Cutting wedge slots?

[Scota4570]

How do you do it accurately? 

On my current build the loops have the slots already.  This build has no escutcheon plates so I have little room for error. 

I would normally make an undersized exploratory pin hole in the center of the loop using  a careful set-up in the milling machine.  IF that is good I then drill two more undersized holes to form a slot guide. Since I broke the set up to check, I start the two holes from both sides.  Drills love to wander.  Assuming it is still going well I worry the slot out using very thin chisels and broaches I made.  Sometime I make a long tapered wedge shape tool and heat it up enough to iron out the wood but not char anything badly. 

This is all very tedious.  Is there a better way? 

[Kevin Houlihan]

 There is a post or 2 on this very subject in the Tutorial section. I followed the tutorial and was able to get a wedge in with no gaps. The tutorial is similar to the process you describe.
Good luck
Kevin

[Scota4570]

I found some information after searching around.  I did not find anything in the tutorial sections with a title that indicated wedge inletting, so I asked. 

It looks like my  round barrel and a wonkie precarve stock is going to make it even more tedious.  The tutorial techniques were close to what I do already. 

I do the drilling on a milling machine.  I do not want the barrel to be loose.  Should I aim for a bit too tight and inlet the barrel a bit deeper until the wedge tension is correct?  I was thinking of going about 0.020" too tight.   

Sorry to be a pest.  This a critical step that is easily botched.   

[rich pierce]

It’s easy to tighten wedges with the barrel out of the stock. Place the wedge in the tenon and tap the top 🔝 f the wedge with a brass or copper hammer.

Too tight is not good. If things swell, stocks crack.

It’s good to have the wedges taper just a little.

[Kevin Houlihan]

https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=10171.0

Scota4570,
 I pretty much followed the above tutorial.  I used a .070" wedge and an .062" X .250" slot.  I marked both sides of the stock so that when drilled, the slot would be a little too narrow for the wedge.  On  one side I drilled into the stock until I hit the tenon and stopped.  On the other side i drilled until the drill bit just barely went through the tenon.  I pulled the barrel out and connected the holes in the tenon to make a slot and then filed the slot to fit the wedge.  I chiseled the wood on the stock the same way, turning a couple of holes into a slot on each side.  My object in all of this was to have the wood slots be too small.  I put the barrel back in and was able to look through the too small slots and see the slot in the tenon was fairly well lined up.  Next I pulled the barrel out, heated up the wedge and slowly pushed the wedge into the slot, burning it in with a pair of pliers.  You don't need to heat the wedge up as much as you think.  You don't need red heat    It took a couple of heats to slowly push the wedge in, but it went in.  At first I heated it up too much and I ended up with the entry side of the slot a little bigger than I wanted, but it's covered by the key head so it's OK.  After I scraped of the charred wood I was left with a tight slot that didn't need escutcheons.  After I but the barrel back in the stock I had to do some minor filing with needle files in the wood and the tenon slot to get everything fitting well.  Let me know if I confused the matter or if I can help some more.
Good luck,
Kevin

[mikeyfirelock]

I drill for wedges when the stock is still squared up, but barrel is inletted with the
loops installed.  I place the barrel in position on top of the stock at 90 degrees so the loops rest at the correct points, and using a square, mark across the top of the stock where the tenons ( or pins) will tho crosswise in the  stock from side to side . Then take a square ( remember to have the top of the stock…square…..straight……and level).   Then transfer those lines from the top down the sides of the stock to show where the slots for the  wedges will be located.
Now place a “fence” …..could be angle iron or a board……to butt up against the top flat of the barrel on the drill press table and clamp it in place so that the drill when lowered in the drill press will just clear the bottom of  the slot in each staple ( for straight barrel…..swamped barrels require resetting for each slot)  you may now set the barrel up , clamp in place, and drill  your series of holes for each loop (on a straight barrel…..swamp requires slight reset for each one due to different dimension foe each slot. )  This has worked well for me several times.  Sound complicated,but is very simple and easy.
An addendum:    It’s easy to adjust the force the wedge applies vertically by putting a slight bend in it to apply more pressure to the bottom of the loop. 
( but you all knew that !………I had to find it out….after enlarging my vocabulary)