Pouring a pewter nose cap

[Ken Guy]

With all these Southern guns being built right now I figured a few pics of pouring a pewter nose cap might come in handy.  I hope someone finds this helpful.   
Ken

To get started you need the wood down to pretty close to where it needs to be.  Maybe a 1/16' of wood more than you need.  Leave some wood in case it scorches and then sand to final shape. 
Draw out your design and start inletting.  One of those Exacto saw blades comes in handy for cutting long straight lines.  Notice I have the parts to be removed colored in.  That will keep you from making a bad mistake.  I know.   


Once the wood is removed, color the inleted area with a #2 pencil.  This reportedly will help the pewter flow.  I don't know that for sure but I'm not taking any chances.  Getting it to flow is the name of the game.


I then drill small locking lugs into the inletted area.  You wouldn't think it would need these but the pewter will shrink a little and I have had one that would rattle around a wee bit. 


There's a bunch of ways to do this next step.  This is just the way I do it.  I take some thick card stock.  What you see is the cardboard wrapper that sand paper comes in.  Place it between the barrel and the stock.


Take a second piece of the same card stock and wrap around the area you plan to pour.


You can see that I leave extra space in the mold that has been made.  This will go a long way toward getting the pewter to flow into all the voids and make a nice clean pour.  I will also give you a work out when your trying to file and rasp everything off. 


Wrap everything in masking tape.  When you think you have everything wrapped good, add some more tape.  We'll see why later.  I use modeling clay to seal every corner and place pewter might leak, like along the edge of the stock and the barrel.  You will notice I have filled in the inlet for my ram rod and barrel lug.  I also learned this the hard way.  Trust me.  If you have a spill or leak the pewter WILL go in the worst place possible. 



That includes right down the ram rod hole.  That gets taped over too.


Your probably thinking, he's going on and on about the spills and leaks.  Here's a couple of pics to show you I'm not making it up. 


After al I did to prevent this it still happened, A leak!  All is not lost.  You can take a soldering iron or gun and heat sections and the pewter will fall out of the mortise.


Now the safety tip.  Wear long pants, long sleeve shirt, wear gloves and face protection.  I use a full face shield.  This shows how far the stuff will splatter when it hits something like that vice on its way to the floor.  My pants were covered with pewter splatters. 


OK, Back to the nose cap.  First, I heat a bolt and drop it down the barrel.  This will preheat the barrel and keep the pewter from shilling off when it hits the cold steel.


Make sure the bolt head is larger than the bore.  This will also keep a missed pour from going down the barrel.


Now heat your pewter.  This will give the bolt time to heat the barrel.  Unfortunantly it also makes the tape turn to goo.  This is the culprit for the above leak and spill.  A nessesary evil.  How much to heat the pewter?  You can get it too hot and it will scorch the wood.  Not hot enough and it will not pour.  I don't have a temp guage so I use a toothpick.  One of those round maple ones.  You should be able to put the toothpick in the melted pewter for a couple of seconds without it scorching/charring the toothpick.  I have observed that when it is too hot the surface of the pewter will get sort of a blue hue to it. 


Here's what it looks like after the card stock and tape has been removed.  I'll bet you are thinking what a mess!  Get your rasp and files out.  Now the fun part begins.  Oh, you'll need some elbow grease too.


Finished Product.

[billd]

Ken,   Thank you very much.  Now how about one for a half stock? 

Bill

[KentSmith]

KEn,  good tutorial.  The pencil lead does seem to help the flow.  I use a course cut file as it doesn't load as much and fast when removing the excess pewter.

I don't put the card under the barrel as I am afraid of pewter moving down under the barrel and filling up the lug mortise.  I do put a thin layer of clay under the barrel right beneath where the pour will reach to act as a dam to prevent pewter movement down the barrel channel.  Perhaps the card does the same.  Will try with the gun on my bench now.  Thanks

[vpitman]

Ken,
 Thanks for the tutorial as I am getting ready to pour my first nosecap. It is a half stock so perhaps another set of pictures from someone or yourself to show me any differences would be appreciated.

[melsdad]

Thank you for the tutorial Ken, I will be pouring my first pewter bolster on a knife I am working on. The pictures are very helpful.

[Ken Guy]

Thanks guys.  Sounds like the posting was timely.  I hope someone will post some pics of a half stock pour along with this.   
Kent,
I have done the same with the clay in the barrel channel to seal it off.  I have become very paranoid about it getting in the barrel lug inlets.  Had it happen one time and had to make a teeny tiny chisel to dig out.  what a pain. 
Ken

[acorn20]

Great tutorial Ken.  Thanks for the pictures.
Dan

[KentSmith]

Ken, had the problem more than once, as I am a slow learner, and paranoia isn't strong enough a word for it.  I also fill up the first lug mortise now.

I've followed the same basic procedure for halfstocks but heated the barrel with a torch rather than using a heated bolt.  Used a file to contour properly.

[Ken Guy]

The first ram rod mortise and the first barrel lug are both filled with clay on mine.  The others mortises have masking tape over them.  I have even went as far as wrapping the entire stock with a large piece of paper before.  Looked like it had a tee-pee built around it. 
Seems like Dennis Glazener posted about pewter getting in a barrel lug mortise or something on one his guns.  It must be some sort of right of passage. 

Ken

[Ben Voss]

On the one and only pewter nose cap i tried to pour, about 25 years ago on a half-stock, the pewter got away from me and went down the ramrod hole and into the lock mortise- disaster would be an understatement!! I broke most of the locks internals by trying to knock it loose with a drift-punch through the lock bolt hole- the trigger and it's plate are still locked in their mortise. Oh yeah- and I cracked the stock too. I guess the moral of the story is to plug the ramrod hole really well and don't get the pewter too hot. Paranoia is probably a good thing in this instance!

[Roger Fisher]

I would add that when cutting the mortice to pour make certain they are not too shallow to prevent  chilling the pour and not filling.      Also undercut your cut grooves a tad to help her grip!

[deano]

I got a hint from someplace to cut a piece of wood in an octagional shape and use it in the barrel channel instead of the barrel.  This prevents the big heat sink effect of a cold metal barrel has on the molten pewter.

On a straight octagon barrel it is an easy couple of cuts on a table saw with a piece of scrap 2X4. I made for a smooth pour and didn't require heating the barrel and  was one less thing to mess with.

Ken

[Robby]

Ken , Nice job. I like the idea of the hot bolt down the bore. I use copper foil instead of the cardboard and heat the whole thing with a heat gun. The hot bolt will reduce the use of the heat gun considerably, Thanks!
Robby

[Ken Guy]

I wish I could take credit for the bolt idea but one of the House bros. beat me to it.  I understand its in one of their tapes. 
Ken

[Rolfkt]

Great tutorial. Please Ken, could you move it to the tutorial section so it does not get lost?

Best regards

Rolfkt