I knew Bob for about 30 years. He at first was in a way not easy to get to know. But after a while we became good friends. He was a True Southern Gentleman and as good of gun smith as you could find. A friend and myself took him out to the ballast piles in Sapelo Sound Georgia and he picked out about 3 buckets of flint for his rifles. I would have given just about anything to have had one of his guns built to fit me. I was lucky to have been able to shoot several of his flintlocks and if you could hold on site at 200 yards, you could drive a tack with it. I truly miss you Bob. BIGFOOT
When Robert Weil started collecting images for the Contemporary Makers book in 1973 the challenge to record contemporary gun work was daunting. Gathering material was difficult and time consuming. Few makers thought that there was any value in published documentation of their work. Electronic publishing has changed all that. Having a website or having one's work available to view on the internet is becoming a necessity. In spite of all the potential to finally have a true overview of what's being produced by the artists of today, a great deal of work still remains covered up and basically unknown. Our role is to make an effort to document some portion of what’s going on today. To comment on the established makers and to uncover the unknown. We welcome your comments and suggestions and look to you our readers to make us aware of the talented makers out there. Art and Jan Riser Robert Weil and The Makers
I knew Bob for about 30 years. He at first was in a way not easy to get to know. But after a while we became good friends. He was a True Southern Gentleman and as good of gun smith as you could find. A friend and myself took him out to the ballast piles in Sapelo Sound Georgia and he picked out about 3 buckets of flint for his rifles. I would have given just about anything to have had one of his guns built to fit me. I was lucky to have been able to shoot several of his flintlocks and if you could hold on site at 200 yards, you could drive a tack with it. I truly miss you Bob. BIGFOOT
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