David Price makes beautiful guns. His speciality is the Swivel Breech. In the years I have known him, I have had the chance to look at many of his guns. His work is on numerous magazine covers, at Dixons, at Friendship, and as the raffle gun for GunMakers’ Hall.
David is man with the desire and ability of teach others what he knows. His web site, The Flintlock Shop, has tutorials on carving and wire inlay. He teaches classes in his shop, Dixons, and at Friendship. As an example after attending one of his classes on tool sharpening, I know what “sharp” is.
Our first try at an interview suffered from technical difficulties. Below is the interview just completed (2014 Spring Shoot).
I spent a particularily enjoyable afternoon when David helped me with the high speed video of locks at GunMakers’ Hall. When we discussed our plans I mentioned that I thought we should use the same powder for each trial, David said, “I think the same guy should do all the priming.” And then he did just that – removing another variable in our work.
In all of this David and I have become good friends. Besides his abilities as a gunmaker, David is a good story-teller and has a great sense of humor. And – I treasure the book he gave me containing photos of his work.
David granted me permission to use photos from his book. Here is one I especially like.
Dixon’s is the Mecca for all things relating to black powder and muzzleloading. Some of the most beautiful flintlocks in the world find their way here to be judged and displayed.
This was my first trip to Dixon’s Gunmakers’ Fair. While I could only spend one day, I certainly was not disappointed. It was all I had heard and more.
It was drizzling on the short drive heading from Allentown to Dixon’s, but it stopped as we parked the car. Not knowing where to start, we went to the first tent and found Don Getz, Wayne Dunlap, and Jim Chambers just inside. From there on everywhere we went there were old friends. Some I met before, and some were friends I learned to know through ALR.
I intended to take many photos but as usual I got too involved in conversations to do that. The few posted here are among the better ones. For instance, one can’t look at Kieth Casteel’s wheellock without reaching for a camera. It is an amazing piece.
David Price’s table deserves a close look. David built the swivel breech for the raffle at the Fall Championships at Friendship. The raffle gun was the subject of his carving tutorial on the ALR site. He also helped me do the slow motion videos of locks during the Spring Shoot.
I remembered that Rich Pierce and Tom Curran mentioned being up the hill. As we headed to higher ground, the rain started. I heard a voice welcoming us out of the rain. The camp belonged to Gene Baldwin, one of the Susquehanna Rangers. This group does the F&I War reinactments. They made some of the cannon noise heard through out the day. The rain grew stronger and lasted perhaps 40 minutes. It gave us a chance to chew the fat with Gene. His group has a web site:www.susquehannarangers.com if you would like to become involved.
When the rain stopped we found the Pierce/Curran booth, but Rich and Tom were out and about. We happened by the horn tent. I didn’t know there were so many horn makers. Everywhere you looked there was outstanding examples of horn work.
We continued on, retracing our steps. I hate to drop more names but we saw Allen Martin, Peter Alexander, Mark Wheland, and Larry Gardner. I found Bill Shipman’s table but missed Bill. Here are a couple of photos of one of Bill’s rifles.
Across the isle from Bill’s was Allen Martin. Allen had a couple of rifles that begged to be photographed. The top one was much discussed on ALR.
There were many people to speak with, if I try to name them all I surely will miss someone. It did seem like old home week. I regret not getting photos of more makers with their guns. I should have slowed Taylor, Cody, and Brian down long enough for a photo. If they come back from BC next year, I won’t make the same mistake.
Traveling to Dixon’s is worth the trip. For us it’s 660 miles one way. I’ll be back.
Are you interested in watching an original J. Manton flintlock in slow motion? How about a wheel lock? BlackPowderMag was able to do just that at Friendship this spring. With help from blackpowder riflemaker, David Price, and Grant Ferguson from Olympus, we filmed 30+ flintlocks at 5000 frames/second.
History was made at Gun Makers’ Hall during the Spring Nationals at Friendship this year. Blackpowdermag.com and Olympus Industrial collaborated on a slow motion project. Grant Ferguson from Olympus set up a digital video camera capable of 33,000 frames /second under the pavilion behind Gun Makers’ Hall. The goal was to tape as many flintlocks as we could, furnish the shooter with a CD copy, and give the NMLRA a copy of all our work. In all, we were able to give 33 different digital files to the NMLRA.
David Price has just fired a flintlock for the camera.
The background behind this project started back in the fall of 2006. In a phone conversation, Grant Ferguson and I first discussed the possibility of taping both locks and the firing of a rifle. After a number of conversations we agreed that it might be helpful to try this by ourselves instead of having onlookers present. If we failed, we would rather not have an audience.
In January of 2007 Grant brought his equipment to northern Indiana, and we had our first try in my garage. By juggling a couple antique cars around, we had a heated space to work. During this time we taped a large Siler that has been the subject of many experiments over the past 20 years. We digitally recorded this lock in a number of “flint/bevel/priming powder” combinations. The lock even got a chance to perform up-side-down. Besides taping another lock with no frizzen spring, we recorded a flint rifle from the front so we could see lock ignition, vent hole ignition, and the ball exiting the rifle. (Just in case you wondered, a years’ worth of “Guns and Ammo” duct-taped together makes a good bullet stop for a limited number of tries. Dixie Gun Works catalogs aren’t bad either. — Remember, don’t try this at home.)
Grant Ferguson, Olympus Industrial, is shown working with the camera interface.
Armed with the knowledge gained from this experience, I contacted Barbie Chambers, Dick Miller, and Roland Martin to get their take on the project. With their approval we looked for a date during the Spring Shoot. Barbie Chambers is the events planner for the Hall, and we soon had our date. As the time approached, I found a number of gun makers and ML fans willing to help. David Price, maker of the swivel breech raffle rifle, deserves much praise for his assistance. He volunteered to help me out, and as we were about to start, I mentioned that I hoped to use the same priming powder for all locks. David’s reply was, “I think the same person should prime all the locks too.” And he did just that. It allowed me to burn disks for the shooters and line up the next lock to record.
David Price (center) discusses the project with observers.
As we worked, the number of shooters grew and kept us busy most of the day. At one point Barbie came by with four locks from the Chambers booth. One was an original J. Manton from a fine smooth bore double. That had to be a highlight. Another was a wheellock. Leon Buckwalter’s lock is the only wheellock ever taped in slow motion – at least this slow. The frame speed we used for all locks was 5000 frames/second. At this speed it takes perhaps a minute to show the complete ignition sequence. An even faster frame rate could have been used, but the size of the screen would have been reduced. We felt this was a good compromise.
Leon Buckwalter prepares his wheel lock.
From my experimenter’s point of view this was a great day. We gathered a wealth of material from which to draw data, and I think we proved that this media could be used to improve lock function. Another experimenter feels the same way. Lowell Gard of “Bevel Bros.” fame asked if we could video his lock with varying numbers of trials on the flint. He wanted to see if we could see the flint deteriorate as the trials increased. We started with a new flint and worked up to 50+ trials.
All in all, it was a great day for students of the flintlock. I believe every lock owner received a working video of his locks. The NMLRA received them all. Lowell offered to place a few CDs at the Bevel Bros. booth if shooters were interested in purchasing the complete set. We may give that a shot this fall.
Patch box side of David Prices’s swivel breech rifle. This superb piece will be raffled in the fall..
I chose to include slow motion videos of the J. Manton and the Buckwalter wheel lock. The Manton locks from the late flint period are, in my opinion, the finest locks made. The wheel lock is included because I don’t think one has ever been photographed at this speed.
I wish to thank Grant Ferguson for his effort in this project. Without his camera and special abilities, we certainly could not have attempted this. Grant, I hope we get a chance to work together again. David Price worked all day long with me, and I appreciate his help. I also thank him for the opportunity to handle his beautiful swivel breech. Thanks also to Barbie Chambers and Dick Miller for allowing us to work at Gun Makers’ Hall. And last of all, a thank you to all the shooters who brought locks for us to record. I appreciate your willingness to share your lock with us.
