When making a rifle like this there are for me certain periods of anxiety. The first is when the engraving is completed, in this case after over a years dedicated work by Paul Lantuch, and the gun has to be shipped across the Atlantic and entrusted to brokers, customs and airline handling. An anxious few days - will it arrive.
The second, possibly worse period is when the rifle has been prepared for hardening and leaves our shop for the careful hands of Richard St Ledger and the case colour hardening process. At this point I loose all control and I have been called a control freak on more than one occasion!
I am not sure how long the rifle has been at the St Ledger shop but for me it has seemed forever, months, it has probably only been weeks.
Case hardening a rifle with this level of embellishment is a huge responsibility, so of course it is going to take time. Time to understand all the different alloys that have been used for the rifle, time to prepare the work carefully and time to consider how to pack in the charcoal, the heat, the length in heat all the other mysteries of case colour hardening. On my end anxious days thinking will the colour work, will all the alloys stay in and whatever other drama I can think up in my mind awaiting the return!
Yesterday evening I was able to breath a huge sigh of relief, the work returned and I was able to slowly unpack the parts and see the results of St Ledgers work. I can honestly say I had a grin wider than a cheshire cat as I unpacked the parts and saw the magnificent colours that had been achieved for the background of the rifle. A truly spectacular job and I show it below in a raw, lightly oiled state. This is done as next step is to patinate the alloys and refine the gold work prior to sealing in lacquer for protection.
My Sincere thanks to Richard St Ledger for such a magnificent job. One that these shots don't do justice to but I hope future ones will!
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Tim Wilkes on May 19, 2016 at 9:04 am
Yet it is fascinating to see and to read about the process you and the team have to go through to get to that point, Simon. Thank you so much for sharing it all on here, much appreciated.
I think you owe Richard St Ledger a drink!
Simon Clode on May 19, 2016 at 10:00 am
But then I have been sending him every gun and rifle we make for 27 years and never had a drink myself!!
I agree he deserves one!
Simon Clode on May 19, 2016 at 11:26 pm
I am sitting here scratching my head about just that very thing! I have next a pair of round action shotguns with a great theme and these will go into engraving work in a month.
Thank you for your kind words Byron, you sort the brains and budget and I will come up with the idea!!
Byron Christie on May 19, 2016 at 10:58 pm
My best congratulations Simon and WR! I absolutely love what you’ve done with this rifle. The only problem is how do you top this one?
paul on May 21, 2016 at 11:00 pm
truly one of a kind gun and yes the workmanship today is easily on par with whatever was produced prewar,,….paul