Jack Thomas began crafting black powder rifles and pistols at the Ozark Folk Center in the late 1970s and returned in 1997 as a knifemaker until his death in 2006.
This Ozark Folk Center 50th Anniversary Legacy Photo is in memory of our Daddy, Jack Thomas.
Love, Cindy, Jackie, Julie, and Catherine.
The gunsmith shop, operated by Jack Thomas, was granted an apprenticeship in 1980, funded by the Committee of One Hundred, for beginner Jim Purdom. Muzzleloaders and Kentucky long rifles were built one at a time while talking about the process with visitors to the Folk Center.
The musket was made up of a flintlock mechanism that ignited the powder to launch the ball, the wooden stock held the lock and the barrel from which the musket ball propelled enroute to its target. They were simply called a "rifle gun" until the term "Kentucky rifle" was coined in a song after the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812. The song credited much of General Andrew Jackson's American victory over the British to his Kentucky riflemen and their guns.
A curly maple or walnut stock about five feet long began the process of carving to fit the 44” long barrel with calibers ranging from .28 caliber to around .60 caliber. In the 1980s, the Folk Center opened a shooting range where the single-shot, black-powder muzzleloader could be demonstrated. Thomas and Purdom would show interested onlookers how to load the black-powder charge and fire a round ball partially wrapped in a cloth patch that had been moistened with grease or spit. The patch was used to engage the rifling in the barrel which caused the ball to spin when shot. The patch would fall free of the ball when the ball exited the muzzle. The spinning stabilized the ball in flight, which increased its accuracy and range.
The black-powder charge is ignited by a lock mechanism when the trigger is pulled. Through the first quarter of the nineteenth century, long rifle locks were flintlocks. A flint in the cock or hammer of the lock strikes the steel frizzen, thus producing sparks that ignite a small powder charge in the pan that in turn ignites the main powder charge in the barrel. Later flintlock long rifles were converted to percussion locks that used a disposable percussion cap with a small explosive charge to ignite the powder in the barrel. This helped to extend the life of the rifles.
Kits containing all the parts needed for building the muzzleloader later simplified the process for many who wanted to build their own. Ozark Folk Center gunsmiths built these long, graceful firearms that were used from about 1750 through 1840s one at a time – “lock, stock, and barrel”. As their craftsmanship improved so did the beautiful carvings and etchings applied to the stock.
As interest grew, a shooting club called the Stone County Muzzleloaders was organized for shooting competitions and tomahawk throws at the Folk Center Shooting Range. Men, women, and later, teens called "Little Britches" competed for the Jim Nelson wooden carved trophies. Jim Purdom is pictured at left and his daughter, Sara, earned one of these trophies and proudly displays it today. Competitors like Tom Gilman from Hot Springs, others from Berryville and across the state came to compete with local shooters Larry Clark, George Looney, Vaughn Ralph and Kay Brewer, Jeff and Lori Dobbins, Tim Passmore, Floyd Wallace, Robert Blair, Jack Thomas, Jim Purdom and others who wanted to test their skills.
Other gunsmiths who operated the gun shop included Sloan Lessley, Mitch Alderman, Dan Stewart, John Maloy, Rick Dearien, and Fox Glover.
Entry by Mary Beth Thomas and Robbie Purdom.
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