Scott Summerville Razor

This is the 18th century style razor made by Scott Summerville that is in "Prime Possibles" in the September/October issue. Scott did a nice job on this, and as reported in the review, John Hayes, the owner of the razor, says it works great. And, by the way, John shaves with a straight razor every day. Scott is a talented bladesmith and makes a variety of period knives.

Have a great Labor Day weekend!

Bill Scurlock

British and American Sailor Clothing 1750-1820

We signed a new book contract with Larry Babits and Matt Brenckle on their book British and American Sailor Clothing 1750–1820. This is a fascinating book based on a shipwreck in the early 19th century. Seems that when the ship sank, the stores of tar flowed onto many items of clothing, protecting them from the ravages of the elements. When the wreck was found and excavated, many pieces clothing were preserved. While there are no whole garments left, there are enough pieces of garments left to accurately portray what the complete garment looked like. Virtually every item of clothing common to the sailor of that period is in this collection of preserved garments. In addition, the authors have gathered many pieces of period artwork to compliment their clothing presentation.

This will be a fun book to work on. I don't yet have an estimate of when the book will be ready to release, but we do have all of the materials to produce it in hand. Because of a couple of prior commitments to projects we're doing for others, I'm thinking that this Sailor Clothing book will be finished by next spring. I'll let you know as progress is made.

Bill Scurlock

T.C. Albert Pouch and Horn

After a weekend of working at the hunting camp, bush-hogging trails and woods roads, and cutting firewood, I'm back inside doing the publisher thing.

I want to show you another prize we brought home from the CLA show. Every year, there is a silent auction of items covering several tables. I always like to bid on something, because the items are donated by artisans, and the Contemporary Longrifle Foundation gets the money. This year, I was going to bid on this pouch and horn set made by our MUZZLELOADER staff writer, T.C. Albert, but Linda (my wife) beat me to it, and she won. This is one of Tim's boot top pouches, like he wrote about in his first article for MUZZLELOADER. In addition there's a neat little horn and an antler powder measure attached. We were pleased to win it and to have a nice piece of Tim's work to hang on the wall in the office, or take to the woods when hunting season rolls around.

Bill Scurlock

Bob Harn Rifle

Since I'm on the subject of Bob Harn, I wanted to show the rifle he made for me in 1988. It's .50 caliber with a walnut stock. The lock was hand made, since there were no quality round-faced locks on the market back then. Lew Sanchez did the engraving. It is based on Rifle 119 in Shumway's Rifles of Colonial America, Vol. 2.

This rifle has several deer to its credit, though I usually use a different rifle when hunting these days.

Bill Scurlock

Harn Knife Photos

OK, now I know how to add photos, so here are some photos of the Harn knife I bought at the CLA show. You can contact Bob at bridgetroll@verizon.net.

Bill Scurlock

Bob Harn Knife

I saw Bob Harn at the CLA show and ended up buying a great little folding knife from him. It's a beauty inspired by knives found in Neumann and Kravic's Collector's Illustrated Encyclopedia of the American Revolution.

Bob is a wonderful craftsman and is known primarily as a gunmaker. In fact, he made me a rifle in about 1984, and I still have it. He does enjoy making a few knives every year. He makes several different styles of small folders. This one measures 7 inches fully open. There will be a review in an upcoming issue of Muzzleloader. And, when I have time to get my stuff together, I'll post a photo here.

Bill Scurlock

Sept/Oct MUZZLELOADER Magazine

The next issue will be mailed either today or tomorrow. I wasn't actually at the office today, but I know what the plan was for mailing. I enjoyed putting this issue together (as usual). Several good pieces include another story by Mike Blumenstein, an interesting piece by Fred Stuzenberger and a nice piece on Rogers' St. Francis Raid by Tim Todish with excellent illustrations by Gary Zaboly. Anyhow, I think that you will enjoy it.

Ready for cooler weather now, but I know that I'll most likely have to wait most of a month before I see much coolness. Then it will be real close to Arkansas' early muzzleloader season. Almost can't wait.

Bill Scurlock