Leonard was one of the original five members of the Mountaineer Flintlock Rifle Club and the only one to fire an original flintlock rifle in the first match.
I met Leonard at one of the shoots at Plum Orchard Lake when I was 13 or 14 years old. I have his personal gun cabinet that was made from a cherry tree that grew in his back yard. I also have one of his cap lock 40 caliber pistols and a tobacco tin he engraved for me. He was a wonderful man and a wonderful craftsman.
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
Wallace Gusler was one of the five that started the Club., he said he is the last surviving member.
ReplyDeleteI met Leonard at one of the shoots at Plum Orchard Lake when I was 13 or 14 years old. I have his personal gun cabinet that was made from a cherry tree that grew in his back yard. I also have one of his cap lock 40 caliber pistols and a tobacco tin he engraved for me. He was a wonderful man and a wonderful craftsman.
ReplyDelete