Maker:   Edward Richard Anspach was born on January 12, 1943 and died on April 16, 2011 at the age of 68. Edward last resided in Ada, Ohio in Hardin County.

When alive he was active in single shots of the odd order, odder the better for him. He would buy the weirdest rifles with the oddest chambering and have fun finding out what it was and then make the cases and make it shoot.
Big bore was his favorites, rifle that would try to twist out of your hands.
He was a short but stout guy, Dutch descendant.

When he made the moulds he used a cherry and slowly closed the blocks with the cherry in a drill press the blocks mounted on the handles only. All by hand.
He made barrels on a boring machine he made from scratch which used a Bemish beer bottle with shot in it for the drive to move the cutter into the barrel blank, The Bemish Drive...
He had very large fingers, but did fine engraving on wood or metal after a few+ of some of the nastiest beers ever made......Yep I know these things as fact, the beers were nasty too.....
Ed was a fascinating person.
RIP Ed
Just remembered, Ed had a small notebook, kind of a flatulence book, He had listed several different kinds of foods and what kind of flatulence each food created. Examples: Long dry, wetness, degree of Oder etc.  Ed liked odd foods also. Strong strange foods..............

Keith,  Damn fine obituary as far as I'm concerned.
I'm real sorry I never knew him, Did he shoot at Etna Green? He'd certainly fit in very well.
We have such an assortment of characters in our little niche of the sport.  It seems like our single shots seem to attract them----not sure exactly why .   It must be sort of a chicken'n  egg kind of thing.

Good to know that we're such a cerebral bunch Last fall at Etna Green I and a couple of my cohorts played with the fart soundboard. Tried it on my wife. She's still commenting about my maturity.

It is funny that I stumbled on this line of questions, pertaining to his bullet molds (they are brass), when he was a much better known muzzleloading gunsmith. I go online from time to time and try and see if I can find any more of his rifles available. The last one I purchased was the swivel breech flintlock pictured. The matching dueling pistols were pictured last year in The Contemporary Longrifle Association's magazine. The rack of rifles were displayed last spring at a small gunshow that was held in his honor. The rifles present were ones he had built or had helped others to build (he built eighty some in his life).  His headstone reads:

The little gun shop lies quiet, 
chisel and file at rest,
while an old cat slumbers in the chair.
The embers in the pot belly have flickered out,
and the report of the rifle has long faded away.
You will not find the old gunsmith here…

Yet, he does still live,
in the hearts of his daughters,
the laughter of his grandchildren, 
and the tales of his friends.

He would have gotten a kick out of the discussion of his notebook--above all else he was a jokester! Regardless of his title, I just called him dad.

The "fart soundboard", OK, you have me on that one.  Is this anything I could take out in the desert and lay on my brothers sitting by the campfire after waaaay to many beers ?

My hat is off to Mr. Anspach.  I have been lucky to have known a few like him and they are truly the salt of the earth.  Their biggest asset ?  I think they never really took them selfs seriously in other works, they never "believed their own BS."  Some live and love life on a different level.  Also to have it be shown in such a skill level !!!  Would have been a honest pleasure to have known him.

westerner wrote on Oct 4^th, 2014 at 2:44am:



Joe,

I fully concur my friend, but who is to write it? Boone perhaps who says he called him 'Dad'. Yet his headstone has only the names of two daughters. Can you explain that anomaly Boone? 

Harry

Maybe "Boone" is a son-in-law married to Kathleen or Daisy?

Beautiful craftsmanship by Mr. Anspach.
The over-under flintlock rifle and the over-under percussion rifle quickly caught my eye.

That local gun show is the highest compliment I can think of for a gentlemen with obvious skills and a very strong work ethic. Sorry I missed him.
Chuck