cranked paring chisel

[Luke]

good day to all,trying to clean out a barreli chanel wandering if a cranked handle paring chisel will help.thought i might ask before i spend the money doing  the job with chisels good thing the blood from my knuckles will wipe of the stock,thanks for all the help.luke

[T*O*F]

Yes, Dru Hedgecock sells a nice set of four for about $8 apiece.

[Jerry V Lape]

T*O*F, 

Don't know Dru Hedgecock.  Not on the membership list and the only internet information is about a company in NC.  Can you give more info, like contact information. 

[T*O*F]

Jerry,
I don't have his info handy, but I'm sure someone else will. He used to advertise in MuzzleBlasts but I don't see anything in current issues.

[T*O*F]

These are Dru's chisels on TOTW.  I bought all 8 from him at Friendship for $8 apiece, but it was several years ago.  That may be the current price or TOTW's price.

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/1031/1

[Ron Scott]

If you love fine tools you might check out the laminated Japanese Cranked Paring Chisles at Tools For Working Wood. They have a web site and are generous with catalogue's.

[gunmaker]

Make them, any good steel will work, heat treated or not.  Bend a garage sale screw driver to an angle & sharpen. The big handle is easy to grip. 1/2 the chisels & scrapers on my bench are home made.  Tiny scrw drvrs make very good inleting tools.

[Brian Jordan]

I have been making my own tools as I build, and need a tool. Buy yourself a length of O1 flatstock 1/8" thick, and 1/4" thick. I have made several custom scrapers and chisels out of O1 material. It is relatively easy to heat treat, and temper at home. And is an excellent steel for this work.

[Jim Kibler]

As to your original question, a cranked chisel works well for finishing a barrel channel.  One where the crank is near the handle seems to work best in my view.   This allows a good length of the chisel to ride in the channel while cutting.  I believe Marples makes a chisel like this.  I'll also add that if you go to the trouble to make something like this, it ought to be made of quality material capable of being hardened and tempered. 

[Kermit]

Like this:

http://www.traditionalwoodworker.com/1_4-Cranked-Bevel-Edge-Paring-Chisel-by-Henry-Taylor/productinfo/225%2D1014/

My paring chisels are by Sorby, but I think those crank necks are gone away now. I haven't seen them in a good while. Taylors are good ones too. Paring chisels are expensive, and are not frequently used in the shop, but they are what you need sometimes. The only crank neck I have is a 1/4", and it's all I need. I have 2 straight ones that get more use, but not what you need in a barrel channel.

Get a 1/4" Taylor crank neck, keep it scary sharp. You'll probably come to wonder why you haven't had one sooner. I made leather sleeves for each of mine to protect the somewhat fragile edges.

[Acer Saccharum]

Make yourself a nice hook scraper, about 1/4 wide.

When I used to inlet my own barrels, I'd rout a rough channel, then start to fit the barrel down in. I used a #3 sweep x 16 mm wide fishtail gouge across the grain, down the sides, down the oblique flats, then across the bottom, from both sides. This entail prying against the top edges of the channel, so leave the wood 1/32" high on the sides, then rasp/plane the extra off later to restore the nice sharp top corner of the inlet. Clean it up with a scraper.

It only took me a week to inlet a barrel with this method. 

[Jim Kibler]

Yes, Kermit, that is the style I'm refering to.  I learned about using these for barrel inletting from Mark Silver.

[Jerry V Lape]

Jim Kibler,  Which widths do you find most useful?   

[Jim Kibler]

Just pick a size as large as possible that still will fit inside the flats of the barrels you inlet.

[Kermit]

If the flats of all the barrels you'll ever need to inlet are less than 1/2" wide, get that size. I'd get the 1/4". And don't be tempted to get the short version. Using the long one is like having a long plane sole. It's much easier to keep a nice long flat when paring. And scary-sharp is the key, especially when trying to take fine almost invisible thin parings from stubborn figured hardwoods.

The advice to make a narrow hook scraper is good too. Used together and with care, you could theoretically make a barrel inlet that's a press fit!

[mark esterly]

another source for good steel if you care to make them yourself is worn hex wrenches.   allen wrenches are s2 steel and eklind are 8650 chrome nickle.