Barrel inletting by router ?

[Hornbuilder]

I would like to know if anyone has done this sort of operation by inletting a fowler barrel with an electric router ? I'm attempting to come up with a viable pattern out of 1/4 " masonite to be able to follow ? any thoughts or ideas are most welcomed !!

[PPatch]

It is quite often done on a shaper, a hand held router will do it but it might also knock out a chip where you least want it. Go down in steps on your depth, and move it along slowly. My advice is from regular furniture building since I've never attempted a power router on a stock.

dave

[KentSmith]

The setup is tough.  Straight barrels are easy.  Swamped is another thing.  Here's what I tried.  I don't do this anymore.

put a fence on my router I can trust.  I clamped the stock blank between two pieces of angle iron wide enough for my router base and fence to ride on top of the blank/iron.  line everything up and cut in 1/8" stages.  For swamped barrels you have to shim the breech and muzzle to "bend"the angle iron to suit the profile of the barrel.

You probably have figured this works great for a swamped barrel sides but the bottom not so much.  I have cut the top of the barrel blank to match the barrel profile, bent the angle iron accordingly, shimmed everything then cut.  Afterwards I flattened the top of the barrel grove walls with a plane.

I would hope there are better ways, this was what I tried.  I would rather use chisels, gouges and and mallet than ever set that baby up again.  By the time I was done my nerves were shot.

[Scota4570]

I saw an article on it in Rifle magazine about 1980.  The author used two metal fences screwed to the stock blank.  The screws were far enough away from the channel to be removed in later shaping.  The metal rails were flexable enough to follow the swamped contour. He used a collar that rode on the rails.  IT seemed to work out OK.  I think the chances of disaster are pretty high.  I would not attempt it myself. 

A much more conteolled "router" is a milling machine.   I use an old milling machine with a home made octagonal cutter.  I put the stock blank in the table vice.  The vice rotates.  Once I dial in the taper it comes out pretty close.  I think a big 90* plate fixture would be better.  Anyway, I work very slowly. It will not be perfect, I need to make adjustments to stay inside the scribe line.  watch out for "climb milling"! I finish with octagonal scrapers  and octagonal sanding blocks.   

[Nordnecker]

I inletted an octagon to round barrel with a router set-up once. It required 3 different bits. A straight morticing bit for the bottom and sides of the octagon portion, a 45 degree or chamfer bit for the oblique flats, and a round bottom or cove bit for the round portion. I built a plywood box to fit around the forearm of the stock, then topped it off with a piece of plywood about 12" wide. The top piece needs a slot cut into it where the Bbl will be. The whole thing needs to be fastened down so it won't slide around.
The stock blank can be adjusted and shimmed in the box to account for taper. The wide top allows you to fasten a fence that the router base will ride against on both sides. This means you don't have to fasten rails or drive screws into your blank, and you can drive as many screws as you need anywhere in the plywood top.
First, you will need to cut a groove (round or square) just to give clearance for the real cuts. Then lay your Bbl in the groove and trace around it. Then you can take the bit your going to use for whatever operation, line it up with the traced line, and mark the router base on the top peice of plywood, set up a fence, and make your cut. You will want to make several shallow passes to get to final depth.
It's sort of impossible to get clean cuts right up to the wedding band so a little handwork will need to be done there and at the breech. Set up a "stop fence" so you won't cut too close at the breech.
This is a tedius(?) operation that could go bad in the blink of an eye. One advantage of building this box/top jig is you can use it over and over for any Bbl profile and you can cut the RR groove with a small (1/8th radius) cove bit.
Honestly, it's probably not any faster than cutting a groove with a dado blade on a table saw and finishing up with chisels.
Good luck if you try it!

[Hungry Horse]

I use two 1/2" pieces of angle iron a bit longer than the intended barrel channel. I clamp these rails to a workmates workbench, after the stock blank is securely clamped into the workmate. It very important to buy a good quality 3/4" round bottomed carbide router bit, for a round fowler barrel. A router that is at least 1 HP is really important. Small cuts help keep the edges from chipping out. I have not done a swamped barrel this way, but I have done a tapered barrel, by shimming the track to widen the breech area of the barrel channel. It's never going to be a drop in fit, but it shortens the inletting time a bunch.

Hungry Horse

[oldtravler61]

    I Only use a router for straight barrels. Just because routers are notorious for making very expensive stock blanks into kindling in a hurry. 
  But to each his own.   Oldtravler

[Tim Crosby]

 No offence but I would forget the router idea, in the tine it takes you to ask the questions, sort though the responses, make templates, set things up, do a practice run, etc... you could have the barrel in and be working on the architecture. Even if you do get a jig set up, are you going to use the same barrel over and over or is this is a one time build and then a new jig for the next, same process.
 Routers may have a place (Not sure where that is, maybe in a box on a shelf) but they can defiantly ruin your day.   
 Not trying to discourage you just trying to give you things to think about. 

  Tim C. 

PS: In the late '70s I built a table that used a router to ride on rails, it used two bits, a straight and a 45 deg. It took a long time to get it set right and many passes with shallow cuts (straight grain is one thing but add a little curl and pullout/chips will really ruin your day) to get it right and that was only for straight sided barrels. TC

[deepcreekdale]

Tim is right. It takes longer to build jigs and set everything then to just cut the darn thing by hand. Long rifle building simply doesn't work well with power tools. I use a drill press for some lock work and sometimes for drilling pin holes and a band saw for rough cutting profiles from blanks but that is about it for power tools. To me, fowler barrels are the easiest because most of the barrel is round and a plain gouge quickly and efficiently makes the cuts. A 1/4 or 3/8 chisel can do the rest. If you want to be fancy, a dogleg chisel of the same width is great. Jack Brooks, on his website has a great tutorial on barrel inletting, it is much easier and much quicker than most people think. At most, you could use a router to make a channel fairly close to final dimensions and finish by hand. I have done this in the past but don't find it to be all that helpful. A nice sharp, 8 sweep gouge, about 12-14 wide will rough cut a barrel channel, ready for final inletting in a matter of minutes. Besides, that is the HC way to do it. I don't build flintlock rifles to do things the modern way.

[P.W.Berkuta]

I'll do a straight barrel with a router and yes it does take time and yes it does make a mess and yes it DOES screw-up if you not extremely careful with that said I use a professional service to inlet the barrel and drill the ramrod hole -- much easier - faster - and cheaper in the long run .

[Hungry Horse]

I beg to differ with some of you guys. The setup I described I saw in a friends shop. It worked so well that I went home and built one from scratch in about an hour. I have never messed up a stock using this method. Now the band saw, and the ramrod drill are a whole other subject. The friend had a set of carbide router bit designed to cut barrel channels, which I was able to borrow. But I have made a special bit from a good quality spade bit. They work, but you have to take small cuts. Most barrel channels can be cut with the carbide bits in about four passes.
 So, don't be afraid to try this if, like me, you have most of the stuff cluttering up your shop anyway.

  Hungry Horse

[John SMOthermon]

Hungry Horse , do you have a picture of your set up ?

[Hungry Horse]

Smo;

  No, I don't have pictures of the setup. But in the future I intend to reassemble the beast to cut a barrel channel for a club butt musket, and will take some. I think I am going to braze the C clamps to the rails so there are fewer loose parts to assemble.

  Hungry Horse

[Mark Elliott]

I used a router at one time with a set of guides that I made, but the best I could do with it for a swamped barrel was to remove the bulk of the wood, then I was back to hand methods to finish up.   I I eventually decided it wasn't worth the trouble.  A gouge and gunstocking plane is almost as fast and much more versatile.  I use steel guides and a special saw to cut in the sidewalls almost finished.  Even as slow as I am,  inletting a barrel by hand with hand tools, is less than a two day job.  For some people it is less than a day job.

[Clear Spring Armory]

This a homemade router mill I inherited from a guy who got out of the hobby. The heart of it is an old shaper. It will cut straight barrels and RR channels in one pass if cranked fairly slow. About 2 minutes for a 42" barrel I guess. The previous owner did a few swamped barrels with it, but in his own words it was "plenty hard to do". Its hard enough to position the stock to do the RR channel after the barrel is cut, especially if the stock isn't planed with perfectly parallel sides. But he done it, so anything is possible.

If I ever decided I was going to build guns for a living, I think I could build a mill that used a plunge router for doing swamped barrels and roughing the fore end. There would only be a small amount of work to do in the barrel channel if it worked the way I think it would. But it would cost $1000 (or more) and a month of free time to build one,  not really worth it for a hobbiest. Probably getting away from the essence of you question, but I don't know how far you're willing to go.