I am starting a build for a client who wants a late Virginia longrifle in the style of John Sheetz. He wants it to be somewhat fancy so I am going to be using quite a bit of silver wire as well as silver inlays and sheet silver accents on the steel furniture. I thought I would document some of the silver work on this gun for the ALR. The first items I am making are the entry pipe and thimbles. Though this tutorial is not specifically about making ramrod pipes, I thought I would include a few photos at the beginning outlining the process I use to make pipe blanks. I only detailed a few of the high lights for forming your own pipes. I normally use .040" sheet stock for most of my pipes but chose a thicker material to start with in order to have sufficient silver material to file the decorative wedding rings.
1 This photo shows the rough blank I am starting with. I am making a 1 1/2" long pipe for a 5/16" ramrod. The blank is 1 9/16" x 1 9/16" square. Since I am going to apply 21 gauge (.025" thick) sterling silver sheet bands to the ends of the pipes I have selected 18 gauge (.050" thick) mild sheet steel.
This photo shows the first 2 bends needed to form a ramrod pipe. I determine where the bends go by multiplying the diameter .312" by Pi 3.14 and then adding the thickness of the steel. .312" x 3.14 = .979" + .050" = 1.029".
In this photo you see where I have made a U-shaped bend. This is done by setting the tabs on the open jaws of my vise, laying a piece of round stock lengthwise down the center and hitting it with a cross peen hammer until I have the U shape.
Here you can see the completed rough pipe. Once I have the U-shape made, I then place the U shaped blank between the vise jaws tabs so that the jaws make contact with the ends of the tabs. I then place a 19/64" transfer punch or drill bit in the U groove and start closing the vise jaws. I reposition the thimble blank in the vise jaws, this time squeezing the sides of the tabs while maintaining the transfer punch in the groove and squeeze down on the vise until the tabs are touching each other. I then remove the 19/64" punch and take a piece of 5/16" round stock, apply a bit of lubricant and drive it through the opening, swaging the hole perfectly round.
For this particular set of pipes I soldered the tabs together and then cut them back 1/4" on each end. Since I will be putting these pipes on a mandrel in my later on I wanted the added security of having the pipe tabs soldered together.
Here I have one of the pipe blanks mounted on a mandrel and set up in my lathe. I squared up the ends of the pipes and adjusted the overall length to 1 1/2" long. I then turned each end of the pipe to a diameter of .350" for 1/4".
The pipe blank ready to receive the silver bands.
The swaging tool I use to draw the silver bands made from 21 gauge sheet stock. It consists of a shouldered punch and a swag block.
A picture of the swaging process. After I anneal the silver I rough shape it into a cylinder as best I can. I then drive it through the swage closing the gap and making a perfectly round tube. You can see the seam closing up as I push the tube through the swag.
Here is the silver tube back in my lathe so I can square up the ends of the cylinder prior to cutting off 1/4" lengths for attaching to the pipes.
A picture of the pipes and silver bands.
This photo shows the silver bands soldered on the pipes with the ends trimmed up and the diameters turned to match the O.D. of the pipe blanks.
The finished pipes.
Another view of the finished pipes.
