File Photo Carroll Shoemaker, of Gallipolis, Ohio, works on one of his muzzleloaders at last year’s Contemporary Gunmakers and Allied Artists Show at the Campus Martius Museum. This year’s show will be 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 11 at the museum.

MARIETTA — The annual Contemporary Gunmakers and Allied Artists Show will offer a look at firearms and other pioneer tools — both historically and contemporarily made — on Feb. 11 at the Campus Martius Museum in Marietta.

The annual show will be 9:30 a.m. to 4 pm. and regular museum admission will cover admission to the show.

From the first arrival of the Ohio Company settlers to present day, the local area has always been the forefront of quality craftsmanship. Firearms were an essential tool in everyday life and used not only for hunting but for competition shooting. The makers of these longrifles took great pride in their workmanship in the same manner as today’s craftsman do their work.

Campus Martius will feature the work of several dozen traditional gunmakers from around the Ohio Valley as well as several other craftsmen who work in the manner of the 18th and 19th centuries. Many of these artists are nationally recognized for their work which can be found in museums and private collections around the country.

Featured along with the gunmakers will be horn makers, hunting bag makers, leather workers, tinsmithing, cabinet making and other allied trades.

File Photo Greg Park, of Parkersburg, showed the engraving he uses for a number of items from strike boxes to the butts of rifles at last year’s Contemporary Gunmakers and Allied Artists Show in Marietta.

A special feature of this year’s event will be engraving demonstrations by crafter Greg Parks at 10 a.m. and the Vincent method of barrel rifling by Campus Martius historian Bill Reynolds at 2 p.m. Throughout the day, the documentary “The Gunsmith of Williamsburg” will be shown at the museum.

For more information, contact Reynolds at 740-373-3750.

Warren Offenberger, of Marietta, has been participating in the show for several years, displaying different guns he has built in the style of pioneer longrifles. Offenberger said most of his work these days is done for collectors, but he will have some of his recently completed projects on display at the show.

“It seems like its growing every year,” Offenberger said of the Contemporary Gunmakers event at Campus Martius.

He believes its an educational opportunity for the public. People are interested in the guns and their history and often have a variety of questions about their construction and use during the event.

File Photo Tim Dowler, of Parkersburg, had a number of powder horns he made and other items he has traded for since he began working with the horns in the early 1990s on display at last year’s Contemporary Gunmakers and Allied Artists Show at the Campus Martius Museum in Marietta.

“These firearms were essential tools for survival” during the early settlement of Ohio, he said.

Parkersburg resident Tim Dowler has also participated in the show for several years.

“I love it, I love it. You get to look at some of the finest 18th Century firearms, knives and equipment,” he said, with those items including both historical pieces and those made by contemporary artisans along historical lines.

The show allows both exhibitors and visitors who share interests and experiences to meet and talk about the various items on display, Dowler said. He has been making powder horns and other items since the 1990s.

“Cow horn was the plastic (of the 1600-1800s),” Dowler said. “They made cups, they made combs, they made containers and many other items.”