Clay Smith Guns

[ThomasT]

Hello. I just found this guy last night while searching for dueling pistols. He makes some high dollar sets ($40,000) and other guns like flintlocks and blunderbuss shotguns.

I thought his guns were interesting because some are very highly polished and finely finished but others like his Barn Guns look more crude and like they were built by lesser known gunsmiths way back when. He even has a couple of painted stock guns. One with red oxide and a vine pattern painted on it. I have never seen that before. So have a look and tell me what you think. He makes some pretty neat knives too.

https://claysmithguns.com/

 

[LonesomePigeon]

He's got some nice guns and the painted ones are pretty neat.

 

[ThomasT]

Yes. I have never seen a blue painted gun but apparently they existed. I wonder why they painted them and who picked that color? Interesting story about them.

https://claysmithguns.com/Blue_Trade_Gun.htm

https://claysmithguns.com/trade_gun_West.htm

I would like to find a sling and swivel set up like this for my full stocked Pedersoli Scout Carbine.

https://claysmithguns.com/jaeger374.htm

 

[arcticap]

Yes. I have never seen a blue painted gun but apparently they existed. I wonder why they painted them and who picked that color? Interesting story about them.
https://claysmithguns.com/Blue_Trade_Gun.htm

I really like the blue color guns.
I consider it to be representative of the ancient color called azure.
From Wikipedia:

Azure is a bright cyan-blue color that is often described as the color of the sky on a clear day.
[cyan is a greenish-blue color with a wavelength between green and blue, which makes azure a somewhat lighter shade of blue]

The color azure ultimately takes its name from the intense blue mineral lapis lazuli. Lapis is the Latin word for "stone" and lāzulī is the genitive form of the Medieval Latin lāzulum, which is taken from the Arabic لازوردlāzaward, itself from the Persian لاژورد lāžaward, which is the name of the stone in Persian and also of a place where lapis lazuli was mined

Also many different birds display shades of that color, and even the eggs of the American Robin have a similar pale blue color.

In Chinese and Asian mythology, the color represents the east and the spring season.

The sky can display many different hues of blue, but azure is the color that was chosen to signify it.
It's derived from a natural source.
Perhaps it had more symbolic meanings for the indians with whom the guns were intended to be traded.
The color of the sky and the heavens would seem to carry a powerful symbolic and natural meaning.
Click the Wikipedia link to see some examples of the color azure and the natural stone that it was originally made from.--->>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azure_(color)

 

[ThomasT]

Thanks Arcticap for the wiki. I knew what azure was but never where the pigment came from. And like I stated for all my reading and studying BP rifles I have never seen a blue colored one until I ran across this guys site. But he has some very nice rifles that are way out of my budget right now. But it don't cost nuthin' to look.

 

[woodnbow]

Before I looked at it I planned to dislike the blue rifle... oops! That’s pretty sweet! So is the walnut Tulle. And I don’t particularly like Tulles either.

 

[Ironhand54]

Saw a red painted gun once at Colonial Williamsburg, in the gun shop. They said that this was a fairly common practice.

IronHand

 

[ThomasT]

Saw a red painted gun once at Colonial Williamsburg, in the gun shop. They said that this was a fairly common practice.

The one on the site with the vine painting on it got me to thinking. (always risky) But I sort of like the Traditions Kentucky rifle fullstock but am turned off by the copper piece used on the two piece stock. So I wonder if you replaced the copper spacer with a wood spacer and did a really smooth job of hiding the joint and then painted the gun with Red Oxide paint and the vine pattern looks easy enough to paint. You could have your own Poor Boy special and not have the aggravation of trying to stain that Beech Hardwood stock material they use. And those guns are surprisingly accurate. I found a quart or Red Oxide paint at Home Depot for around $18. Hummm...

 

[Jackrabbit1957]

I built an old CVA kit for a friend about 15 years ago that had that same ridiculous brass spacer. I tossed it and glued the two pieces together. To finish it I incised carved a vine pattern around the seam and it made everything blend together hiding the seam nicely.

 

[whughett]

Yes. I have never seen a blue painted gun but apparently they existed. I wonder why they painted them and who picked that color? Interesting story about them.

https://claysmithguns.com/Blue_Trade_Gun.htm

https://claysmithguns.com/trade_gun_West.htm

I would like to find a sling and swivel set up like this for my full stocked Pedersoli Scout Carbine.

https://claysmithguns.com/jaeger374.htm

My computer is having a bad day, none of these links work...…………...

 

[arcticap]

My computer is having a bad day, none of these links work...…………...

Here you go.
Type G Blue Painted Trade Gun

Lightning Painted Trade Gun

Fancy .58 Jager with Linen Sling & Buckle

 

[Ephraim Kibbey]

I guess that the blue ones would make it easy to find them when you forgot which tree you left them leaning against while answering nature's call!

 

[ThomasT]

This is the Redvine rifle I was talking about doing to a Traditions Rifle. I think it would be easy and no one else has one. Always a selling point to me.

https://claysmithguns.com/trade_gun_Redvine.htm

Now what started my search that led me to find Clay Smith was I watched a "Tales Of The Gun" Dueling pistols on you tube and I noticed when they showed some of the locks on the pistols it looked like some of the locks had a slider type device just behind the cock(hammer) that appears to be a safety or something to keep the hammer from being cocked. So does anyone have any idea what I saw or what I was looking for?

If you go to 31:31 you can see what looks like a sliding lock behind the hammer.

 

[drobs]

He has some nice guns!

 

[ThomasT]

I built an old CVA kit for a friend about 15 years ago that had that same ridiculous brass spacer. I tossed it and glued the two pieces together. To finish it I incised carved a vine pattern around the seam and it made everything blend together hiding the seam nicely.

Jackrabbit I thought about doing the same thing but thought if you left out the spacer doesn't that mess up the hole spacing for the nose cap by making the forearm just a little shorter? That was why I thought about using a wood spacer instead of brass.

 

[Jackrabbit1957]

That spacer on the one I built as only about an 1/8 th inch thick so no big deal. You could always use some type of more exotic material and hide it in plain sight.