death" Patrick Henry 1775
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That is beautifully done. Did you make it? Here are a few I did over the last few years. Lancaster in name and shape, but many are not copies of a particular gun so can be called Lancaster or York styled. This one was in the works and not finished but I took a pic to show the balance point . 100_0710 by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep] A L.H. gun 100_1199 by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep] 100_1198 by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep] Zihn-longrifle by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep] This one is for sale now. PB Zihn-York 3 by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep] P.B. Zihn-York by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep] P.B. Trigger G. by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep] P. B. Wrist by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep] Earlier styling. Hunter's 1 by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep] Hunter's 3 by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep]
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That is beautifully done. Did you make it? Here are a few I did over the last few years. Lancaster in name and shape, but many are not copies of a particular gun so can be called Lancaster or York styled. This one was in the works and not finished but I took a pic to show the balance point . 100_0710 by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep] A L.H. gun 100_1199 by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep] 100_1198 by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep] Zihn-longrifle by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep] This one is for sale now. PB Zihn-York 3 by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep] P.B. Zihn-York by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep] P.B. Trigger G. by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep] P. B. Wrist by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep] Earlier styling. Hunter's 1 by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep] Hunter's 3 by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep]
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
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My 1792 type contract rifle. This one is reminiscent of Jacob Dickert’s work. Lancaster co. He supplied the govt with a sizable number of these rifles.
Last edited by kaywoodie; 04/09/20.
Founder Ancient Order of the 1895 Winchester
"Come, shall we go and kill us venison? And yet it irks me the poor dappled fools, Being native burghers of this desert city, Should in their own confines with forked heads Have their round haunches gored."
WS
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beautiful, awe inspiring art! Steve, where do you get your wood. I really need a project even though spring is here. seeing these gets my creative juices flowing.
the consolidation of the states into one vast republic, sure to be aggressive abroad and despotic at home, will be the certain precursor of that ruin which has overwhelmed all those that have preceded. Robert E Lee ~Molɔ̀ːn Labé Skýla~
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My, My, some beautiful rifles here. deerstalker has it right, more art than anything. How do you inlet the decorative wire inlays? The wood carving is very ornate, it must take a very long time to learn to do that. A little to fancy for me, but beautiful none the less. Now Kaywoodie's rifle is exactly what I would want, pretty enough to hang, but not to pretty to take out and hunt. What caliber is it?
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
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SS336,
It is a .50 calibre.
Founder Ancient Order of the 1895 Winchester
"Come, shall we go and kill us venison? And yet it irks me the poor dappled fools, Being native burghers of this desert city, Should in their own confines with forked heads Have their round haunches gored."
WS
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OP
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"Steve, where do you get your wood. I really need a project even though spring is here. seeing these gets my creative juices flowing."
First, I didn't build these rifles. I have neither the talent, nor the time remaining to develop those wood carving skills.
As far as the wood. My Hawken rifle wood is sugar maple. It came from some Amish folks who were burning maple stumps. My builder saved that stump from the fire.
My friends Lancaster = He hand picked the blank from Dixion's some time back. He intended to build it himself and quickly realized that he was in over his head. So he handed his parts to our gun building friend Chuck Hinkle of Dallas Texas.
My Lancaster = The wood is black maple. Chuck sourced it after many conversations about what I wanted. He ordered several pieces and i was allowed to choose. Good wood is getting scarce. Quarter sawn blanks are very expensive when you can find one.
My thinking on custom rifles is; If I am going to pay the cost of having a rifle built, don't skimp on the cost of the parts. Get the best available. I have $1,300 in parts alone for that rifle. The single most expensive part of those Lancaster rifles is the art work. That is hours of labor and that means $$$ May as well put that art on the best piece of wood you can afford.
On a Hawken, or any style rifle without art work, the labor is the same whether it's in a beautiful piece of curly maple, or a pine 2X4. My surprise on that Hawken was I requested a good dense piece of maple. My builder / friend just had that piece of wood he saved from the fire and was anxious to put it on a Hawken. To my good fortune.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke 1795
"Give me liberty or give me death" Patrick Henry 1775
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SS336, I don't "get' the inlays. I make them. The wire (ribbon) I buy from Muzzleloader Builders Supply in Idaho unless I use gold. For gold I cut my own from sheet. The larger inlays I cut myself with a saw and files from sheet sliver, german silver or mild steel. The carving and =engraving are all hand done by me. Deer stalker, I have purchases my good maple for over 25 years from Freddie Harrison in Tennessee, but sadly, a few years ago he passes away. I stopped taking new work about 4 years ago so I can get caught up on my back long. So I don't know for sure but his daughter Jessica Cox was running the wood business after Freddie died and I think she still is Try her at harrisongunstocks gmail.com. because of my deep back-log I am not taking much new work, but I do love making muzzleloaders and I have earned probably 85 to 90 percent of my living doing that for many years now. There is not a lot of money to be made when you see how many hours it takes to do good work, but I love it and I am willing to take my "wages" not just in cash but in the joy of doing something I love. A wise man once said "A man that loves his job will never work a day in his life" I agree. For those that said they like more plane guns I'll attach a few more pics here. Not Lancaster's but nice traditional muzzleloaders. LH Iron Va. Rifle by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep] Picture 002 by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep] sz southern rifle 4 by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep] Randy's Carolina L.Side by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep] RP Carolina by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep] 100_1474 by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep] S. Hawken with antiqued finish Antiqued Hawken 2 by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep] Antiqued Christian springs (not very plane but classic in my opinion) Becker 3 by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep] Becker 7 by .com/photos/156296479N08/]Steve Zihn, on [bleep]
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Campfire 'Bwana
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I will add that Mr. Zihn did some emergency work on a flintlock of mine several years back now. He took the time out of his busy schedule to help me out. I just didn’t feel I had the adequate expertise to tackle the needed work! Thanks again Sir for your assistant and superb craftsmanship !!
Founder Ancient Order of the 1895 Winchester
"Come, shall we go and kill us venison? And yet it irks me the poor dappled fools, Being native burghers of this desert city, Should in their own confines with forked heads Have their round haunches gored."
WS
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He sure does some nice work. Beautiful rifles. Still don't understand how the wire scrolls are inlet in the stock. It looks very difficult, the other inlays would be hard enough. Can't imagine the hours it would take to carve and inlay one stock. I'm one of the ones who said I would like a plainer rifle, probably because I couldn't make one or afford one like the ones shown by Mr. Zihn.
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This is one of mine, 200 hrs. [approx.] bought all the parts from Dixie Gun Works over a 1yr. period. Started with a barrel, stock, and lock assembly. Saw a picture in a hunting periodical of a Pennsylvania Lancaster county rifle, bought a few tools I did not own and built this rifle in .45 caliber. Everything was rough cast, including the brass pcs. My first attempt at building a rifle with just hand tools, used the drill press for just 2 holes. Mostly just file time, and candle black. Not as fancy as the rifles posted, just an amateur. Turned out to be quite a shooter. The hardest part of the build, for me anyway, was to get that barrel to an even temperature so the plum brown worked with an even color. [ maybe, inletting the stock for the action, barrel, ram rod ] Joe
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Thanks guy for you kind words. SS336 The wire inlay is done in this order" First you'll need inlay chisels. I then take small round pieces of 'music wire" (which is O1 spring steel) and heat the tip up red and forge then into chisels. Stone them on both sides like a metal chisel, not one side like a wood chisel. When the shape is done heat then to red again and quench in Auto Transmission fluid and put them in your oven at 425 degrees for about 1 hour. last I set them into steel or brass rods to use as a handle with slow dry epoxy. That's all my tools are is just hot forged hardware store Music wire. So to start, first sand the surface to the final grit so you have a very smooth surface to work with. I go to 400 grit. Now draw the pattern you want to inlay with a soft pencil lead. Use the chisels to stab into the wood about .080" deep. The smaller the scroll (radius) the smaller the chisel needed to make a smooth channel. I use ribbon cut fro .008 and .005 sheet cut off 1/16 wide so it will go into the wood that deep, but the channel I stab is a bit deeper (as I said above .080" or so) so the edge of the ribbon doesn't bottom out. That's important! If you bottom out the ribbon will want to fold over on top. Note: You can buy inlay ribbon from Muzzleloader Builders Supply in Idaho rather than make it yourself. Before you press the ribbon into the channel, run it hard over the edge of a sharp new metal file, like you are curling Christmas ribbons. Do it on both sides. This gives a set of striation running length wise on the ribbon. Set your inlay into the channel and bend it to the shape you need very carefully. Don't hurry. Make it fit perfectly. When it's in, take a piece of cotton cloth and fold it up about 1/4 inch think and drench it with water. Lay the cloth over the inlay and take a hot piece of steel (just below red heat) and press it onto the cloth. The steam it makes is 'blasted" into the wood, swelling it shut around the inlay and the striations you made by curling it are locked in by the steam swelled wood fibers. If done right it is nearly impossible to remove the ribbon after this step and if you try the wood will usually break instead of the ribbon slipping out. After the wood is dry said it back down to the same finish you started with and you are done.
Last edited by szihn; 04/10/20.
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Wow, I thought it was hard, and it is. That was a great explanation, thank you for spending the time to tell it. Must of taken a long time and a lot of experiments to get it down perfect. You work is beautiful and makes the Lancaster rifles really stand out. Thanks again.
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