Wood patch box???

[Daryl Pelfrey]

Ive got it in my head a sliding wood patchbox would be easier than a brass one. Am I  way off on my thinking?
Do you use a router to get the  mortise cut in the stock?
Thanks for any help as I am a  real  beginner.

[M. E. Pering]

Hi Daryl... This is somewhat like comparing apple and oranges, IMHO.  They both have their advantages and their difficulties.  I do not use a router for cutting my wood box mortice, just chisels and files.  You may be tempted to use a router, but I can see to many pitfalls here.  For one thing, I have the area already shaped into a buttstock before I cut the mortice, so a router would not work with my method.  Besides, if you did manage to cut it with a router, there would still be the fine fitting to be done afterward.  A CNC could probably do it, but I am not about to go to that expense to upgrade my mill just to cut patchbox mortices... Just as fast to do it by hand when you consider setup time for CNC.  Just my opinion.

Matt

[Scota4570]

Save the router and Dremil for other projects.  Neither has any place in gun work. 

[bob in the woods]

I've found power tools to be extremely efficient when it comes to ruining stocks. Routers and dremels are especially good for this    Honestly, I use a forstner bit , and chisels to do the job on the stock. Then clean up the dovetail with a triangle file. The lid itself is a fun job, either making a one piece, or if you want, a two piece . I'm told that some originals are two piece design, and my first couple were made that way. 

[Daryl]

No routers - Forstener bits and chisels.

[M. E. Pering]

Beautiful example, Daryl.

[smart dog]

Hi,
I make the lid by band sawing out the basic outline, then marking lines for the outer edges of the dove tails on the bottom of the lid. The edges of the dovetails and the lid usually taper slightly toward the lock on most early rifles. I then mark the vertical depth of the dovetails on the sides of the lid and horizontal depth of the bottom (widest part) of the dovetails on the bottom of the lid. Using a flat chisel I simply cut in along my horizontal line and down along my bottom line, which removes the wood forming the shoulders of the lid. I square the shoulder up with my bottoming file and then cut the dove tails. To do that, I simply cut vertically down with a flat chisel along my lines on the sides of the lid and at about a 60 degree angle along the bottom lines. Then I clear the chips, do it again if necessary, and clean up the dovetails with a triangular file. Then I cut and file a shoulder on the front of the dovetails for the tip of the lid to ride over the stock. It takes me about 30 minutes to do the job.
Next, I make sure the area on the stock over which the lid will slide is flat from the butt plate to the end of the lid. I remove the butt plate and position the lid on the stock and trace the outer edges of the dovetails with a pencil. Next I scribe pencil lines inside and parallel to the lines for the outside edges of the dovetails. I scribe those inner lines with a knife and straight edge and the end of the dovetailed portion of the lid. I back cut those scribed lines. Using a shallow sweep, I cut away in the middle of the mortice and then cut the edges deeper until I have a flat bottomed mortice ready for dovetails. With a flat chisel, I cut down at a 60 degree angle just below the top edge of the mortice sides and then straight in from the bottom of the mortice. That cuts out a triangular chip of wood forming the dovetail. I clean out those chips and clean up the dovetails with a triangular file. Using the file and scraping the dovetails with my flat chisels, I fit the lid until it slides nicely in place. Then I trace the butt plate profile on the end of the lid and cut it off. Finally, I remove the lid, install the butt plate and file the dove tailed mortice until it is flush with the wood dovetails. Then using a small block plane and files, I roughly shape the top of the lid. Some folks use jigs and special planes for all this. I do it mostly free hand and it takes me about 2 hours to make a lid and install it to the point shown.









Then I use auger bits and a brace and bit to drill out the mortice.  I clean it up with firmer chisels and my bottoming file. Finally I forge the spring catch and install it.

dave

[alacran]

Save the router and Dremil for other projects.  Neither has any place in gun work.

I have inlet many straight octagon barrels and even a few swamped barrels using router jigs that I have made.
If you send a barrel and stock to be inlet for you, I bet some form of router is used.
As far as a Dremmel is concerned there are a multitude of uses in gun work for it.
Having said all that a wood patchbox is fairly easy to do by hand. I could make a router jig for it , but it would take me longer to engineer it than it would to do it by hand.

[Mike Brooks]

Ive got it in my head a sliding wood patchbox would be easier than a brass one. Am I  way off on my thinking?
Do you use a router to get the  mortise cut in the stock?
Thanks for any help as I am a  real  beginner.

Ever buy any gun making books or DVD's? Ever look at the tutorials on this forum? All kinds of very helpful information is available for stuff like this. Avoid power tools at all cost.

[RichG]

contact Muzzleloader builders supply and see if he has any of his dovetail jigs in stock. works well and does both lid and box sides of patch box.

[P.W.Berkuta]

smart dog -- Your pictures and description on your technique of doing the patchbox is a good one I will bookmark it for future reference -- thank you

[Daryl Pelfrey]

Thankyou very much. Those pictures and explaantion help lot.

[Craig Wilcox]

Dave, excellent "mini-tutorial" on wooden patch boxes!  Thanks for the pictures.

[Wyoduster]

Dave ,
  That is the most awesome editorial on that I've seen.. Now I'm ready to give it a shot.... again..
As an Old Carpenter I have found molding covers most mistakes...