Mark Silver
Gun Maker
About Me
My Work
I specialize in sporting arms of the Colonial American Frontier, Great Britain, and Continental Europe, regularly completing re-creations of arms in authentic period styles, and doing museum quality restoration and conservation of antique sporting arms.
My Medium
My pieces are stocked by hand using period style tools and techniques. Much of the past two decades has found me immersed in extensive research and experimentation into these techniques. This has led to my incorporating their use exclusively in all of my work.
Using hand saws, hand planes, scrapers, files, chisels, and gouges has enabled me to more fully understand the thought and design process of the previous three centuries. This allows a piece to be built in a much more natural seamless progression without the arbitrary divisions of design, assembly, and finish.
My Inspiration
In a practical sense this use of authentic tools and techniques has made my work more visibly reflective of antique pieces. This is important not only in the recreation of period-correct new work but also in the restoration and conservation of important antique arms.
My metal-working likewise follows 18th century practice. Whether filed, chiseled or cut with the graver, it is completed with the functional finishes of color hardening, charcoal bluing, browning or left bright. All polishing is done by hand creating period correct surfaces.