November-December 2015 – Message from the Guildmaster

Christmas Greetings and a Happy New Year to all and particular the history loving folks.  Hope all your horn projects were finished on time so your presents were not late to friends and loved ones.  Mother nature is giving us in the mid-Atlantic states a present of milder weather and lower fuel bill so I’m loving it.

I always overestimate the length of winter in my mind and plan to get things done around the house and in the shop, but sixty days to March comes more quickly the older I get.  I seem to squander more time watching TV, hunkered down reading, and then half way through February I have to panic with March in sight.  I need an ejector timer on my recliner.  Remember March 5th is Annual Meeting of the Horn Guild at Carlisle, Pennsylvania! Please register as soon as practical so we can adequately plan for the event.

I recently found out I have Nantucket, Massachusetts ancestry in a great, great, Grandfather Merchant Ship Captain Joseph N. Toone who sailed out of there.  So I just had to see the new Ron Howard movie “In the Heart of the Sea” and must say it was a very fast 2 hours and 2 minutes based on the factual ship “Essex” adventures, which became the inspiration for Herman Melville’s epic book “Moby Dick.”  Lots of well done historical images and action.

Speaking of movies- this winter has another one that is of interest to all us muzzleloader people called “The Revenant” ( a person who returns after a long absence or as a spirit after death).  The movie is based on factual experiences of Hugh Glass portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio with technical historical support by AMA (American Mountain Men) personnel.  Great effort was made to portray 1820’s Fur Trade Era correctly including a Ron Luckenbill custom made Bucks County unique style Pennsylvania longrifle because Glass was from eastern Pennsylvania.  It is my favorite style too as you can see by the photos of the one I made for myself in 1986 from page 161 in Kindig’s “Thoughts on the Kentucky Rifle in the Golden Age.” Not often we that dwell in history get see two movies worth seeing within a year.

Regards,
Dick Toone, Guildmaster