Inletting octagonal to round, swamped

[Jamie]

Hi,

I've searched the archives, read Dixon, Buchele et al and Alexander's books as well as many websites.  I currently have Mark Silver's video on order.

Can anyone suggest a source of additional information for inletting the above?  I've come to the conclusion that one just follows a similar technique to that for swamped octagonal, cutting (or scraping) and fitting until that Eureka moment, but thought I'd throw out this last plaintive cry for help.

(Not really a big deal, looking forward to it either way.)

Jamie

[Mike Brooks]

Contact Mark Weader or Dave Rase, they'll inlet it perfectly for a small fee.

[frogwalking]

I second the Mark Weader suggestion.  Here is his contact info.               Call in the morning, I think he works in the afternoon.

Mark Weader
Jack's Mountain Stock Co
101 Cave Ln,
McClure, PA 17841
(717) 543-5370

[davebozell]

If you want to inlet it yourself, good for you!  I've used 1/2" x 1/4" steel from McMaster-Carr for guides along the sides of the barrel.   They need to be screwed down every 3-4" to conform well to the sides of the barrel.   You will have to raise them up with washers initially, but as you inlet further, they can be removed.  Use the steel guides as a guide for your chisels, or for a router.  (I used chisels, myself.). If you just want the barrel inletted, then Mike's advise is spot on.

[rich pierce]

Have you inletted octagonal barrels by hand before? 

Many barrel channels on originals with octagonal barrels are basically round anyway.  When hand inletting a round barrel or an octagon to round barrel, use chisels, planes, and scrapers- the same as with an octagonal barrel.  Put the barrel on top of the stock, scribe some lines, stab in the edges and get to taking wood out.  The rails technique works well from what I see but I've never used it.

[Jamie]

Mike and frogwalking, I'm doing this for fun, so although your advice is probably excellent from an efficiency point of view, I'll pass for now.  I can't start cutting for a few months so I'm having a great time reading and picking up the odd tool, planning the workbench and so on.

BTW Mike, I last night I saw the interview  you did for a TV show whose name I've forgotten (sorry).  Good show and found it really interesting.  Also very envious of how you can step out the back door and fire your rifle like that.  If I did that it would be... well, not sure just how to describe it!

Dave, I've seen that suggestion in one of my books, good to have your endorsement for it and I'll probably do that.  I need to visit the forge and make some scrapers to go between those rails, I've got a couple of old files earmarked for that.

Rich, your post just arrived, thanks for joining in.  No, I've never done any inletting, this is a new venture for me.  Just one of those itches that need scratching.  Thanks for the comments, they're helpful.

Jamie

[bama]

I like to hand inlet my barrel's because I like to do it. It took me about a week to inlet my first barrel into a blank. I now have that time down to about 8 hours for a swamped barrel. I have probably inlet 50 or barrels and it is no big chore if you break it down in stages and do a good layout on width and depth of the barrel on the wood so you can check your progress as you go. But it is pretty hard work and if you have an expensive piece of wood you probably should have one of the guys do a machine inlet for you.

[jerrywh]

 It was fun for the first 20 years. Then one day I got a real hard piece of wood  and the grain changed every 2 inches. I asked myself , am I going to do this for another 20 years. NO.  So I made a machine like Dave Race's.  I think this was apprentice work at the Dickert shop. If and when you get old and your hands hurt too bad to even write, look back at this.

[Jamie]

I like to hand inlet my barrel's because I like to do it. It took me about a week to inlet my first barrel into a blank. I now have that time down to about 8 hours for a swamped barrel. I have probably inlet 50 or barrels and it is no big chore if you break it down in stages and do a good layout on width and depth of the barrel on the wood so you can check your progress as you go. But it is pretty hard work and if you have an expensive piece of wood you probably should have one of the guys do a machine inlet for you.

Bama, not a problem, there're new trees growing all the time.  Good advice I'm sure but no thanks - I hope to like it too!

I plan to make a series of templates, with the various radii hanging down with stops on the side (kind of like Kilroy's nose hanging over the wall, if you remember him?)  to show when the inletting is getting close.  The templates will be undersize, to get me to where I start using the inletting black.

I may be over thinking and making it more complicated than it needs to be, done that before but if so it should be apparent pretty early on.

Jerry, good point, I'll see how it goes but so far there's only a hint of arthritis in my hands.  Hope you're still enjoying everything else now you've got the machine.

Jamie

[Dale Halterman]

The wedding bands at the transition from octagon to round deserve a bit of attention. On all the original barrels I have seen (admittable not that many), the bands were filed in. And they were only on the top half or the barrel so they were not an issue when inletting.

On all the modern made barrels I have seen (again not that many), the bands were turned on a lathe so they go all the way around. Some modern builders ignore tha bands and inlet the barrel is if were straight and leave tiny gaps at the bottom of the grooves in the bands.

On the only oct/round I have inletted, I tried to do it properly but manage to chip of some pieces off when taking the barrel in and out of the stock for installing the lugs, sights and so on. So I removed the remaining inletting at the bands and waited until the stock was ready for final shaping and finishing. Then I glued in a small block of wood on each side of the barrel channel and inlet the bands again.

Dale H

[James Rogers]

The wedding bands at the transition from octagon to round deserve a bit of attention. On all the original barrels I have seen (admittable not that many), the bands were filed in. And they were only on the top half or the barrel so they were not an issue when inletting.

On all the modern made barrels I have seen (again not that many), the bands were turned on a lathe so they go all the way around. Some modern builders ignore tha bands and inlet the barrel is if were straight and leave tiny gaps at the bottom of the grooves in the bands.

On the only oct/round I have inletted, I tried to do it properly but manage to chip of some pieces off when taking the barrel in and out of the stock for installing the lugs, sights and so on. So I removed the remaining inletting at the bands and waited until the stock was ready for final shaping and finishing. Then I glued in a small block of wood on each side of the barrel channel and inlet the bands again.

Dale H

Original Spanish/Portuguese type barrels were lathe turned to have their rings all the around.

[Mike Brooks]

I did my first 14 by hand. I probably wouldn't have any hands left if I wouldn't have been introduced to Fred Miller. Now I'd quit building guns if I had to do barrels by hand, wouldn't be much fun anymore, especially with the number of guns I have to build to eat.

[Jamie]

Mike, you don't have to prove anything to anyone, but I bet the first time a barrel slipped into a perfect inlet, way back when, you got a great big jolt of satisfaction!

[Mike Brooks]

Mike, you don't have to prove anything to anyone, but I bet the first time a barrel slipped into a perfect inlet, way back when, you got a great big jolt of satisfaction!

More like relief.....

[KentSmith]

Considering the amount of time it saves getting the job done plus the ramrod routed and drilled makes good sense.  I think you should do a few by hand though just to appreciate the difference.