Finally had another pay day

[hondo1892]

Since I started working for myself building flint lock rifles and edged weapons of the bygone past they have been spotty. Last week I finished two rifles so I had two paydays. Feels good, now I just have to learn to speed things up. The grand dad of iron mounted rifles(Hershel House) checked them out and approved so that made me feel pretty good. Both customers seemed to be very pleased also. One is already talking about another order. Which makes me very happy.

[jnyork]

Outstanding. You, sir, are a real artist.

[Old Ironsights]

Very, very nice.

[yooper2]

Great looking rifles!


Eric

[Blaine]

Very, very nice.....

[octagon]

Dang!

[Paladin]

Outstanding. You, sir, are a real artist.

+1

[ollogger]

Very nice work indeed!!!

[boolitshooter]

Beautiful work

[JerryB]

Sure do like that wood slide patch box cover.

[Mescalero]

Wow!

[Rusty]

They look great Hondo. I first heard about Hershel by reading Foxfire number 5. I think I read the ink off the pages before I found something else to read.

How many have you built total?

[gamekeeper]

Outstanding. You, sir, are a real artist.

+1

+ 2...excellent.

[rjohns94]

Awesome work. Do you have a website?

[hondo1892]

Thanks guy's. No website but you can go to contemporary makers blog and do a search for Brian Barker and find my work.

[M. M. Wright]

Ooh! I like that.

[Pete44ru]

.

That's a beauty, Brian - It's good to hear that things are looking up for you !

What's the caliber ?

Does that rifle have a patchbox on both sides of the butt, or is there a picture mixture, showing two different guns ?


.

[Larkbill]

Very beautiful. Is one of those a lefty or is the picture backwards? Can't say I've ever seen a lefty lock but it would make sense to have them available.

[TedH]

Very impressive!

[hondo1892]

There are two different rifles shown. The left hand rifle is a .40 and the right handed one is a .50. Jerry the wood box is actually a pivoting lid. The screw towards the front holds it down and acts as a hinge. It is something I've only seen used on North Carolina rifles.

[GoatGuy]

Hondo1892 - Wow, what impressive work you do. Exquisite craftsmanship! Also, thanks for the link to the Contemporary Makers Blog. What amazing things to appreciate. I speak from experience about your work, and the time involved in building such wonderful creations.

Built a 44" octagon barreled .40 cal, full stocked, left handed caplock rifle in the summer of 1980. Had in excess of 440 hours in the build. Spent 2.5 months that summer with my friend/brother Jerry Johnson and his family in Roswell, NM. I had known Jerry for 5 years by this time. A banker by trade, Jerry was known for his handmade rifles and restoration of ratty, antique rifles/shotguns. As per Jerry's instructions, drove over to Dixie Gun Works in Union City, TN and bought the maple blank and parts and pieces from the list Jerry sent me. Few days later, carted them out to NM in my 1975 Toyota LandCruiser. Got there on a Saturday evening, unloaded luggage and parts/pieces.

Never forget that next day. Went into his shop and started discussing what I wanted to build. Jerry had a Missouri built rifle from the late 1830's he suggested I use as a template for the stock. I surely won't forget his next question. "Do you want to do this the right way or the easy way"? The "right way" was my answer, ...what else is someone going to say to a question from someone like him. He then began to rifle through his bench drawers bringing out a few chisels and a mallet. He showed me the way to lay my barrel on the massive blank and trace the outline of it. Next day he stayed with me and showed me how to proceed in chiseling out the barrel channel in that humongous slab of maple. I stuck to it and that rifle never saw a dang power tool except when drilling the ramrod hole.

Worked on that in-letting Monday through Thursday. When Jerry came in from work about 5:00, he came into the shop to see how it was coming along. My exact words were, "for a 10 dollar bill I'd cut this *** into firewood". Laughing, he asked if I'd like to do some desert roaming and shoot some jackrabbits the next couple of days. Would I ever! His next bit of wisdom was, "when you get frustrated like you are now, put your tools away, clear your head and do something fun or you're liable to ruin your work out of frustration". Wonderful advice! Have never forgotten that. Finally finished that barrel in-letting to his satisfaction, ...took me a right at 40 hours to accomplish. While living/working there for 2 and a half months, also added a few brass inlays, built a powder horn, short starter, antler tip powder measure and some other stuff. Greatest time of my life.

Got back to AR and spent about another 20-30 hours to complete the rifle and accoutrements to my satisfaction. Took it out that Fall and killed my biggest Whitetail buck to date, much to the chagrin of my hunting buddies who all carried .50 and/or .54 cal store bought rifles. They had nicknamed it the "Widder's Dream" for it's outlandishly long barrel and stock and swore I'd come back to camp with half the butt worn off from dragging it up and down the holler's. Ate a little crow that trip, they did. Retired my one and only, amazingly accurate, "handmade" rifle after that hunt and it's now displayed in a prominent setting on my den wall here at home.

On a closing note, I was notified several weeks ago that my dear friend and "brother", Jerry Johnson, passed away on March 3rd, 2015 at the age of 83. I'll never forget him, his wife Jan, sons Tony, David and daughter Tanya and their families.

Jerry, keep taking it easy and one day together, "we'll keep going and get a look-see at what's over that next little rise".

[hondo1892]

Rusty, I have built about a half dozen guns since I started back building. Built my first when I was sixteen and gave up building when my daughter was born. Started back a few years ago and have been studying under Ian Pratt. Also talk to Hershel and Frank House now and then to get pointers.

[Daisyman]

Doggies, that barrel really IS long. Very nice gun!!!

[mark]

Very classy.

Cheers Mark

[Griff]

Outstanding. You, sir, are a real artist.

+1

+ 2...excellent.

+3!

[.45colt]

Not much to say but "WOW". works of art.

[hondo1892]

Thanks for all the compliments guys. Both of the customers were pleased with them also. I always worry that they won't like what I've done. I'm not the most expensive gun builder but it's not chump change that I charge for one either. I don't want a customer to feel like they didn't get what they payed for.

[piller]

If you want cheap, go get one of the kits which are machine built and screw it together. If you want authentic, then you need to pay for someone to do it right, or spent the long hours and do it yourself. Cost is often a matter of quality, and the apparent quality of your work should cost an amount proportionate to the time required to build it that way. I have some handmade knives and they cost a lot more than a simple machine made knife, but the handmade knives are worth every penny due to the quality and the edgeholding ability.

I have purchased cheap items, and sometimes found that some of them are better than expected. I have also purchased cheap items and been disappointed in them. Quality, on the other hand, has never let me down.

[Ysabel Kid]

WOW!

[Batman1939]

Goat Guy--I know you probably didn't want to intrude onto this thread by posting it here, but I'd sure enjoy seeing a photo of the gun you built. Very nice story too!

[fordwannabe]

HOT DINGY one of those bad boys even has the lock on the CORRECT side. . Seriously nice work Hondo. Now don't you owe me a left hand 36 like the bottom rifle for some reason? I don't remember why but by the time you get it done I'll have it figured out! Tom

[jazman]

Beautiful work, incredible rifles.

[hondo1892]

Ford I could give you a number of reasons I could owe you a rifle. They would all involve dead guys faces.

[JerryB]

Hondo1892, I like the way you did the wood cover on the patch box. Years ago a friend of mine in TN that built my rifle made a .36 iron furniture rifle with a sliding cover for a customer that worked real fine.

[hondo1892]

Jerry wood covers are neat and also can be a pain. I had to remake the lid for this rifle because the first piece of wood warped every time I tightened the pivot screw. Sliders you have to get a happy medium in fit so they will work in different humidity.

[1894c]

Wow!

+1 ... WOW...