Showing posts with label blackpowder. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blackpowder. Show all posts

Sunday, May 2, 2010

The Sheath

A few days ago I finished a patch knife for black powder shooting. A knife without a sheath isn't a knife. So I got some leather, a needle, and some artificial sinew from Leatherhead, read this webpage, and got down to it.

I can't claim any real innovation. I used Gorilla glue to attach the welt to the side of the sheath instead of Duco or some other contact cement. It worked well.

I don't have one of those cool tools that mark the stitch holes and my leather was too thin to gouge a stitch channel. I filed a rounded conic on the end of a steel rod. I used this to emboss a channel in the leather 1/8" from the edge of the welt. I decided quite arbitrarily that the stitch holes should be 3/16" apart and fashioned a suitable spacer. I worked my way down the embossed channel using my spacer, a very pointy awl, and some authority to leave a hole every 3/16". Don't do this on your dining room table without a backing board.

As per the instructions, I used a two-needle system to lace the sheath together then shaped the sheath using acetone.

I decided to waterproof the sheath by dipping it in paraffin wax. You can find Gulf brand wax in the canning section of the grocery. I melted 8 ounces of the wax using a low-rent double boiler made by floating a sufficiently sized microwave-save disposable food container in a pot of boiling water. It took about 15 minutes to melt 8 ounces of wax. Easy pease. When the wax was melted I just dropped the sheath in the container and rolled it around to get even coverage. Then I fished it out with a wire, let the wax drain, and set it aside to cool. I did this twice. When I was done I snapped the lid on the container and let it cool. The wax is ready for storage until next time.

The wax bath turned the sheath nearly black. It looks nice but was surprising to see it happen. Unfortunately the wax scratches very easily showing the natural leather underneath. Next time perhaps I'll stain the sheath first. In any event I can dip it again when the opportunity presents itself.

Here's a barrage of pictures.











Sunday, November 29, 2009

A day at the range

Justin and I went to a gun range today to shoot his new flintlock pistol. Our hosts, the Wilderness Rangers of Kentucky, are blackpower enthusiasts, a dozen of the most generous and friendly people you could hope to meet. Most were dressed in period garb. A few looked like they stepped out of the 1700s.

Even though they didn't know us, they took the time to show us how to properly load and fire Justin's pistol. They also let us shoot their rifles quite a lot.

I always thought shooting a flintlock rifle would involve a heavy trigger pull, a delay while the powder in the pan burned, and then a wooosh! as the ball left the barrel, visibly traveling downrange.

Wrong. The trigger pull tended to be feather light and instantly followed by a crisp crack. Recoil was light, in part because of the rifles are heavy.

We happened to attend their Thanksgiving meet. So after a turkey shoot, which is a multi-round shooting contest, they had a spread of food. There was homemade chili, hot dogs, corned beef, turkey, soft drinks... and no vegetables :-D Of course they tried to feed us until we popped.

ooo someone made coffee over a fire, it was great coffee. I used my period-accurate Starbucks insulated coffee mug.

A good time was had by all!




Justin takes a shot.




Tony misfires, then takes his shot.