Creating the stock with nothing but hand tools

[mwhartma]

Im currently building a colonial LR (pre revolution) using the "Recreating the American long rifle" book as a guide. Ive done a couple pistol kits and wanted to make a rifle to hunt with and pass down to my kids someday. I bought all the parts from TOTW except the stock which I'm getting as a blank. After looking around I am having a hard time figuring out how I'm going to inlet the barrel with hand tools only. I have only a cordless hand drill for power tools and don't have the space for anything else. My question is what would be the best way to inlet the barrel and other parts using only hand tools including a list if possible of tools I could buy/make. I'm not worried about spending a lot of time doing it mainly because I rather enjoy the challenge and whole process. The barrel is a .50 straight GM 15/16
(I live in a 2 bedroom condo with my wife hence no room for the power tools and cant deal with the noise)

Thanks

[Jerry V Lape]

There are a couple of threads regarding inletting the barrel.  Use the search function and see if you find them.  They will pretty much help you with your questions. 

[Clark Badgett]

I am no expert, but I do know how to use hand tools. In fact I've gotten to where I prefer them. You can use that cordless drill to remove some of the excess wood from the barrel channel. Get some masking tape and carefully place a piece around the a drill bit close but smaller than the flats of your barrel. The tape is used to mark the depth you will drill too. Drill series of holes next to each other down the length where you have marked you barrel. Use a good sharp chisel and gouge to remove the left over wood. At that point all that would be left is the carefull fitting part. You will need a good hand saw that is you are caple with to rough cut out the stock profile.

[galamb]

I do use some power tools to shorten the time spent on areas where I need to remove a lot of wood, but could do it just as well with hand tools and a bit/ a lot more time.

For barrel inlet, stock shaping these are my "go to" tools.




I am part way through a "hand inlet" of a swamped barrel using "guide rails". I had read the technique in The Gunsmith of Grenville County and was inspired to actually try it after Taylor recently posted up some pics partially showing the process.

This is one of those situations where I initially used a router instead of a chisel, just to save to some time. But after the initial channel was routed the rest has been done by hand with a chisel/mallet.

(this is my first inlet of a swamped barrel - have done tapers and straight only up until now)


















After the rails are installed you "saw" down, using the rails as a guide to a depth equal to the bottom of the side flat of the barrel you are inletting. With a swamped barrel, the bottom will vary somewhat in line with the swamp pattern. So a bit of measuring/figuring to make sure you don't go too far.

You saw down until the saw "binds" and then start to chisel, using that saw cut as your "side stop".







I have got side tracked for a couple of days now so haven't chiseled in the bottom three flats yet but have my channel cleaned up down to the bottom of the side flats.

I have found it time consuming and tedious (8 working hours to this point), but can say this works exceptionally well - barrel fits the inlet like a glove. In fact I'm going to hit the sides with a bit of sandpaper because it's actually a little tighter than I prefer - but not a gap anywhere - a solid technique.

[smylee grouch]

I'm thinking that a straight barrel would be wrong for a pre-revolution rifle but if you do use it I thought the book you mentioned covered how to do everything when building the longrifle. The post befor this should give you some good ideas.

[kaintuck]

I have done complete rifle with just chisels, and gouges, now I like to use small hand planes, and a small 'hags tooth' hand router.......takes time...but heh....this ain't a race!

[David R. Pennington]

I did octagon/round tapered and flared in a walnut stock a while back with only hand tools. I used a couple different radius gouges, several chisels, slim blade carving knife, home made scrapers from old files, and a router plane. I buy antique tools I can restore mostly. Most of my favorite tools are old ones I've bought at flea markets and antique stores. Usually the quality of the old tools is excellent. You don't want to waste your time with cheap imports. You will spend all your time trying to keep them sharp, and they must be always SHARP!
Some type of transfer color will be needed. Candle soot works very good but it gets tiring holding a heavy barrel over a flame so I cheat some and use lipstick and a small artists brush.
Gouges are very versatile. They can remove a lot of wood quickly or shave of paper thin curls. The router plane will help control depth of cut. I forged my own cutters to meet my needs. I made scrapers out of old files for both octagon and round.

[mwhartma]

Thanks a lot guys,
I know it should be a swamped barrel to be period. But for my first build I didn't want to bite off more than I was able to chew, being new to this I know this is just the first of hopefully many. The book I have did show the drill hole method but I also know there is more than one way to skin something. It is looking like that is going to be the best way for me right now

[smylee grouch]

Good luck to you Mike. Have fun, ask questions here and welcome to the fourm.

[Mark Elliott]

I always inlet my barrels with hand tools.   The only power tools used on my last rifle were a band saw to cut out the butt stock,  a drill press, and a cordless electric drill ( As much as I am a fan of hand tools, I am afraid you would have to pry my 18v Dewalt Drill/Driver out of my cold dead hands ) .    I use a 17mm (approx) #3 gouge to removed most of the wood in the barrel channel.    Using the rail system and a saw I made from a dovetail saw, I cut in the side walls.   I use a large (1", very, very sharp) flat chisel to cut out the waste side of the sidewalls.   Then it is to the period gun stocking planes (these look like moulding plane with parallel sides) to remove most of the rest of the wood.   One of my planes is round bottomed.   The other, I have modified to be octagonal on the bottom.   I also have an octagonal scraper I made a looooooooong time ago.   The last few inches of the breech must be completely inlet with the large #3 gouge and a cranked flat chisel.    I use a 1/4" and a 1/2" flat chisel to cut in the inlet for the actual breech and recoil lug.  The breech needs to be inlet pretty well.  The muzzle should be close.   The rest should just touch the barrel hear and there.   That is good enough.   The most important thing is to carefully trim the sidewalls with a large flat chisel BEFORE you remove the guides.   This will ensure that that barrel isn't hanging up on the sidewalls anywhere.   That should save you a lot of time.   You should be able to do this in a day.  

[Mark Elliott]

I should have mentioned this.  Mark Silver has a couple of DVDs available from American Pioneer Video on building longrifles only with hand tools.  

You are going to have to buy most of these tools used on ebay or the like.  They just don't make good hand tools these days unless they are very expensive.   If you buy one of the name brands such as Stanley or Disston made before WWII,  you should be getting something good.   The older the tool, the better the quality, usually.   Late 18th or 19th century is best.   You can get very serviceable tools cheap if you don't mind chips and scratches in the paint or paint splatters.   The collectors don't want these, but missing paint ( or some extra paint) has nothing to do with how it works.   You will need to learn to recondition and sharpen planes, saws, and chisels.   A draw knife is a must have  for rapid stock removal on the butt.   A really sharp one will lop hard maple off like it is styrofoam as long as you are cutting in the right direction.   Don't waste you time with metal spoke shaves.   Get the older wooden spoke shaves in a couple different sizes.  They go around curves better.   Basically, you need a few saws, a draw knife, a couple spoke shaves,  and a good assortment of planes, chisels, files, and scrapers.   If you have a place to do the heat treating of the blades,  wood planes are easy to make as are chisels and scrapers.   I stock various sizes of 1095 steel for making such tools.   A period brace and bits are also good as are gimlets.  You can get a nice set of French made gimlets from Garret Wade for about $20.   They handle the small holes.  

You could make a large wooden tool box to hold all the tools you would need.   Look at some of the old 19th century carpenters tools boxes for examples.  

The one thing that you MUST have that takes up some room is a good solid bench.   You will need something about 20"x72"x36".   I  have a couple made of 2x4s and 3/4" plywood that would probably work for you.   They are made up of  two ladder frames with legs bolted on the front.   The back of the ladder frames are screwed into wall studs with lag screws.   That makes them as solid as the wall.   Then order the multi-vise from Garret-Wade to go on the bench.  

You can do this, but it is going to take some time to get everything together and ready for gun work.    Collecting the tools and learning what to do with them is a lifelong hobby in itself.   I have been buying and making tools since I was a kid.  I am 52 now and almost have everything I need.     There are lots of little jigs and special tools that make things a lot easier. 

You might want to find a friend with a well equipped shop to make you some of the things you can't buy.