Self-taught beginning at the age of 12, Lane learned to create knives and muzzleloading rifles and pistols by fabricating each part--from the wood and antler handles and hand forged metal blades of knives to the wood stock and grips of muzzleloaders and each individual metal part on a firearm including short barrels, locks, triggers, magazines, and accessory parts such as the butt plate, patch box, etc. --completely by hand from the raw materials through hand fabricating processes such as forging , cutting, filing, and machining with a metal lathe,