doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Jaroslav Teichman Olomouc Czech Republic

Jani was kind enough to point me to another Bohemian mechanic: Puškař Eduard Svoboda v Hradci Králové......



I would hazard a guess that this tubeset has the acid etched(raised) feeling....
The retailer gives that the tubes have >>Rostnarben<< or deep pitting....







The adornment to the wood looks to be quite worn....

Serbus,

Raimey
rse

I didn't find any info on Teichmann in the doc below, but I did find a family of Svoboda(Freedom???) mechanics:




Serbus,

Raimey
rse

Sorry for the late reply, unfortunately we have a covid at home.

Here is a short article translated from the newspaper about Dusek and Opočno, I will add what my great-grandfather wrote about him and a photo.

On the photo is the great-grandfather's top row on the left, I will send by email.

Unfortunately the photos of Teichman's workshop are only at my grandfather's, as I stitch it up I will scan and add.

Frantisek DUSEK

One of the largest companies in Opočno is DUO, whose origins are connected with the name of František Dušek. An incredible 110 years have passed since then - on 22 November 1904 František was issued a licence to operate a gunsmithing business. This day marked the beginning of the journey that led to the world-famous DUO Opočno brand.

František Dušek was born in 1877 in Černilov. He learned the gunsmith's trade under Master Hojný in Smiřice. In Opočno he set up a workshop for weapons, bicycles and sewing machines. With his own brand of bicycles "Bohéma" he was successful throughout the Habsburg Monarchy. He also started to manufacture weapons - hunting rifles, DUO pistols and air rifles. Even though gunsmithing was not a tradition in the family (his father was an innkeeper), František Dušek managed to build a business in Opočno that provided a livelihood for a large number of employees. During the Second World War he employed up to 300 people - some of them only to save them from total deployment; he paid full wages to the families of those arrested.

According to the memories of the survivors, František Dušek was a man who knew how to work, consider, decide and help. A man who respected his employees and treated them accordingly. He also planned to build two houses. The first was to be divided into a business-administrative part and a residential part for employees, the second was to serve as an apprenticeship school with a boarding house for future apprentices - riflemen. However, it did not make it. In 1948, the company was nationalized, the family was deprived of all its property and František Dušek lived in complete poverty in Olešnice in the Orlické Mountains.

You have a very interesting family history .Mark

LP,


Raimey
rse

Lep Pozdrav,

Raimey
rse

Lep Pozdrav,


Raimey
rse

Great information on Dušek, etc.

BTW, the rifle in the last photo seems to be a Mannlicher M95 sporter; straight pull in 8x50R.

Na zdar,
Jani

Here is the translation at Opočnu from my great-grandfather's notes.

It was in 1908 when František Dušek, the founder of the company, returned after his travels to foreign countries and settled in the centre of the estate according to the custom of the time. The centre of the vast Opočno estate guaranteed good prosperity for a solid gunsmith. František Dušek was then 32 years old. He was born in the nearby Černílov and trained as a gunsmith at the Hojný company in Smiřice. His knowledge of foreign countries made him superior to the local gunsmiths. He was an anti-militarist and it is known that he refused the invitation of the Austrian authorities to participate in the war production in the First World War.
When I joined Opočno in 1925 as a rifle maker there were 35 employees in production and 6 in administration. The boss went through both shops every day and listened to requests and suggestions as needed.
At that time Josef Dušek, his eldest son, returned from the rifle school in Ferlach. He had a vise next to me and I remember that he made a nice lancaster rifle Greener. I would still recognize that wonderful work today, and that was 55 years ago. With Josef came a strong impulse to the factory. He negotiated employment contracts with people from Ferlach and brought 6 of them to Opočno. There was Mr. Stüfler, a very good bascule maker and person, then Mr. Pavouc, who did the barrels, built the furnace and did the hard welding. This was later abandoned and only the hooks were hard-jointed and the rest was soft-jointed, as is still done today. I visited him several times in Ferlach and we remembered our younger years. Then there was Jesenko, the adjustor, and then old Mr. Suklic, the other two I can't remember. Suklic polished the parts and especially, everything by hand, for the engraver and after engraving he hardened the barrels. He burned the leather on leather charcoal, put the parts into boxes with sheet metal, carefully filled the gaps with leather charcoal and put them into the fire. He had a separate workshop for this, and we all watched the rich and varied annealing he achieved.
The gunsmith and engraver Keler, Karel Verner, Šmída, Karel Hladik are also worth mentioning.
Albert Rucknagel did most of the engraving, engraving the usual commercial spiral engravings on hamerlesks well and quickly. An engraving took him about 8-12 hours of work. He also numbered locks and shells. He inlaid nicely in gold. Lancaster engraved by Josef Havránek. But everyone there was passionate about engraving and jealously guarded each other. I, too, was trying to find my place in the sun.
We made the stock mostly of walnut wood with a cheek piece and pistol grip and boot. There was a race to see who had the most accurately soldered parts and the most accurately and cleanly holstered mechanism. All for their own pleasure and self-satisfaction. All stocks were polished by Alois Duben.
On a larger scale, the production of flobert gunbegan. They were mostly single-shot with cylindrical caps. The systems were mostly made by Vasek Tosovsky. The stocks, on which the copying machine was already working, were finished by hand by Vasek Stodůlka. The barrels were drawn by hand. Furthermore, 4 types of air rifles reminiscent of Haenel Suhl, pistols reminiscent of the shape of Browning 6.35 pistols were produced in large quantities.
The Dusel company was the largest manufacturer of civilian weapons during the First Republic and their importance extended beyond the borders. It was nationalised in 1948.
In an effort to get to know other workshops, I left Opočno for Poděbrady, where I worked for František Lesák, apprenticed to the gunsmith Faukner. He was conservative and always preferred handwork. I was here for the next 6 years. In the old workshop everything was vises, anvil, anvil, wedges for piercing. No machines, drilling with a coil and a borer. All the tools were made at home. Everything was done with quality and thoroughness. It was a handmade workshop.

I may need to find time to rotate these images?


Lep Pozdrav,

Raimey
rse