Well, Ladies and Gents, this starts a photo essay of building a .410 flint fowler for myself. The barrel is a modified Belgian trade barrel intended for the Brazilian indian trade which was purchased new in 1960 for the unheard of sum of $3. It had a sweat soldered bolster to accept a percussion system. I filed it off. There was a super heavy duty staple hard soldered to the bottom of the barrel. It has went to where all good staples go when they pass on. The stock is native Iowa black walnut that I felled myself and is as stringy as Mike Nesbitt's white rug. The lock is a little round faced Becky's in flint persuasion. All the other metal parts I'll fabricate here at Toad Hall. After building one other .410 fowler this past month, I will deviate from tradition by applying accraglas to the stock for added strength. 1st photo is the stock blank cut to my pattern. Hope you enjoy the show. Cheers, Bookie--Audie/Sticks wannabe

S_Stock_Blank_1_.jpg (46 KB, 267 downloads) stk blank

Here is one photo showing Belgian proof marks. Cheers, Bookie

S_Breech_Markings__.jpg (31 KB, 219 downloads) B. Marks

I did some measueing on the octagon to round tapered barrel and inletting will be the proverbial nightmare. This photo shows some of the layout markings on the stock to give you an idea of where I'm heading. All work is being done by hand. Cheers, Bookie

S_Barrel_layout_.jpg (37 KB, 231 downloads) layout

quote:

All work is being done by hand.

I greatly respect that. Thanks for taking us along on the ride.

Here is the basic barrel channel. The barrel is a very short octogon to round and the channel must match/fit very closely or you guys will laugh me out of the county. Hoot Al was over last night giving me pointers, but do you think I could get that varmint to shut his mouth and lend a hand? NOooooooooooo........ Cheers, Bookie

S_Oct_to_Round_.jpg (47 KB, 232 downloads) Oct to Rnd

The barrel channel is about 1/2 way inlet to depth. I am using Jerrow's inletting black instead of a candle to save some time. From the small bits of wood covered with the blacking, you can see that the process will take a few more hours. The stringy wood is requiring me to make my cuts from breech to muzzle. Have a total of 6 hours on the project at this point. Cheers, Bookie

S_Inlet_Black_.jpg (42 KB, 190 downloads) Blacking

That's neat, Bookster.

It's good of ol' Hootie to oversee it, though, seein' as how you've wandered way off your beaten path. Sounds like the ol' Cornpatch neighborhood is getting back to it's reg'lar state of abnormality!

Toad Hall veteran,

Fiddlesticks

Now that is a slick project. And just the thing to inspire wanna be builders, like me, to begin a project.

Bookie,
She's a coming along real nice. Thanks for taking the time to take and post the pictures. I look forward to seeing the project as it takes on life. Cheers,
Ken

Snakebite, Sticks, an' 'Dawg, thanks for the kind words. Here's todays installment photos. The barrel is in! Cheers, Bookie

S_Barrel's_In_.jpg (56 KB, 211 downloads) Barrel in

The breech end butts up pert nice.

S_Breech_Fits_.jpg (49 KB, 177 downloads) Breech fits

The little muzzle fits pretty snug, too. All in all, so far, the barrel fits well.

S_Muzzle_Fits_.jpg (45 KB, 192 downloads) Muzzle Fits

Been busy today. Took a piece of hot rolled steel for the tang and a 1/2 inch bolt to make the breech pin. (correct terminology for this era) drilled the face of the bolt to create a Nock's breech, particularly for safety by providing additional material when installing the vent liner. Am actually considering melting some of my gold down to make the vent.

S_Patent_Breech_.jpg (36 KB, 203 downloads) Breech Plug

Last photo of the day. Got the barrel rethreaded and the plug fitted. Time to go fix the little woman some supper. Cheers, Bookie

S_Plug_Installed_.jpg (41 KB, 290 downloads) Plug installed

Dang Bookie, how do you inlet those barrels so fast? Nice work too.

J.D., My Momma used to be an ax murderess before she switched over to chain saws. She taught me the ropes, so it was just a natural for me to pick up doing barrels. Actually the 4 hours was quite easy. The more modern trade barrels only take about an hour to inlet. Less if you have a 1/2" router bit. Cheers, Bookie
P.S., I forgot to mention, don't ever XXss me off....

J.D., now you know why thet Baldnobber-fightin'-blood hadda be run out of these parti'clar hills. Just be glad they kept a'goin' when they ran through your part of the country!

Haw! Haw! Haw!

Fiddlesticks

They kept goin'? Maybe Bookies troupe kept going, but Baldnobber-fightin'-blood is alive and well in this area, based on how often the County Sheriff shows up at the neighbors.

Four Sheriff's cars had the road blocked in both directions a coupla months ago. A coupla officers were walkin' around with long guns in their hands while a pair went into the house. Only brought one out, though. I was kinda hopin' that all hell would break loose and we wouldn't have to deal with that bunch any more.

I thought about offering the use of my big gun, but thought better of it.

Also thought about firing off a coupla rounds with the big gun to maybe get something going, but thought better of that too. Hate to take a chance on getting an officer hurt.

The big boy in the video isn't mine, but you get the idea;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...Ay08&feature=related

It ain't a .410, but it will do.

Now back to Bookamundo's build.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: J.D.,

Put another two hours in today on that little fowler. First I laid out the barrel, tennon, and ram rod hole lines on the side of the stock.

S_RR_Hole_Layout_.jpg (47 KB, 155 downloads) lay out

Next I removed the wood from the lower side of the upper forearm.

S_Forearm_Cut_Off_.jpg (47 KB, 183 downloads) forearm