I've been putting this one off for a while but then this morning I realized that I'd better fix a display case to fit a gift that was sent to me before we start moving next week.
Here's the backstory:
In 2009 when I was still living in Missouri I was looking for something to do one Sunday in the spring and so when I heard about a troupe of Civil War re-inactors that were in town at a former fort site I decided to check it out.
When I arrived it was still early in the morning and there was a faint drizzle. The fort was occupied by replica field tents, horses, exhibits, and cannons, not to mention the company of men and women dressed in their uniforms and costumes. I was about the only visitor at the time and I had my camera slung around my neck. Several times I was asked if I was from the local paper and I had to explain that I was just wandering around to take some pictures. I was told that their lack of an audience was likely due to the fact that the police had told them not to fire their cannons until church was out. Most people show up just for the cannon exhibition, so for the most part the re-inactors had nothing to do. So, they enthusiastically showed me around and offered me some of their camp coffee that was heated over fires in replica coffee pots from the Civil War era.
One individual excitedly caught my attention and asked if I liked ballistics. Being the forensics student that I was, I said "absolutely". He introduced himself as Mike, and he showed me an impressive selection of firearms and paraphernalia, all collected or constructed himself. His specialty was demonstrating how to make a rifle cartridges with .58 cal musket bullets, powder, and percussion caps that were wrapped specially-cut paper and tied with string for easy weapons loading. He lamented that what he would really like was a poster with step-by-step pictures of the process and asked if he could pay me to take pictures while he showed me how the cartridges were made. I reluctantly agreed, since I was amateur at best. But I told him that I would do it and mail the photos to him for free.
Later, I had the pictures printed and I mailed them to Mike, who was so pleased with them he mailed back a package with a letter expressing thanks (and also inviting me to another re-inactment in St. Louis), and a glass-encased mini-display on the steps of making a cartridge. Unfortunately, the glass cover broke in the mail so I had to buy a new case (and finally did this year). However, the box was too shallow to accommodate the large bullets and so for many months I had been planning to add some depth to the case with narrow strips of wood but I never got around to it until this morning.
I probably used the wrong tool for cutting the wood but it glued on nicely
Reinforced with 1/2 inch wood screws, hinges and clasp re-installed
"Model 1861 Civil War Cartridge
A. Outer, paper cartridge wrapper from B.; B. .58 cal. rifle musket [minie] bullet with powder cylinder; C. complete .58 cal. rifle musket cartridge; D. percussion caps were charged with a small amount of fulminate of mercury, they ignited the powder charge of Civil War percussion fire-arms; E. paper wrapped package of twelve percussion caps in each tube."
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