Making a possible bag for my muzzle loader

Making a Muzzle loader Pistol

I just finished building a Traditions Trapper pistol muzzle loading kit. It took just about a month to build. It was really rough to start with so I had to fix a lot of stuff before I could move forward. I took off 2 brass pieces and replaced them with cherry wood which looks just killer!

I cut a big piece of cherry off a large board and used my table saw and a chisel to make the barrel channel, and the drill press and files to make a hole to insert a brass rod to house the ramrod. The brass tube was used in part to help stabilize this extra wood for the stock. I did have to notch the brass tube so that the piece that the wedge pin will fit. So I fit the 2 pieces together and used 2 ton epoxy to glue it together. Then I cut off the extra portion of the cherry wood so I could work with it.

I drilled holes through the base of the barrel channel in order to get epoxy all around the brass tube. I also waxed up the barrel and used excess epoxy to "bed" the barrel, which worked very well. Then I clamped it all together and let the glue dry over night, and then started to sand and file the stock in the rough.

I had to put bluing on all the steel parts and fit them all together. The sights had to be fit in the barrel, and final fitting of all the parts had to be done. Then I spent a week sanding and filing the stock to make it smooth. I sanded in a place for my thumb and it feels really good. Then I spent another week finishing it with 3 coats of light cherry stain, followed by about 5- 6 coats of Tru-oil with steel wooling between each coat. The last coat, I did not steel wool, but just rubbed a lot with a clean cloth. After a day of drying it feels just silky smooth.

Finally I got to assemble the whole thing and just see how cool it looks. I can't wait to go and shoot it! I just made a loading stand for it last night so I can take it to the range and sight it in. I used some dense foam to form fit the handle in, and then covered it with leather from some scraps I had. This way it will not scratch my gun when I am at the range loading it, and it is a very sturdy stand to let it sit in.

Newest Vineyard Photos

I haven't had a whole lot to say about my grapes now that the trellis is all in and they are just growing. They have just grown CRAZY this last month however. I like how you can see how many leaves there are by looking at the shadows on the grass. I can actually sit in the shade under my vines, just like the Bible says that 'We will all sit under our own vineyard and fig tree'. That is not word for word, but you get the meaning. I can't grow fig trees here, but at least I have the vineyard going!

I did get a new cluster of grapes growing off one of my Marquette plants right after the birds ate my only ripe cluster, so that is pretty cool. I do not think it will mature, but I am going to eat at least 1 before it gets cut off. I anticipate that it will be be VERY TART!

My Concords are growing very well and have grown up to meet each other, so that it is starting to get thick. I might start also growing a Bluebell up each side so that if the Concords do not produce these will. I don't know if I may pull the concords someday, but we will see.

I have tried Marquette wine from 2 different winery's now and I am just not that impressed with it. It is kind of a bummer. But I've also tried 2 different Frontinac Gris wines and have liked them both. So I think next spring, I am going to plant 10 more Frontinac Gris plants so I can make more of that and not just put all my eggs in the Marquette basket.

New Oil Paintings

I have done some more oil painting and I am just loving it! My second one is another Bob Ross mountain painting that I substituted pink mountain snow for grey because I had a bunch left over on my pallet.

The third one was from a picture of a sunset that my wife took while we were on a trip to Winona. This was my first original painting without having an example in a book.

The fourth one was a sailboat that was 2-3 miles away when I took the photo. I enlarged the photo 19 times so it was just real fuzzy. I wanted to paint it impressionistically, but I ended up blending all the colors together.

The fifth one is a copy of a Monet painting that I liked and that my wife said I could hang a large one in the house upstairs if I could pull it off. I think it turned out very well, and I have already bought a new 26x30 inch canvas so I can make the large one.

The sixth one is a copy of a photo of a villa in Tuscany, Italy of a vineyard that I liked. I just did this on watercolor paper in about an hour and a half. I just kind of went for it and it turned out quite well. This one, the Monet, and the sailboat are all little 7x9 inches. The other ones are on 11x14 inch canvasses. I got a real deal on multipacks of canvasses so they were only $2.40 each. This makes it affordable to paint one new one a week without breaking the bank. Also, using a 40% off one item coupon, I have been able to get new, large tubes of paint, and 50% off brushes have allowed me to get some nice brushes at a good value.

I have been busy lately, now that the trellis is put in, and just haven't done hardly anything except walk around among the vines. The things I have been working on are projects that have been put on hold for the spring. I finished building my powder horn for black powder hunting, and I am teaching myself to paint with oils.

I never thought that I could paint with oils, I just wrote it off that I would have to wait until Heaven to learn, kind of learning how to speak Hebrew. Well, I have started learning Hebrew, and now I have started learning how to paint. I have made 2 paintings so far and it is a lot of fun. My whole purpose in painting is to be able to paint my wine bottle label so I do not have to buy someone else's artwork. But along the way, I am finding all kinds of beautiful things that I can paint, so I am very excited about what the future holds.

My biggest news in the vineyard is my one grape cluster that has been growing this year. It has grown well, and started to turn color going from green to purple in about 1 week. But then, one morning I came out to see it, and it was gone. The birds had eaten all the purple grapes and left the 2 green ones. It was so much of a bummer. But I am glad that I learned this lesson this year instead of having my first crop get eaten next year. Now I will be prepared.

The vines are growing thick and starting to drape over the wires, and some are hanging half way down to the ground. My wife even said that it is starting to look like a vineyard. It is going to be exciting next year to see how it grows even more vigorously than this year.