Need help on pouring a pewter nose cap.

[Boompa]

  The pour went well on the Hawken until I removed all the poster board, tape, etc.  About halfway through my effort n filing the pewter down to correct shape, the pewter broke free from the stock.  In other words, the pewter did not adhere to the wood where it was supposed to, it came off the stock rather easily. Enough wood was removed to allow about 1/8" of pewter in thickness.  The wood was clean, sanded, with pencil lead in corners to aid in the flow.  Now I'm back to square one on pouring the cap. Any ideas?

[Clark Badgett]

Sounds like you had everything right for the shape of the nose cap. Did you have anything for the pewter to grab and lock into?

[B.Habermehl]

Pewter does not really adhere to wood, there must be a mechanical means. Like under cut surfaces, and holes drilled through the tenon under the nose cap with a counter sink on the barrel side, forming a cast in place rivet. It does not hurt to chamfer the top edge of the barrel channel side of the tenon too.  BJH

[Boompa]

I didn't drill holes but left the wood rough.  Pewter was heated o about 700 degrees. Maybe I need to drill some holes? For whatever reason it did not bond at all.

[FDR]

Glue it back on with epoxy and let dry 24 hrs. Work it down as usual.
 I won't tell!

[jerrywh]

 Besides what the others said forget the pencil lead.  That's not good. Graphite will prevent the adhesion of anything.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

After removing the wood to accommodate the metal, drill holes lengthwise into the end grain about 3/4" deep.  then drill holes on the inside of the barrel channel's angle flats to intersect the ends of these holes.  Before you pour, replace the barrel into the channel.  When you pour, the molten metal will fill all the voids and lock the cap onto the end of the stock.  The metal does not stick or adhere to the wood.  It must be held by undercutting the edges and these anchor holes.

[Boompa]

  Thanks for the info, I'll take the advise and make another run at pouring the cap this afternoon.

[Mark Elliott]

I drill shallow (1/8"x1/8") holes in the wood just to give the pewter something to hold on to.  With a nose piece, it isn't a bad idea to drill holes where you would normally have rivets holding a sheet metal nose piece. 

[Captchee]

 Your pewter isn’t going to stick to the wood unless you make undercuts or drill holes for it to flow through . I do mine just a BJH stated . IE create a rivit
 I would also agree with jerry that  graphite will keep it from stick . However I would disagree with him “ I don’t do that often “  factually hardly ever ,.
 However I find that  using a pencil to line the inlet , creates  better flow of the pewter . Its how I get those very fine   area to pour . Without it the pewter will often cool to quick and not flow into the finer areas 

[Hungry Horse]

I drill through the wood under the casting area into the barrel channel, and then countersink the hole on the barrel side. This creates a button on the inside that mechanically holds the cap in place. I also rub the wood that will be under the cap with a carpenters pencil so the pewter will flow better.

  Hungry Horse

[Boompa]

  My second attempt on this nose cap went much better. I drilled some shallow 1/8" holes for the pewter to hang on to.  Also poured the cap w/ the pewter at about 550-600 degrees, it flow well but did not scorch the surface of the wood as it did on the first pour.

[Turtle]

 2 things I learned that helped were;
 -preheat the barrel a little  so the pewter flows better.
 - automobile muffler cement past works the seal the gaps the molten pewter runs out through.
                                               Turtle

[moleeyes36]

Boompa,

I guess it's a little late to pass along this information since you succeeded in your second attempt, but there is a nice tutorial, with lots of good pictures, on the ALR http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=4669.0

Mole Eyes

[Boompa]

    This one turned out fine but I'm not crazy about the process. Inletting a sheet metal or cast nose cap is faster, easier, and cleaner, at least that's my take on it.   When I sand the pewter cap along with the stock I have to sand away from the wood so the pewter doesn't stain the stock.