Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - Breech loading 1450-1550

Matchlock · 15th November 2013, 10:41 AM

[QUOTE=Marcus den toom]The Project Bolek (raspla) is doing for me is almost at a end.

Hi Marcus,

As Jim and others have remarked various times, this forum should priorily be reserved to historic and authentic original pieces.

I am familiar with Bolek's works, to start out. Although his craft is technically amazing, he sometimes seems to lack the utmost depth of understanding when it comes down to the action of the guns, especially in the case of the ca. 1525 snap-tinderlock arquebus he reproduced after my images posted here: I am sorry to say that he did not fully grasp how the mechanism really works.

Apart from that, the proportions and decoration of most of his makes are not quite consistent with the original pieces; I realize that sadly he does not take exact measurements of all parts of the originals he rebuilds.

What is even worse in terms of purity and science: the gun shown here is a complete fantasy piece; he only used some influences and features of an existing ca. 1530-35 wheellock mechanism! The shape and style of decoration of the stock is mere fantasy as well, with some similarities to original pieces of ca. 1600 (!) at best, so what he did was producing a crude and cruel mixture of styles combining a span of ca. 70 years in one piece and filling in the gaps with a lot of imagination ...

No such original gun did ever exist, and I do do not feel very pleased to see those confusing images in my thread that is on pure originals!

So once again:
Please do stick to originals or do copy them absolutely exactly!

Best,
Michael

15th November 2013, 10:41 AM	#116
Matchlock (deceased) Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bavaria, Germany - the center of 15th and 16th century gunmaking Posts: 4,310	[QUOTE=Marcus den toom]The Project Bolek (raspla) is doing for me is almost at a end. Hi Marcus, As Jim and others have remarked various times, this forum should priorily be reserved to historic and authentic original pieces. I am familiar with Bolek's works, to start out. Although his craft is technically amazing, he sometimes seems to lack the utmost depth of understanding when it comes down to the action of the guns, especially in the case of the ca. 1525 snap-tinderlock arquebus he reproduced after my images posted here: I am sorry to say that he did not fully grasp how the mechanism really works. Apart from that, the proportions and decoration of most of his makes are not quite consistent with the original pieces; I realize that sadly he does not take exact measurements of all parts of the originals he rebuilds. What is even worse in terms of purity and science: the gun shown here is a complete fantasy piece; he only used some influences and features of an existing ca. 1530-35 wheellock mechanism! The shape and style of decoration of the stock is mere fantasy as well, with some similarities to original pieces of ca. 1600 (!) at best, so what he did was producing a crude and cruel mixture of styles combining a span of ca. 70 years in one piece and filling in the gaps with a lot of imagination ... No such original gun did ever exist, and I do do not feel very pleased to see those confusing images in my thread that is on pure originals! So once again: Please do stick to originals or do copy them absolutely exactly! Best, Michael Last edited by Matchlock; 15th November 2013 at 10:56 AM.