A friend of mine liked shooting my blunderbuss so much, he asked me to help him build one. He has gather up all the required parts including an Ed Rayl, 4 gage, simple flared steel barrel. However, he liked the decorative bands I put on the muzzle of my brass barrel and so I have added bands to his steel one.
The first photo shows the plain steel barrel and the brass one together for comparison. Both are 4 gage.
The first step in adding muzzle rings was to machine two steel blank bands with an internal contour that closely matched the barrel flare.
There is a little back and forth fitting required to get the bands to seat at the correct location, so they have to come on and off a few times and have some additional machining done with each iteration. However, it doesn't take more than 15 minutes or so to final fit each ring.
The blank rings were then brazed / soldered in place with Hi Force (~600 degree silver bearing material).
Once cool, the barrel was set up in the lathe for final machining of the bands.
I ground a form tool to cut the central decorative ring and shaped the rest with files. This part is much easier in brass where I use wood turning tools and run the lathe at high speed. The brass cuts just like wood and it is very easy to turn any decorative shape you want. The steel works a little harder.
Finished bands
Before the new muzzle bands
And after
Just personal preference, but I like the cannon look.
