Barrel channel

[Runner]

I have been experimenting with cutting barrel channels. I bought the bits and have a setup where I can cut a 15/16ths channel to size in four or five passes. That is cutting barrel deep so that I can work from a flat top blank when cutting it. It works pretty good. I ended up buying a blank with the channel already cut to 7/8ths this past weekend. My barrel is 15/16th's. Am I better trying to route a little off each side with a spacer in place to keep the blank level, or should I try to cut it another way? A sixteenth on each side is getting pretty hard to do on the router since the blank is no longer squared.

 

[merdean]

I have always used a sharp chisel and lots of lamp black. The only power tool I have used is a band saw to cut the initial shape. Go slow and check often. Make sure that chisel is sharp.

 

[Runner]

Somehow I doubt my ability to remove a 16th from each side with a chisel and keep it straight.

 

[rich pierce]

It just takes time and patience. You can do it! Moreover, you SHOULD do it. You'll be learning valuable skills. Scribe the line carefully along the barrel channel using a piece of angle iron, etc. Then use a razor-sharp 1" wide chisel and a mallet keeping the chisel just on the inside half of the narrow pencil line, drive the chisel in 1/8" or so. Move the chisel down the line and repeat. Do this about 42 times on each side. Remove the loosened wood with a slanting cut with your favorite small chisel, using care to not gouge into the side of your vertical cuts.

It takes time to know when to rough a cut, how much to rough it, and when to get out the inletting black. Also when to NOT take out the wood that is black. The only way is to practice. Or bring it over to the house and we'll work on it.

 

[wulf]

If your not in too much of a hurry to cut wood you could check Muzzle Loader Magazine...I have written some articals that have been accepted. One is how to inlet a barrel and cut and drill the ram rod grove and hole. I am working on an artical about inlaying a swamped barrel...Easy to do,hard
to write and explain....Lots of pictures help. Cutting the barrel channel hasn't been printed yet...

 

[Runner]

Where are you at? I am in northern Jefferson county off 21. I can do anythjing I want with metal usually, but me and wood can be disasterous. This is a cheapy blank that will allow me to make mistakes without breaking the bank. I appreciate the offer to help me get started!

 

[rich pierce]

I'm in University City, St. Louis County, just off 170 at the Delmar exit. be glad to help sometime. Let's go shootin too!

 

[Runner]

I am going after squirrels with my 36 either tomorrow morning or Sunday morning. Depends mainly on the wind. I was going to go locally, but if you are interested, we have property in Washington county that backs up to 12 sections of government ground. There is a firepit at the property. If you want to try a get together to see if we hit it off, I am open to the idea. I don't have a bunch of expensive guns or correct period stuff. I have been hunting with and shooting black powder for 25 years or better, but I just started going to the gatherings and the social aspects of muzzleloading. I am putting together an outfit slowly over time. I will send you my number.

 

[bob1961]

i took some old band saw blades that i took home from work one day that was broke from the saw at work....i cut them to bout 5" long and ground off the teeth on my bench grinder then smoothed all the edges so i don't cut myself on it....then with the blade on my bench grinder support at a 90% angle from the wheel i just lightly hit the end with the wheel to where i can feel a slight burr on the down side from the wheel and used it like a scraper....then i used a oil lamp to blacken my barrel to see where it touches then just scrape off the black....then reblacken and do it all over again till i git the whole channel black and the barrel just drops in with no pressure....thats how i just did mine.............bob

 

[Birddog6]

Runner: You have a open squirrel season in May ? :huh:

Never heard of such a thing....... They should be having their little ones about now & the next two-three weeks. You might want to check on the game laws there. :hmm:

 

[hound dog]

Runner,
It's not just the sides that need to be recut, you have to cut the channel deeper also (1/16 to get the barrel even with the top of the stock). This will probably cause you to have to touch up the 45 degree flats also. I'd go for the router. Probably save you about 6 or 8 hours.
h dog

 

[Runner]

It opens this time each year. Always has as long as I can remember. I did check to make sure of the actual date just in case about a month back.

 

[crockett]

This may sound stupid but.... If you have a straight undersized barrel and only have to remove 1/16", could you use the barrel itself as a sanding block and use sand paper? Sears sells an adhensive to stick sand paper to a disk used in a hand held electric drill but you can use the same adhensive on flat mild steel etc. I wouldn't try it unless someone else on the forum has done it with good results- just a thought.

 

[Runner]

I considered going up and getting a 7/8ths aluminum octagon bar from Shapiro's and using it with sand paper to enlarge the channel, but that is a one time fix. Might as well learn to do it right.

 

And no one here ever heard of a barrel channel scraper before, right?

Octogon shaped blade thingey, with a handle on it!

I bought my first one from Brownells in 1975 and have made all the other sizes that I ever needed.

:hmm:

 

[Runner]

I had heard of scraping a channel, but not about an octagon scraping tool.

 

[LRB]

WULF. Is your method different than the Bivins/Gusler method?

 

[wulf]

Hard to answer that, Wick as I don't know their methods. I use a half octagon cutter that I make and a router. Takes a little over an hour because I cut a little at time to save the cutter bit. Has worked well for over 40 years still got the first cutters.

 

[LRB]

In "GUNSMITHING TIPS AND PROJECTS", Bivins has a chapter on what Gusler discovered while examining an original Virginia rifle. To make this short, two 3/8" square rods are screwed to the top of the stock on each side of the barrel with a snug fit to the profile.The barrel is removed and then A back saw with the kerf removed on one side is used to cut the barrel channel in, using the sides of the square rods as a saw guide Then its back to chisels and scrapers to finish the bottom out. Gusler discovered saw kerf marks inside the channel on this old gun, and while this would not be uncommon on a straight channel, he knew this would not work with a swamped barrel without some sort of a jig. Later he found traces of screw marks on the fore end where the maker did not completely remove them. I would have to think that this would be a good method for those without a router system to do the job.

 

[Runner]

Guys, this is a pre-carved blank with the barrel channel cut to 7/8ths already. No square surfaces to work with except the top of the barrel channel and maybe the lock plate areas. Jigging it on the router table to cut a tiny bit would be really rough. Could be done on a flat top quite easily with my tools, but this one would need surfaces attached to use in lining it up and leveling it since it is already cut down on top. Gonna have to either buy a barrel for this project or bring it to a 15/16ths channel to use it for what I ment it for. I do have a new in the box barrel here that is 50 caliber and octagon to round. It is big enough to more than fill the original 7/8ths channel in the round part and the rest could be hand inlet. The only problem with it is that it is designed to be used as a second barrel on my shotgun. The breech/lock area of the barrel has a ledge that sits down on top of the lock. It most likely would not work with a regular lock without modding the plate to mate with it.

I bought the stock to replace one I cracked testing heavy loads of 777 a few years back, and to learn from. It was cheap and the wood is nothing special. Heck, most of the ramrod channel is routed, not drilled. If I goof up, all is not lost. Figuring it will have to be done by hand, what is the best method?