Barrel Inletting new project

[kudu]

So i got a new fowler barrel, its 1'' across the flats - then flats go to 16 sided, then wedding band, to round, then another wedding band, and a round taper to muzzle.

So my question is:  how the heck am I going to inlett this thing. should I try and trace a profile of the barrel and transfer it to the stock?

Kind of hard to trace around or even follow the contour with a compass/divider.

Or just dive in with the gouge and layout black / cut and fit cut and fit...............etc.

This one ain't going to be fun

Any suggestions ? I got lots of tools Bridgeport Mill, A Router table , Table saw etc.

[rich pierce]

I’ve inletted a couple like this so far this year by hand. I start with a planed round bottom groove breech to muzzle under smallest dimension. A friend with a milling machine does the same with a large round mill. Once that’s in, level it, clamp it, mark the wood by scribing and get after it with Your favorite tools. I use gunline barrel scrapers a lot plus customized scrapers. I’ve got 4 round bottom planes for ramrod groove and barrel work.

Some originals that are octagon to round are round all the way to the breech where the 3 bottom flats are on your barrel. You may not want to get that funky.

But really everybody develops their own approaches. You’ll get the lowdown on lots of ways that work.

[Hungry Horse]

 I use a router, a Workmate work bench, a couple of pieces of angle iron that will clear the handles on your router, and some “C” clamps, and a 3/4” carbide round bottomed router bit. With the area to receive the barrel channel clamped in the Workmate, and a router bit in your router that has a point on it, adjust the angle irons so you have a track for your router, and clamp them down with your “C” clamps, make sure the point of the bit is on the centerline for your inlet. Remove the pointed bit, and replace it with the carbide 3/4” round bottom bit. Don’t try to cut the channel in a single pass. Depending on the type of wood it will take three or four passes usually. Long barrels usually require some creative moving of the stock and reclamping, but it works well. I have done several using this method, and haven’t ruined a stock yet. I wish I could say the same for the long bit I use to drill the ramrod hole. Good luck.

  Hungry Horse

[RichG]

I'd send the barrel and stock to Dave Rase and have him do it. I think he's charging 85.00 now. Money well spent.

[tfornicola]

You could always take the easy way way out and have either Mark Weader or David Rase inlet for a few bucks.

[oldtravler61]

  Kudu just remeber before you do HH method..which by the way works well. Take a scrape piece of wood to practice on. Till you have your set up just right. For straight barrels I use a skill saw. Piece of cake. Takes longer to explain than to do a barrel channel.   Oldtravler

[t.caster]

If you are going to do it yourself without machinery, these guide bars work on any shape barrel. Lay barrel where you want it on stock, clamp them tight to side of barrel and screw them onto top of stock. remove barrel and start inletting using safe sided saws, chisels and lots of scraping!

[Dave B]

I can second the recommendation for sending  it to Dave Rase. He does beautiful work. I have hand inlet many barrels and will never do another as long as Dave is one day shipping away.

[deepcreekdale]

I have inlet dozens of these over the years, I make a cut lengthwise on the top of the blank about half the thickness of the barrel from breech to foreend. I lay the barrel on top of that and pencil an outline of the barrel. Then, using gouges, I rough cut down to about where the bottom of the barrel will be, making sure to stay inside those lines. When that is complete, I lay the barrel in the channel and using a sharp  knife, scribe an accurate outline. I then make some notations where the octagon flats transition to either the 16 sided area or where it transitions to round. Apply inlet black and gouge to fully inlet and final fit with scrapers. I don't know why people seem to think it takes so long, I can fully inlet a barrel in less time than it would take to pack up a barrel, stand in line at the post office or UPS and ship it off for someone else to do it. If I spend 4 hours on the whole job, I am working slow. I would not sign my name to any gun that someone else did some of the work on, but that is just me.

[Craig Wilcox]

Western USA, send it to David Rase.  Eastern, send it to David Keck at Knob Mountain.

Or, for the best experience, do it yourself using any of the methods given.