Bad mistake!

[smart dog]

Hi Folks,
I pride myself on thinking things through, measuring twice, and cutting once.  However, I sometimes get complacent and lazy and I should learn to step back and stop when I feel that way.  Sometimes I wish I had more discipline.  I was drilling holes for barrel pins in a stock for an early pattern Brown Bess musket.  I use the popular point held in the drill press vise, which requires you to locate the entry and exit holes precisely where you want them.  Then you line up the drill with the tip of the point to drill a precise hole. The problem was the gimbles on one of the axes of my x-y sllde table was loose and the position of the point migrated with the vibration of the drill press.  I always check these things before drilling but I got cocky and didn't.  The result was a disaster for the forward pin.  The hole was off so far that the drill hit the lower edge of the barrel lug and deflected down so the hole came out 3/16" below where it should, almost into the ramrod channel. I just had to laugh at my error and fix it. So I thought I would make lemonade and describe how I hide holes.  Many might fill the hole with a turned piece of the same wood. In doing that you have to have the grain running the length of the plug or it will fall apart when shaping it. If you do that, the plug will take stain and oil darkly and stand out because the end grain is exposed on the surface.  Instead, I cut a narrow rectangular wedge from wood with the grain running across the top of the plug.  I carefully file it until it fits into the hole and then glue it in with super glue or wood glue.  I make sure the grain of the wood across the top is parallel with the grain of the stock.  When in place I pound the snot out of it until it is hammered into the hole.  When the glue is dry, I cut and file the plug flush with the stock.  Then, when I am about to stain the stock, I take a scalpel or X-acto knife and cut fine shallow lines across the top of the filled hole parallel with the grain of the stock.  The hole will disappear.  The hole for the rear of the trigger guard on this British carbine was plugged because the guard had to be inlet deeper after the original hole was drilled.  Can you tell?
         


dave

[flinchrocket]

It happens. I made my own drilling jig similar to the one folks have sold on the forum. It is faster and just as accurate as a drill press. I think I might even pay more attention to what I'm doing with the drill jig.

[Clint]

Most builders can cruise through routine procedures, but it will often take a real craftsman to recover from a near fatal mistake. When the results are not visible or structurally harmful, it becomes a cruise. Summer is the toughest time to build intricate things.

[Mike Lyons]

Thanks for the tip!!

[westbj2]

There is a saying that says "Craftsmanship is a matter of how well you can hide your mistakes".
Jim

[deepcreekdale]

When something that happens to me, and it does on occasion, I do a fix similar to smart dog. I take a 9 sweep, 2 mm gouge and cut a long, about 3/4 inch or longer groove. It helps to follow the grain direction. Then, I take a piece of left over wood, ideally from the same area of the stock blank and make an identical cut and save the sliver. I apply some Titebond glue, place it in the groove I cut first, cover with scotch tape and tightly clamp it in place. When the glue is dry, sand smooth. It is visible, but looks like part of the wood grain pattern and no one will ever be the wiser. NEVER fill a hole with a toothpick, it stands out like a sore thumb and will alert everyone to your error.

[577SXS]

I wish I would have never read this. I just did the same thing. I made a jig to drill my ramrod pipe pin holes and thought I measured everything right. When I went to drill holes my drill broke in the second hole. I had put a 3/8" piece of drill rod in ramrod pipe to make sure it was alined properly. When drill broke I tried to pull out drill rod and found it wouldn't budge. My holes went into the ramrod pipe hole slightly and this caused drill to break. After much wiggling and jiggling and beating I finally got drill to break up to where I could get drill rod out and ramrod pipe out. Now I have to taper my rod more to get it to go into rear pipe. I don't want to have to cut a piece of wood and glue in to drill holes over again.

[Bob Roller]

There is a saying that says "Craftsmanship is a matter of how well you can hide your mistakes".
Jim

Yea verily he speaks the truth
Bob Roller

[BOB HILL]

These kinds of mistakes are to remind us that no matter how good we get, we are not perfect!
Bob

[oldtravler61]

  Bob...mine are one mistake from butt to muzzle...lol...
   Oldtravler

[Not English]

Hey All, I keep seeing this sort of problem with jigs for drilling holes. I do not really understand the need for a jig for drilling holes in the fore stock. Is it because they are precarved stocks? I've only made guns from planks. The only time I use the pointy thing aligned with a drill bit is for drilling tang screws. My method when starting out is cut the profile. Then cut the top half of the wood for the barrel  channel off. Next I inlet the barrel and breech plug. The forestock is then cut to width for the forestock. Once The barrel and lugs are inlet I drill the forestock for the barrel pins. At this point the forestock is still square (unshaped). The barrel lugs are marked on the side of the folrestock. The top flat of the barrel is backed against the stationary part of the drill press and the quill and drill are run down to make sure the bit clears the barrel and goes through the lug. At this point the X and Y axis are locked. I then reassemble the stock and barrel and drill the forestock for the pin hole. For a swamped barrel each lug will need to be set up this way. A straight barrel sometimes one set up is all that is needed. After the barrel is pinned, I can lay out the ramrod groove and the web of wood between then barrel and ramrod. I then cut the forestock down so half the ramrod is exposed. I cut the ramrod groove with a ball end endmill. Next the  ramrod drill hole is drilled with adequate blocking, bracing, and prayers. Once that is done, I inlet the thimbles. The procedure for drilling the pinholes for the thimbles is exactly the same as the barrel except the bottom of the thimbles is butted up to the stationary side of the drill press vice. The key to my method is to keep the forestock square until all the thimbles and underlugs are drilled and pinned. Once everything is pinned, I shape the forestock.

If I've hijacked the thread, I apologize. It just seems like a lot of extra work.
Dave