In this video, we walk you through all the tools you’ll need to build this kit. This video was made after the kit was finished so we could accurately show you all the tools used. The basic list provided by Traditions is enough to get started, but we found there are some more tools that can really help the building process of one of these kits.
The '·pursuit of happiness" presents an endless array of opportunities. Over sixty years ago the pursuit of the 18th century American frontier became the major direction of my life. The two flintlock firearms that are the focus of this series (figs. 1 & 2) are extremely important as landmark survivals of the mid-18th-century frontier. They represent the conflict between Colonialism, becoming Americans, and the collision with American natives.
When I was a young man, I apprenticed under a master tool and die maker. In the first two years I worked with him I seldom saw him use a milling machine, he did it all with a file. Being young and headstrong I would often complain, but his reply was always the same: before you can use the mill, you must master the file.
