Making a tow worm

[Dennis Glazener]

I know how to make a tow worm like many of the southern rifle makers made, the one that is flat, then twisted.

I want to make one that has the two rounded tines that are pointed on the ends, sorry not able to better describe them. I think I know how to make them except for the uniform curl of each tine. I remember talking with Jim Webb one time and he was telling me that there was a certain way to make the curl or else the two tines would not be uniform. Anyone have a sure way of curling the tines? Hope this makes sense.
Dennis

[490roundball]

i would think that you need to shape the tines while they are straight and maybe just a little long.  And then with the points set into holes in a jig, heat the tines to red hot and slowly twist the base.  then finish off the tips to match the curve.

[Mark Elliott]

I have made bunches and bunches of these, but it is kinda hard to explain how to make them.     I start with 5/16" weldable steel rod, although I have been toying with the idea of making future ones out of O-1 drill rod so that I could harden and temper them.   The mild steel ones do tend to get mashed down.    Anyway,   I had a production line method for making them where I would put my rod through the headstock hole in my lathe and just stick enough out of the chuck  to make one worm/wiper.   I would do all the turning, usually with files, up to the point where the worm part starts.   That part, you file flat on each side so that you are left with about 1/8" thick section in the middle that is 5/16" wide.   You then saw the flat part in two, splitting it into two equal pieces.   I would then heat these pieces to red hot and bend them out 90 degrees to the rest of the wiper.  You then file each tine round and to a sharp point.   Oh,   I should have said that when you bend them 90 degrees to the rest of the wiper, it is along the tangent of outside curve of the wiper base.   This is part where a picture might help but I don't have one.   If you look down on the bent tines,  you will have half an elongated swastika if that makes any sense.   Now comes the hard part, which if I recalled really wasn't as hard as you might think.   I heated each tine red hot in turn and took some small needle nose pliers and twisted each tine clockwise starting at the very tip.   I made a tiny little clockwise bend in the tip of the tine and just twisted in little by little working on one tine and then the other.   It usually came together pretty well.  I might have to do a little straightening once everything was wound up, but not much.   I could turn those things out at a rate of one per half hour when I really got going.    I used to make one for each gun I made.   I only make them now for the more expensive guns.    I haven't make any for a number of years.   It would probably take me an hour to make one now.    If you want to come over one afternoon,  I can try to demonstrate.

[Mark Elliott]

Now, I remember exactly.    I would roll the tines up one at a time toward the center.    When both were rolled up, I would tease and hammer them together.     

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I pay Jim Webb about $30 - $35 to make them out of drill rod for me.  And he always sends a nice hand written letter when he mails them.  He's quite a guy.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Here's how good they are...

A friend came to my camp at our big BC Rendezvous with a brass bristled brush jammed down at the breech of his rifle barrel...had pulled off of the cleaning rod - stripped threads.  We tried everything we could think of to grab the stub of the threaded end and pull it out, to no avail.
Then I remembered my Jim Webb tow worm for my .50 cal. Voluptuous Virginia rifle.  I threaded it onto my stainless steel cleaning rod, turned it onto the bristle brush and out it came like nothing.  The tynes of the worm wrapped themselves securely around the shank of that brush and gripped it well.  Worked like a hot @!*%.

[Nate McKenzie]

One of the Hershel House videos shows it being done. Its  Building a Kentucky Rifle Part 2 from American Pioneer Video.  Part one is really good too.

[whetrock]

(I wanted to share a couple of tips that might be helpful to anyone who has never made one of these worms.)

When you are twisting up the tines, they need to be twisted in the same direction as the threads on your rod tip. This allows the worm to tighten onto the rod tip as you twist it into any brush, rag, loose wad of tow, etc. that got loose or lodged in the bore (like D.Taylor Sapergia described). If the tines are going in the wrong direction, then when you try to tighten them into the obstruction, then the worm just gets loose and ties to fall off the end of the rod!  (I hate to admit it, but I had to learn this the hard way.)

Standard threads tighten when turned clockwise, so, if made correctly, if you are looking at the shank end of the worm (at the part that screws into the rod), then the tines should be twisting away from you in a clockwise direction. That’s the direction of standard threads.
But when you flip the worm upside down while making it (putting the screw-fitting end down while the shank of the worm is clamped in a vise), then you will need to twist the tines counter clockwise while you are looking at their pointy ends.


I also found that it’s helpful to have a pair of round-tip needle nose pliers when doing this. You pretty much have to use regular needle nose tips (flat tip) to get the tines started twisting, but once they are going, I find it’s helpful to switch over to round tips. The round tip fits down inside the double helix more easily. (Most people alternate back and forth as they twist up the tines, so after the first complete turn on each tine, you have the start of a double helix.) With round tip pliers, the part of the pliers that you put down inside the helix serves as a mandrel, so that the tines have something to wrap around. Since the round tips don’t have edges, they don’t usually mark up the hot metal quite as badly as flat tips can. (Anyway, that’s how I do it and seems to work fairly well.)

It can be difficult to find round tip needle nose pliers that are fine enough for this job. But it’s not too hard to get an old pair of flat tipped needle nose pliers and either grind them or forge them to round. Grind off any teeth before you start shaping them. If you forge them, then you might want to file them smooth when finished shaping them. If you are just going to use them for making worms, then you don’t really need to harden or temper them, since they get hot while you are using them to form the hot tines, anyway.

Whetrock

[whetrock]

Dennis,
I went back to read your original question again. I get the best, most even twist if I use the round tip pliers, like I said above. And I pick a set of pliars that has the narrowest part of the tip equal to the inside diameter of the helix size I want. I first twist the tines up as tight as they will go around the pliars (thereby using the pliars as a mandrel). That makes the curl even, makes everything nice and round, and gets both sides of the helix to match perfectly. Once it's all tight and in line with the shank, then I untwist it just a bit, so as to get some gap between the tines. I then use a screwdriver to space the gaps out evenly. This the best technique I have been able to discover thus far. (I once tried to space the tines out by wrapping a wire up with them, so as to use the wire as a spacer, but all I managed to do was burn my fingers!). Wrapping them up as tight as they will go with the round tips of the pliers as a mandrel gets them nice and even.

I decided to forgo my cup of coffee this AM and instead when to the shop and twisted up a couple of nails, just so as to make a quick illustration. I didn't twist them all the way down for the simple reason that I didn't want to risk ruining the temper on my vise grips. But you get the idea. If you are actually making a worm, you can heat the tines all the way down to their base and twist them up nicely.



Here's a photo to show the even, round curl. This is looking down into the helix.(sorry its blurry)


Here's a photo of the pliers I'm describing. The left most is a modern set, flat with teeth (teeth can be ground off if making a set for using in worm making). The next is an antique pair, flat (square tip) with no teeth, great for getting. the curl started. The third is a round tip pair (the one I used to twist up these nails). These produced a helix that would work for a .50 cal. You would need a set with finer tips if you needed a smaller worm. (By the way, I try to avoid using pliers with teeth, as the teeth cut into the hot tines and leave burrs.)


Finally, here's a picture of set #3 with one side inside the helix, as if I was twisting the tines. This helps illustrate how one side of the pliers goes inside and serves as a mandrel for the tines to wrap around tightly as you make the twist.


In this last picture, the tines have already been untwisted slightly and spaced out.  When first making the curl, they would be touching and tight.

I hope we eventually get to hear how Jim Web does this. I find it facinating to see how different smiths solve these problems in various ways.

Whetrock

PS: for those guys who want to try their hand at this, be sure to polish ALL the forge scale off the outside surface of the helix. The scale is very hard and will scratch up your bore. Some historians suspect that these worms were a major cause of rifling getting worn down in old rifles.

[Dennis Glazener]

Whetrock,
Thanks for the info. I believe that I might have a set of those round nose pliers around here somewhere. My dad was a mechanic and I now have his tools. Seems to me I have seen a set of them, will have to see if I can find them. Otherwise I will see if I can make a set.

Dennis

[RonT]

Well, I see what I'll be doing later today.....
R

[Mark Elliott]

The worm or wiper as it as known in the period was never intended to pull anything out of the bore.  It was intended to hold tow for cleaning onlly.   The originals where soft iron.  Nether they nor the ramrod attachment were intended to pull a ball or brush or anything elese.   They were just for cleaning.


Also,  while I have round jaw pliers for jewelry work,  I always used a standard pair of needle nose pliers to wrap the tines.   You are always wrapping the tines around the round outside surface of the needle nose pliers.   I never got the grip I needed from found jaw pliers.   

[whetrock]

If I understand your description correctly, Mark, you are only catching the very tip of the tine in the pliers, and are then putting both tips of the pliers down inside the helix. Is that correct?

Whetrock

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

This is the tow worm Jim Webb made for me for my .40 cal Kuntz rifle.  He makes them from drill rod.

[Mark Elliott]

Only half the pliers would be inside the curve.  The other half would be outside the curve.   I only used the tip of the pliers given that the worm part of the wiper wasn't long.    i always finished up with a hammer to put the coils together and final shape them.   it is very hard to explain how i did it as I just did it without thinking much about it.   As I recall, it was all very intuitive and just happened.   Sorta like riding a bike or driving a car with a stick.   You just do what you need to do without thinking much about it. 

[Mark Elliott]

Also,  I never polished mine.   They were always fire blued/blackened.   They looked like the originals that I have seen.   If used correctly with tow or patch wrapped around them,  very little if any should come in contact with the bore.   Perhaps I wasn't making them right, but that is what I was doing.   

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Mark, can you post a few pictures of your worms?  I've always been intrigued with them, but never taken the time to create one.

[Mark Elliott]

Taylor,

I have been unable to locate any pictures of my wipers.    I was selling them at one time and did have pictures, but I may have long since deleted them, and any wipers I had were sold with rifles.    I plan to make a couple sometime in the next month or two, probably out of O-1 drill rod.    I will take pictures when I do.

Mark

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Thanks Mark.  I'll watch for them.

[WadePatton]

The method of tine-forming that comes to my (how-it's-made influenced) mind when considering making a tow worm is as such:

create loop (of your chosen prong material) then grab the loop*, heat and twist to desired coil shape, then cut out the bit of metal 'twixt each side and bring to final point/shape. 

the loop could alternatively be slipped over a fixed object and the base twisted to form the tines.

anybody follow that, or do it, or try it that way? 

[whetrock]

WP,
What you are describing works well if you are twisting wire to make a modern, two part worm.

The kind Dennis was asking about with his original question was an antique, one part construction. The tines are anchored at the base and loose on the pointy end. And so the trick is to wind them up in such a way that they are nice and even.

Here's a sketch that might help anyone who has never tried to make one of these. The steps I drew out here show what most people think of as a traditional method for forming the tines. (This is more or less what Mark Elliot described above as his method for forming the tines. It's also the method Hershel House teaches on his blacksmithing video.) The actual shape of the tines and the techniques for twisting them vary somewhat. (This is just a sketch. I don't mean to recommend any particular shape.)

Whetrock

[whetrock]

Let me briefly point out, as well, that the technique for making round-tine worms and flat-tine worms can be a little different.

When making round tines, it's common to pull the tines apart, so as to have complete access to them. (That's the second step in my diagram above. Depending on how far you pull them apart, they could be in the shape of a "Y" or even a "T"). The objective is to get complete access to the entire surface, so as to be able to forge and file it nice and round.

In contrast, when making a flat-tine worm, like the terrific one made by Jim Webb (see D. Taylor Sapergia's great photo above), the smith doesn't necessarily have to pull the tines apart at all. He can leave them pointed straight up, and simply cut and file out the center of the "U", leaving a shape more or less like a tuning fork. He then points them and twists them up.

Some worms/wipers made this way have tines with a rectangular cross section. (The one by Jim Webb seems to have tines with such a rectangular cross section.) Other smiths like to make flat tines with a semi-circular inside, something like a slice of watermelon in cross section.
 There's just a lot of variation in how people do this.

Whetrock

PS: Here's a sketch of a flat-tine "tuning fork" before it is twisted. I hope you will also go back and look at D. Taylor Sapergia's photo again.)

PSS: Please understand that I'm not intending to speak for Jim here. I still hope we get to hear him describe his method.