inletting a barrel with a router

[msblacksmith]

has any one out there ever used a hand held router to start the inletting of a barrel? then finish it by hand?
any advise on this would be helpfull.

[RobertS]

I haven't, but would think it would have to mounted on a router table, using a fence to keep things straight.  I wouldn't try doing it "hand-held" but I do think Jim Carmichael, the gunwriter, wrote an article somewhere about using a table mounted router to inlet a barrel. 

[David Rase]

I routed sever straight barrels with a router.  I would run my stocks through a planer to get the sides parallel and then using my router with a double fence setup I would route the denter flat, then the side flats and finish up connecting the bottom to the sides with a 45 degree cutter.  I needed the double fence to keep the router from grabbing and wondering.
DMR

[Dave Faletti]

I have done straight and tapered octogon with a router.  I have two long straight edges to guide it.  I cut a trench the width of the bottom flat and then the vertical side flats.  I do the oblique flats with a chisel.  I thought up a jig that would have been much nicer.  Didn't think I would do enough projects to make it worth it.  I was wrong.

[KentSmith]

I used to.  Like David, I planed both sides first.  Then clamped an angle iron to one side.  Used a double fenced router and cut the bottom flat.  Used several passes to keep grabbing to a minimum.  For the sides of a tapered and flared barrel, I shimmed the angle iron accordingly, shims on the outer ends for near side, middle for far side, jus to get it close.  Finished with chisels.  Note:  to get the bottom taper and flare right I traced the barrel profile on the top of the stock blank and cut it out on my bandsaw so ther was a slight contour for my router to follow.

What I learned was, the setup was so time consuming that I could hog out the channel just a accurately with gouges and chisels in half the time.  Or pay someone else $60 to do it for me and throw in the ramrod channel and hole to boot. 

[lew wetzel]

the rifle i am building now was done the same way dave and gary mentioned....and yes is very time consuming...but i wanted to learn how and my friend has all the equipment and it went really smooth...made myself a little gauge to follow to cut in the 45's...but i think spending the $60.00 to have it done and the r.r hole is the way to go....unless yuo are on a quest for knowledge and really want to see what your capable of...

[Robby]

I have done a couple with old style, so I could say to myself "yes, I can do this". Now I true up top and one side, plow a groove almost the length of the barrel, on a table saw, with a dado. Mount the blank in a vise, square out the breech end with chisels, lay the barrel in the groove, use strips of 1/4" thick underlayment (no voids) on each side and breech of the barrel, fairly snug, and tack in place with brads. the router bit is straight sided coming to a point at 45deg., with a bering, the diameter of the bit, that will ride on the underlayment. Works the same with a straight taper, with a lightly swamped barrel the underlayment can be formed to the swamping. If it cant, I lube up the barrel with grease, lay my strips along the barrel touching at the breech and muzzle and fill the gap with "Bondo" or similer product, just before it sets, I pull the barrel. let the filler fully set or harden, the bering will ride on the hardened Bondo. You still have to use chisels and scrapers to finish fit the barrel but a lot of wood gets hogged out in a very controlled manner.

[George F.]

I have, or do. I made a template for "C" wt 44" Colerain barrels. Tappered on both edges and in the vertical. Trouble is, they aren't all the exact size. Not even the across the flats measured with a caliper. So I used a bushing on the router base to give me a little "extra" to play with and finish by hand. This process helped but was still hand labor intensive.   ...Geo.

[Brian]

I think perhaps Lew has summed it up.  It can certainly be done, but unless you really want to do it yourself for personal reasons the set up time makes it impractical.  I’ve never done one myself, but I’ve done a lot of fairly complicated router work in my woodworking shop and I’m confident I could do it.  But to get as perfect a job as the professionals who have the proper jigs and equipment would take a LOT of jig set up time – and then you still have to finish it by hand.  Not to mention the ram rod channel and hole still need to be done.

So in my opinion if you want to be able to say you did it yourself, then fly at it.  It can certainly be done.  But if you just want to get your barrel inlet so you can proceed with the rest of the project – send it out.

[Clowdis]

I had some router bits made up to an octagonal shape to inlet barrels with. I made a couple, one to do 13/16 straight barrels and one for 1" barrels, both slightly undersize. I use the router with a guide fence and take small cuts (maybe 1/8 to 3/16 per pass) and cut to full depth. I adjust the fence to cut the channel to proper width after cutting to full depth. I use the same bits to do swamped barrels but only cut to the smallest dimension of the barrrel, the rest will have to be done by hand. I can do a straight barrel in about 30 minutes or so. The top and sides of the blank need to be smooth and straight and the most important thing of all is to keep the router moving left to right (work from the cheekpiece side of the blank) so it always pulls against the fence. Try going right to left and it'll give you a channel right through the side of the blank!!
Blair

[Robby]

Brian, The method I use takes less time to set up than it took to type it out, well for me it does. We all have parts that we are sticklers about, a good snug wood to barrel fit is one of mine. I like to do as much of the work as I can. When all my neurons are firing, I can have the barrel in , ramrod groove and hole drilled with a bit I made myself in less than a day, but I'm not racing anyone, so I take my time and enjoy each step. When it works, I get a great deal of satisfaction. So far so good.  What ever phase of building I'm in, If it doesn't work out, I get a great deal of satisfaction solving the problem I may have created for myself.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Years ago I inlet a lot of parallel barrels from 13/16 - 1 1/8,using my Sears router.  I'd plane the top and one side of the stock perfectly square and straight.  I made up router bits from spade drill bits by grinding off the point and then creating bottom and angle flats on the bit.  I always made them slightly undersized to take into account any vibration that made the channel too large...ask me how I knew about that!  I used only one guide to run down the planed side of the stock, and made cuts no deeper than 1/16".  The disadvantage of the router is one must start with a flat top to get the bit all the way to the breech, so you are inletting the entire barrel, then cutting away the sides of the channel to the bore's centre line, with a saw.  It worked fine, and I did not ruin any stock wood, but there were times when the router bit would vibrate a little and become loose.  When that happens, it does not go up into the router, but down into your wood.  I was always able to recognize the different sound and feel, and tighten the collet.  But, I abandoned this technique in favour of the mallet and gouge, which was more enjoyable and produced fine barrel channels, having to remove half the amount of wood, since the stock blank was sawed down to the centre line of the bore prior to starting, plus a little for cleaning up.

I wouldn't have gone there then,  if I knew then what I know now.  But I guess that's all part of the journey.

[Dphariss]

Routers and gunstocks combined scare me.
A Dremel is bad enough.

Dan

[MKemper]

I build all my rifles from the blank and have used a router jig for swamped barrels on a regular basis.  I have jigs preset for certain barrels (ie: Rice, B wt. Lanc./Dickert).  They have double kerfed fences with metal guides.  The fences are bent to conform to the barrel side profile and secured with screws through the kerfs.  The stock only needs to be planed on the top surface.  The stock is shimmed away from the bottom of jig's surface to allow for the depth of the cut to conform to the bottom profile of the swamped barrel.  The cut is made with a 90 degree 1/2" carbide tip cutter.  I set the side fences 1/32" tighter than the final width spec. and scrape/sand only slightly to seat the barrel.  I get an excellent fit, with good contact muzzle to breach with this method.  Typically takes two hours to inlet the barrel, cut the RR groove and drill the RR hole. 

[Robby]

msblacksmith, If you decide to go with the router, this is a picture of the bit. Woodworkers supply is one source for these I'm sure there are others. I have not had any trouble with vibration loosening this bit, even in the hardest maple. Good luck, If you need further explanation, feel free to ask.
Robby

[lew wetzel]

heres some pics showing some of the process to inletting a swamped barrel...

[msblacksmith]

thanks for the advice everyone

[northmn]

I used to use a table saw and router combined for straight barrles.  The table saw cut the side and bottom flats and the router was used with ground off bits to match the oblique flats.  I could do this in a couple of hours and have the barrel channel cut out about like a typical precarved stocks barrel channel. The stock had to be planed as described.  I now have a very good fit for my 3/4" 25 by using a table saw and a hand method.  The use of power tools for me is best to "rough" in the barrel channel such that the hand inletting chore is somewhat reduced.  I am tending like Taylor and some of the others to prefer more hand inletting over power tools.  They can speed up production and really speed up a screwup.  I have a router plane that I want to get set up for the hogging process that I need to set up.  I do not have any cutters for it as I got it an an auction for a dollar or some such price. 

DP