"The Modern Gunsmith" by Howe

Status
Not open for further replies.
It is a well known book that details how gunsmiths used to do gunsmithing. Some of it still applies. Some is downright dangerous and should be avoided. All of it is good reading for gunsmithing enthusiasts. Having a copy in your library is not a bad thing.

Obviously we have gone far beyond what was state of the art back then. The average amateur smith has access to more and better tools than the pros did back then.
 
Howe's book is around the nets as pdf's if you look or cheap kindle downloads.

If you would compare modern gunsmithing books to that of Howe, you will find most of them remarkably devoid of details in the book as the run of the mill gunsmith today is not the artisan of the past. Thus, few engage in forging and making new parts, things like stocks from rough blanks have been farmed out to specialists, and those running full machine shops are rare. Part of the reason is that most people are not willing or cannot pay for the labor involved in doing gunsmithing the old timey way (for example, the resident gunsmiths at Williamburg, VA make the parts in period authentic ways and fit them on sight which takes weeks--the resultant firearms are priced then as such). A similar artist is Turnbull who painstakingly recreates the past. Reading such as Howe, Chapel, Dunlap, etc. will take you back to when labor was relatively cheap and firearms were treated as durable goods that lasted generations.

The major dangerous stuff is some of the old ways of heat treatment and bluing formulas. Howe is more careful than some of the others regarding things like heat treatment of bolts and receivers etc. but without the ability to practice on cheap receivers and the looser tolerances of the past etc., it is probably better to farm out such operations to professionals nowadays. Likewise, using cyanide compounds for heat treatment and arsenic compounds for bluing are not the most healthy of options even if you could get the chemicals to do such today. However, other formulas are presented as well and they date from a time that you could not simply buy the stuff off of the net from places like Brownells.

For many of us, we have been living in the era of abundance so long that we forget what scarcity in times like the Depression and post WWII were like. Books like these remind us that we may have more technology at our command but it has not necessarily made us wiser or even capable of doing things that our ancestors did without much thinking.
 
I have a copy that I found in an antique store some years ago than is inscribed by the author. Definitely an interesting look into the past.
 
I have those two books. Very interesting. I also have an older book from the 30's... also interesting and amusing... some of the language is.. ah.. dated to say the least.
One of the funnier parts is when the author suggests mugging your dentist and stealing his dental engine (along with his pocket change lol).
We are lucky to live in a time where anyone can go buy a dremel tool for just a few dollars.. the dental engine mentioned would be similar except it would cost substantially more and have an articulated drive shaft from the motor to the hand held drill.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top