ramrod pipe tutorial

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

OK.  I've consulted my copy of Recreating the American Longrifle, Mike Bellevue's Youtube build-a-long, and finally the tutorials on this forum.

So far to inlet the tabs on the ramrod pipes I see that you drill a series of holes, but no one has shown or explained how to clean out the webbing between these holes.  I don't have a chisel that small.  Hmmm.  It must be something so simple that everyone just thinks it was learned the day after we all learned to walk. 

Feeling stupid. . .

[Gaeckle]

Make a small chissel....take an old allen wrench, heat up the wrench at the bend with a regular propane torch, get it red hot and gently straighten out the bend with a pair of pliers or a slight hammer tap on the anvil part of a vice....straighten out the bend.

Now....heat the same end up agian and with a hammer, flatten the end so that it looks sorta like a screwdriver. Now waite till it cools and use a file to file the flattened end into a chissel, Use sandpaper to smooth this up, then heat the thing up and quench in some oil, old motor oil will do. You needn't temper it, you want it hard.

Now sharpen this up just like you would a chissel and now you have a chissel.

Best thing is, if you screw up there should be plenty of material to do it over.

And, you can make just about any size chissel with allen wrenches....or broken needle files.

[Dennis Glazener]

John's idea's works but you can also buy some piano wire from the hobby shop. I use 1/8" and 5/16". The wire is already hard, just slow grind the tip into a sharp chisel. Don't overheat it or it will draw the hardness out. Just keep cool with water until you get it sharp then stone to a smooth finish. All kinds of uses in doing stock work.
Dennis

[Billy Mike]

 

Mike Bellevue's Youtube build-a-long

I sure would appreciate a link to that. I googled, found many links, but could find nothing related.

[SingleMalt]

An old hacksaw blade can be ground to a point (make the angle long) to saw it out,

[Tim Crosby]

 Use an Xacto knife to cut between the holes, then clean up with a small file. Barrel out of course.

  Tim C.

[Mark Elliott]

I don't drill any holes.   I use a 3/32" morticing chisel.   It is an antique that I bought off eBay along with a matching 1/8" chisel.  You could easily make one out of 3/32" 1095 stock.   It would be well worth your time. 

[Cory Joe Stewart]

I recently tried the burning method.  Take a piece of sheet steel, heat it red hot and press it into the wood.  It made for a good fit, but it made the surrounding wood brittle, which in turn made it difficult to inlet the rest of the pipe neatly. 

Coryjoe

[okieboy]

 I make my chisels from music wire or O1 stock. However one can make a fine chisel quickly from a straight blade screw driver and they can be had in very small sizes. One can also make quick temporary chisels from soft steel, such as a nail or coat hanger wire; they hammer flat easily and will sharpen, but the sharpness will not last long.

[Mikecooper]

I don't like exacto knives, too thin and flexible.   Cut vertically along the edges of the slot with a pocket knife and pry out the scrap with a small narrow flat screwdriver.    Or make chisels as described previously.

  In the violin world there are chisels and tools made for inlaying the purfling which is also a narrow channel although not as deep.   

[WKevinD]

I draw a centerline at the pipe location and use an 1/8" chisel (pfiel) and tap it in at the start and finish of the tab. I then tap in a straight chisel above and below the centerline connecting the 1/8" stabs and switch back to the 1/8" to clean out the inside of those cuts until I break thru into the barrel channel. with a sharp pair of chisels it goes quickly and is very clean.
Kevin

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I have made two chisels for this job, and for inletting barrel keys/slides.  I used a worn out file made for sharpening wood boring drill bits.  It is only about .080" thick but about 5/16" wide.  I sharpened the thin edge into a chisel, and there was no need to harden or temper it.  I set the other end into a wooden handle made of a hardwood dowel, shaping it to suit my hands.  It cuts beautifully and holds an edge well.  I also made another on out of another file that is a little over 3/32" wide, again sharpening the narrow edge into a chisel.  It's handy for trigger inlets.

[PPatch]

I use a 1/16th inch wide chisel I picked up at a woodworking store some years ago. I do not drill holes but do it like any mortise you would use a chisel to make... The method is quite fast.

Like this video shows.



dave

[P.W.Berkuta]

I don't drill any holes.   I use a 3/32" morticing chisel.   It is an antique that I bought off eBay along with a matching 1/8" chisel.  You could easily make one out of 3/32" 1095 stock.   It would be well worth your time. 

I also use a home made morticing chisel that I make out of O-1. It is sturdy and does not flex - here is a picture - they are the three on the right of the picture. There length vary from 2" to 3-1/2" long not including the handles and from 0.040" to 0.093" in thickness

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

Billy Mike,

Here's a link:

[Billy Mike]

Billy Mike,

Here's a link:

Thank you most kindly, Black Jaque.

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

Fellas - you'll have to school me in the metals vocabulary.  I see that O-1 is tool steel, and can be forged, heat treated, hardened, and annealed.  I've got some old, small flat screwdrivers with chipped/bent blades, or I've got a number of old chainsaw files.  Would either of those make a suitable material for making my own chisel?  I figure they are at least close to the right size so I shouldn't have to remove too much metal to get down to where I need to be.

[M. E. Pering]

Hi Black Jaque

As I understand it, O-1 is a tool steel that is oil quenched, and is very good for tools.  I have never used it personally, since it is pricey for just a small piece.  As far as your screwdrivers go, who knows, but I would use the ones that are chipped rather than the ones that are bent.  It is more likely that a chipped screwdriver has a higher carbon content than one that is bent.  Carbon content is important for a blade holding an edge.  I use 1075 or 1095 for making chisels.  The 1075 has about .75% carbon, and the 1095 has about .95% carbon.  Both work well for holding an edge, but I see little difference between them. 

As for your chainsaw files, they should make excellent chisels that hold an edge well.  But they need to be annealed, shaped, and then rehardened and tempered.  There are plenty of resources on the internet to show you how to do this, so I will not waste anybody's time elaborating on this here.  But I have made some fine gravers from cheap Chinese round files that do the job.  In fact, I have only broken a tip on one of these gravers once in the last 3 years.  I have several of them.

Now a graver is different than a chisel, granted.  But they are very similar.  I have made micro chisels too from old needle files, again, the cheap Chinese kind.  And to tell the truth, they make much better chisel stock than files.  Hope this helps.

Matt