Engraving Fred’s Gun

 

I’ve now done four guns for Fred, one single barreled gun, two based on sets of McKnight casings from Kevin Blackley and one conversion of a double percussion gun by Clough of Bath.  I have put pictures from all four jobs here ;-

 

Fred’s single barreled gun – the first I engraved for him;-

to read more, click on the message;-

 

Geoff Moor did the lettering on this lock – I didn’t feel confident enough to do it with the flash guards in the way!

Here are a couple of photos Fred sent me of the above parts colour case hardened and mounted in a gun he made, along with a photo of the original McWilliams lock from which Kevin Blackley made the castings for the locks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Original McKnight lock

 

This is the second gun I engraved for Fred – a double;-

Here are the raw parts for the new work, the locks and furniture are as the first one,   – I have started to freshen the locks;-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First step is to fix the parts to blocks of wood so they can be held reliably and swapped quickly.

I’ve refreshed the locks and a cock, and I did a test name to choose the best size and spacing for the name;-

 

Recut locks – I did the lettering on these locks

Finished breech block and false breech etc.

After colour case hardening

 

The butt tang has a somewhat obscure engraving – I’ve recut it in the spirit of the original, which was probably a variation on a ‘stand of arms’ but lacking most of the common elements

Here is Fred’s third gun I’ve engraved, another double;-

You can see the finished lettering above – below is my procrastination……..

 

Probably best spacing is half way between these two – and about 1.5 to 1.6mm high ( 1/16th inch)  

Still a few issues – the ‘C’ is uneven and the heavy strokes of the ‘M’ are a bit light, but better.

Test for the breech block – the outer rectangle is about 11 xx 22 mm – I couldn’t be bothered to polish the ‘as rolled’ marks out of the metal. 

Here are the engraved parts for my third Fred gun ;-

This didn’t need recutting – Kevin’s castings are superb!

Here is the forth gun I’ve engraved for Fred;

Clough is a pretty awkward name to engrave – 4 curved or round letters and only 3 straight ones!  On that scale curves are not easy to get right.

 

This is the classic Prince of Wales feathers – I’d forgotten it when I did the first one.

Cock pins for Fred No 4 – an inward  scroll was used by TWIGG on pins around  the 1770s