Kentucky Longrifle

**Stan Foster** · 01-21-2013, 03:06 PM

Gary----Just wanting to emphasize a point about hours defining finesse.

I used to build these Kentuckly longrifles...strictly for the love of it...and not the money. It was strictly a hobby.

Then I started making curved stairways....for a living, and not a hobby. The same passion is still there....except when I build a curved stairway...I have to balance obsessive finesse that is required making a Kentucky flintlock. Many more hours are in the rifle than any typical curved stairway I build.

This is where I am a tough critic on my stairway work, as I am directly comparing it to the work I do on my rifles. There is no way possible I could make a living putting the same finesse into a curved stairway of mine,.....it just isnt economically feasible.

I do run across some other high end stairwork that makes me realize that if I were allowed the hours , and were paid for them, then I could build a stairway that is in comparison to my rifles I make.

Oh...by the way.....I also look at other people that build these rifles, and I would take a few more lifetimes to get to their level of work. There just is no end to finding other much more superior work.

It makes me feel insignificant....but I can hold my head high and say I am honest about it...and I do try to improve.

The last picture best shows my obsessiveness. I took 2.5 years to build that turbine powered helicopter that I fly very often. It won Grand Champion rotorcraft at the 2010 Popular Rotorcrafts international convention held at Mentone, Indiana. This project has no wood in it.....but lots of aluminum to cut, fit, and shape.

Stan

**Joe Adams** · 01-21-2013, 04:00 PM

Beautiful craftsmanship, Stan. I am in awe!

**tjbnwi** · 01-21-2013, 06:00 PM

I agree Stan, once you have an obsession, it carries into all walks of life and makes it hard to compromise. Unfortunately when we moved I lost all but 3 pictures of the cars that I built in my first career. Baffles pepole that you can work on a project for years. I hope I find the pictures and awards packed away some day.

All of your work is exquisite Stan.

Tom

**BThomas** · 01-21-2013, 06:20 PM

I hope that I never see the work that humbles you Stan. I would have to pack up and find another line of work. I am in awe you your projects -all of them.
Bill T

**timraleigh** · 01-22-2013, 08:35 AM

Stan:
That helicopter is very cool.
Some of those (Italian) shot guns sell for as much or more as a nice stairway would. Is there a market (collectors, hunters etc.) for Kentucky long rifles?
Tim

**Gary Katz** · 01-22-2013, 08:40 AM

Stan,
Thanks for posting those pictures and telling us about the rifles. they are beautiful and must be something to 'feel.'

That's one of the things I enjoy most about meeting talented carpenters--there are always multiple layers to them, things you don't know and wouldn't suspect but once discovered, they make perfect sense.

No, we can't afford to go too far with the work that makes us a living--or we risk not making a living. I know I'm also motivated by two challenges simultaneously: I want to do work that is as close to perfect as possible (knowing it won't ever be perfect; knowing it might never even be close!). And I want to do work as expeditiously as possible. Efficiency has always been a motivator for me. Yes, I want to make more money on the jobs I do, but there's also something about doing a job with the fewest mistakes, the fastest techniques, the least amount of time, labor, effort, etc. I probably caught that bug during the 80's while doing apartments and tracts. I think it helped make mindless work more tolerable. But I still find myself always trying to improve the method as well as the result. At least up to a point. It is work. Not play. I spend a lot more time and effort on perfecting my spey cast.
Gary

**Stan Foster** · 01-22-2013, 10:28 AM

Gary- I can apprecite the trim carpenters like yourself that know how to be efficient enough and yet do nice work to make a living at it. I was a trim carpenter for a large company for 10 years and it was one thing to work for a wage......and another to make it on your own. I never would have survived as a free lance trim carpenter. I was very fortunate to find my niche building stairways.

Stan

**DWBuilder** · 01-22-2013, 11:05 AM

Interesting topic, guys.

The passion of perfect work and the frustrations of finding customers that appreciate it enough to pay for it has had a great influence on my career. I'm not a carpenter, but a metal guy. Same issues though.

At 19 I quit my job and opened up shop fabricating drag race car chassis. Bent the tube chassis, TIG welded everything, fabricated the bodies, constructed molds for carbon fiber dashes, seats, nose pieces etc. Went to school got an engineering degree so I could design lighter, faster race cars. Spent 12 years doing that, always frustrated by clients that liked the top-notch work, but wanted it faster & cheaper (sound familiar?).

People always told me I should use my skills to build "wrought iron" stuff. UGH! NO! "I work in thousandths of an inch and lay down perfect TIG welds, those pukes are lucky to have fractions of an inch on their tape measure and they have big, ugly welds" I would say.

One day a buddy of mine that is a home builder was in a bind for some iron railing. He had a closing in a week and his iron guy stood him up. So I dropped what I was doing and built some railing for him. He paid me what his iron guy quoted and holy smokes, what an eye opener! I made as much in a week as I made in a month building race cars. That was a turning point for me. Business was a lot more fun when you made more money.

That was about 15 years ago and I have come to enjoy refining my production methods and business systems as much as I used to enjoy the work itself. Leveraging my time by managing employees is a big reward too. You can only get so much work done in a day or a lifetime as a one-man band.

I now enjoy designing and collaborating with my guys to build a fancy staircase or railing as much as when I used to be the one striking the arc.

In fact, I don't have the patience required to do the really time-consuming detail work anymore--I have a huge urge to be more poductive, to get more done. For me, that is both sad and a positive indication of how far I've come.

10 years ago I got my GC license and started building 1 or 2 big customs a year, both pre-sold and spec. That extended the rewarding leverage-your-time feeling because I could do a couple million $$ a year. That was great up until 2008, when the bottom fell out!! I wasn't over-leveraged, I only got stuck with one lot worth 20% of what I paid. But I figured I could always find someone that wanted two pieces of metal welded together, so I was really glad I had the metal business to fall back on. I still do a house here and there, pre-sold and referral only. But our reputation for quality, efficient and on-time iron work kept us going when many others failed.

I'll put pics in a couple of posts....

weld2.JPG MVC-005X.JPG drgstr1.jpg d2 Front Quarter Shot.jpg Fast16 Race.jpg

**DWBuilder** · 01-22-2013, 11:06 AM

Railing pics

Czohara.jpg Shankar.jpg

**Stan Foster** · 01-22-2013, 12:16 PM

Bill- Now that is some awesome railing work!

Stan

**tjbnwi** · 01-22-2013, 07:17 PM

Bill,

From one car guy to another, they are beautiful. Mine tended to prefer curves. (Railing is nice also)

I do wish I had pictures of the other 50 or so I had done.

Tom

**DWBuilder** · 01-23-2013, 11:51 AM

Originally Posted by tjbnwi

Bill,

From one car guy to another, they are beautiful. Mine tended to prefer curves. (Railing is nice also)

I do wish I had pictures of the other 50 or so I had done.

Tom

Stan & Tom - Thanks!

Sweet Pantera. Ford power? Always wanted to road race, that's what I'm going to try if I can step away from business before I'm too old to race.

**tjbnwi** · 01-23-2013, 07:47 PM

Twin turbo charged 351 with NOs. 1200 hp. Has a little bit giddy up, sticks to the pavement like a fly on fly paper.

Tom

**m beezo** · 01-23-2013, 09:02 PM

I have to know how the guns shoot. They look too nice to ever make it into the woods. Have always loved the look of the wood in the stock. I still am somewhat amazed at how they must have made them years ago let alone now. Would love to just sit and watch some of the process.

My grandfather used to build some stuff and I don't know if he never had a metal scraper for wood but I recall him using broken pieces of glass to smooth out wood. Never seen anyone else do that but then again I don't really hang around with most fine finish guys.

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