Author Topic: Building an Ohio Style Halfstock - broken photos fixed! (Read 34538 times)

Tony N · « **Reply #50 on:** January 25, 2018, 04:18:04 AM »

Fantastic thread!

Thank you!

~Tony

snapper · « **Reply #51 on:** January 25, 2018, 05:29:45 AM »

As always with your builds it is looking great.

How old is your son?

You making plans to come to Friendship this year? Bring your son?

My oldest starts work for Caterpillar in OH on Feb 05. The great thing is that he will be less than 2 hours from Friendship. I am thinking that he might finally be able to come and hopefully join my youngest son and I this year.

Fleener

Old Ford2 · « **Reply #52 on:** January 25, 2018, 04:25:05 PM »

Hi, and thank you Curtis for a great tutorial.
You have passed on some great concepts.
My artistic capabilities are just about equal to drawing stick men.
The manner in which you have paper glued to the brass, then drawing in a pattern seems much better than working directly on brass.

Question: How long have you been using that RR spike to blunt the tip so square?

Thank you once again, looking forward to the next demo.
Best regards!
Fred

Curtis · « **Reply #53 on:** January 27, 2018, 06:48:05 AM »

Thanks guys! Snapper, my son turned 30 last June. Not sure if I will make Friendship yet or not, but I hope to be there. Probably won't get my son there, not yet anyways.

Fred, I usually draw on the paper before I glue it the brass but sometimes I make corrections after it is on the brass. If I want to draw directly on the brass, like to engrave a design, I often hit it with some cheap white spray paint and it makes a durable surface to draw and erase on when dry. In my experience it is more durable than china white, but still is easily removed after engraving.

Curtis

David Rase · « **Reply #54 on:** January 27, 2018, 07:37:58 AM »

Curtis,
Looking good! I really liked the little tool you made for cleaning out corners and small, hard to reach spots. I usually use a skew chisel and one of my small (1/32" wide) wire inlay chisels. Going to have to make another tool.
David

Curtis · « **Reply #55 on:** January 31, 2018, 07:07:05 AM »

Quote from: David Rase on January 27, 2018, 07:37:58 AM

Curtis,
Looking good! I really liked the little tool you made for cleaning out corners and small, hard to reach spots...
David

You won't regret it David, this one comes in handy a lot, especially cleaning out the inlet of a pointy tang. It is sharp enough that it cuts well with a side to side motion as well as a push in a corner.

Curtis

Curtis · « **Reply #56 on:** January 31, 2018, 07:11:33 AM »

Quote from: Old Ford2 on January 25, 2018, 04:25:05 PM

Question: How long have you been using that RR spike to blunt the tip so square?
Best regards!
Fred

Fred, that is my good friend Ole' Stubby! He donated his lower extremities as stock for a couple of rear sights. Here is a link that tells some about Stubby's demise: http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=40237.msg413408#msg413408

Curtis

Curtis · « **Reply #57 on:** January 31, 2018, 08:13:02 AM »

Back at it for a few days at least. Put the finishing touches on the patchbox today. May have to do some tweeking of the latch spring, and of course it will get some engraving added in due time. This is the first time I have made this type of box and latching system so it will take some trial and error to get it all working perfect.

I had some type of mild spring stock that used to be part of a light fixture, and decided it might work for the friction springs for this box. The metal is springy, but with enough force applied it will bend and retain a shape. I may need to case harden the completed springs, we shall see how it performs. Here I am using a vice and iron pipe to begin forming the bottom spring, and cutting the bent spring loose:

The inspiration for the design came from Wm. Buchele's book.

I excavated the recess for the spring under the finial using chisels and an old time bit and brace:

The spring material is tough enough that I ruined two hacksaw blades while cutting it.

Bending the lid spring:

The lid spring is soldered to the lid - I used Swif95 solder paste:

Did some fitting of screws, cleanup filing and sanding, and this is what I have so far:

Started the cleanup work on the rear sight:

Set my hollow rib on the barrel and I see I have some modifications to make to the underrib, as I made the rifle too slim to use it as is. Hey, I like mine slim!

I will have to continue that process later.

Thanks for looking,
Curtis

Curtis · « **Reply #58 on:** February 05, 2018, 07:45:10 AM »

This rifle is intended to be a hunting gun, and I decided it was far enough along to determine the carry balance point. To determine the balance point I cut the hollow rib to length, taped it to the barrel and tested the heft - and discovered the balance point was pretty much on the entry thimble skirt. In my opinion that is unacceptable for a hunting gun. Changing the balance point would involve one of two things, either add weight to the butt (such as with lead under the buttplate) or cut some off the end of the barrel. The barrel was 36" long so I decided to go with the latter option, starting with removing two inches and checking balance again. Two inches did the trick.

I have shortened barrels before using just a hacksaw and a file, but decided there may be a better method of truing the muzzle than just a file. So I made a simple "muzzle mill" from a piece of round scrap that I found in a ditch a few years back. It was about a 1-1/16" dia. rod about 8 or 9 foot long. So I cut a short section and squared it up:

Center punched the stock:

Then drilled graduated holes till I got to 3/8". A washer laid on the stock makes for a well to retain cutting fluid, until the object is drilled through at least:

Then I filed teeth on one face. Almost done in this photo:

Then drilled and tapped a hole in the side for a set screw:

And case hardened the face of the tool:

Then mounted it on a brass cleaning rod (I drilled a small detent for the set screw in the rod) The cleaning rod will allow me to use different size jags as pilots:

The crude beast cut quickly and did a nice job of squaring the muzzle.

A few strokes of draw-filing and the muzzle was ready to crown. I used a cone shaped stone, a ball stone and my thumb with emery cloth.

I liked the looks of the outside edge treatment on the original muzzle and decided to replicate it. If I had a lathe I could probably turn the outside face in about 30 seconds. I did it by eyeball using a Sharpie and a file in about 5 minutes:

Thanks for looking,
Curtis

Greg Pennell · « **Reply #59 on:** February 05, 2018, 07:59:59 AM »

Wow. I learn something every time I open this post! Thanks for sharing!

Greg

Curtis · « **Reply #60 on:** February 05, 2018, 08:06:36 AM »

Glad to hear that, Greg! Makes it worthwhile continuing to post.

Moving on the the under rib... as the rib is hollow I had to cut pieces to solder in the ends of the rib.

In order to properly align the thimbles I employed some brass cleaning rod. I smoked the rod with soot where the thimbles were positioned so no solder would stick to the rod. I cleaned and fluxed the rib, placed a small sheet of silver solder on the flux, then fluxed the bottom of the thimbles before positioning them on the solder, then clamped it all in place. I used an acetylene and air torch for the heat source.

Next I cleaned the barrel and inside of the rib and painted on some solder paste inside the rib and on the barrel, then clamped it all in place. I drew with a sharpie and some soapstone on the barrel to help prevent the solder sticking where it was unwanted. I want to mention that the wires pictured were useless as the heat from the torch was too much for them. I didn't get another picture but I added a couple more c-clamps when I learned the wires wouldn't hack it.

Then I stared the cleanup process. I have used vinegar to pickle off flux glazing and scale before, but didn't want to submerge the barrel in a vat of vinegar. So I whetted some emery cloth with vinegar and started sanding at the scale. It worked 90 percent better than the emery by itself. I will remember that in the future for sure!

That's all I got for now.

Curtis

Metalshaper · « **Reply #61 on:** February 05, 2018, 03:13:37 PM »

Curtis,

Great job!! I appreciate your documenting your process. Learning a lot from your build techniques.. can't wait to see more and how it all finished up

Respect Always
Metalshaper\Jonathan

rich pierce · « **Reply #62 on:** February 05, 2018, 03:16:51 PM »

Great tutorial. I like the barrel facing tool a lot. It would take me half a day to make that.

Have not built a halfstock in so long I dis-remember whether it’s common to solder rib to barrel and thimbles to rib all at once. Also I am wondering how this was done in pre-torch days. Huge soldering iron?

Tim Crosby · « **Reply #63 on:** February 05, 2018, 03:30:49 PM »

Curtis, You are an industrious guy, I love the way your going at this and ingenuity of some of the tools and processes. Excellent job.

Tim

n stephenson · « **Reply #64 on:** February 05, 2018, 04:26:06 PM »

Curtis, Your muzzle mill , is a neat little tool , thanks for showing it. Nate

Ed Wenger · « **Reply #65 on:** February 05, 2018, 05:07:49 PM »

Great posts, and great work! Love that muzzle mill you made.

Ed

Greg Pennell · « **Reply #66 on:** February 05, 2018, 05:25:48 PM »

The muzzle mill is absolutely on my short list of tools to make. I have a good ol’ 13” Southbend lathe, but in the time it takes to center up a barrel in the 4-jaw, and dial everything in, you could be finished and on to something else with the little mill.

Greg

JVavrek · « **Reply #67 on:** February 06, 2018, 12:58:05 AM »

Curtis, As everyone else has said. I hope you know how much this helps us beginners. Every time I open up ALR I'm looking to see if ya posted anything else. Can't wait to see it completed but really enjoying the process.

Curtis · « **Reply #68 on:** February 06, 2018, 07:20:56 AM »

Many thanks guys!! The muzzle mill took me probably a couple of hours to make, I didn't really watch the clock so that is a guesstimate. It would have probably taken an hour to true up the muzzle with a file and a square, and the muzzle facing tool took about a minute to mill and maybe three to smooth by draw filing. Also it can be used over and over again, and possibly for other jobs so it was certainly worth the time to make it.

I forgot to mention I used a squirt of tapping fluid on it when I milled the muzzle, any oil would work.

I just wish I could have figured out how to make one from a RR spike....

Curtis

Arcturus · « **Reply #69 on:** February 06, 2018, 08:02:06 AM »

Like everyone else, Curtis, I really enjoy your posts...always so interesting and informative. Thanks for taking time to document and share your efforts. It IS appreciated!

Daryl · « **Reply #70 on:** February 06, 2018, 10:30:17 PM »

Nice work, Curtis - I do like that crown, along with the muzzle squaring cutter.
Nicer, smoother than filing and now that the tool is made, quick for future builds/barrels.

Chowmi · « **Reply #71 on:** February 07, 2018, 04:24:16 AM »

Really nice work Curtis!

This is fun to watch.

Love that barrel facing tool.

Norm

Curtis · « **Reply #72 on:** February 07, 2018, 07:57:21 AM »

Thanks for your encouragement guys! It's good to know some of you are still looking in on this thread.

When I made the decision to use German silver for some of the hardware, I thought it might be a nice touch to do a silver band near the breech. I ended up with two.

I have not done any metal to metal inlay before, so this was to be another first for me. One of our members, Rolf, posted a tutorial on how he did it - http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=9090.0 I pretty much used the same method with a few minor variations.

Stress warning FYI: Pucker factor on a scale of 1 to 10: $:-\$ 8.

Marked up the barrel and hacksawed some cuts (5 flats), then cleaned up with a flat graver and a file...

Then the sides of the channels were undercut with a flat graver. In order to avoid metal tear-out, stop a bit shy of the corners.

Raising some barbs with a graver:

I purchased some .999 fine silver, 18GA (.040") from Rio Grande, and cut strips to fit the channels. I marked the center of the barrel and the strip of silver to keep things even, then used a piece of .050 GS scrap as a flat punch to start tapping it in and around the barrel:

When the silver was in solid enough to stay on it's own, I switched to a steel punch that I ground the small and the large end slightly round and peened the silver for a good fit. I then switched to a flat punch to hammer it home. Be careful not to punch the silver below the steel, and not to ding up your barrel.

When it was all hammered solidly in place and the channels are filled edge to edge, I carefully filed (and draw filed) off the excess silver and any raised steel caused by the undercutting:

Not perfect, but not overly embarrassing either!

Thanks for looking,
Curtis

Greg Pennell · « **Reply #73 on:** February 07, 2018, 05:43:08 PM »

Nice touch! Now you know you have to put a silver nameplate on the top flat...😄

Greg

runastav · « **Reply #74 on:** February 07, 2018, 05:52:28 PM »

Very nice crafts Curtis

Runar

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Author Topic: Building an Ohio Style Halfstock - broken photos fixed! (Read 34538 times)

n stephenson

JVavrek