Diving into a plank. My Chisels and files

[HighUintas]

I very quickly went from...

I'm going to buy a flintlock
To
I'm going to get a .58
To
I'm going to get a kit in 58
To
I'm going to build one from a blank...

So, here's the chisels and files I've currently got. They're not great, except for the pfeil, ramelson, and Nicholson file.

The hooked gouge is a pfeil #8 0.4"
The straight gouge is a ramelson #3 1/8"
The Nicholson file is an 8" double sided file/rasp, one side curved the other flat
The round file is from harbor freight
The Stanley chisels don't hold an edge all that well and the flat chisels and skews are double bevel, which I don't like, but they're useable.

So, here is a potential list of items I thought about acquiring. I'd like to at least cut it in half if possible. This gun won't have any carving. So, just inletting and stock shaping.


Flat chisels
1/8 straight
3/8 straight
1/8 skew
3/8 skew?

Gouges
3/8 wide sweep
3/8 slightly narrow sweep
1/8 middle

V gouge
1/8 60 or 90 deg
3/8. 60 or 90 deg

Microplane
Coarse flat
Medium?
Round bent rasp for ramrod channel?

File
10" mill
Triangle file 1/4"?
Small round... Chainsaw files?

I'd like to keep the total cost to $150. I have been looking at the chisel and file options on TOTW and MBS but wasn't sure of the quality.

Thoughts?

Also, sorry, you've probably seen similar questions many times. I didn't quite find what I was looking for in search

 

[deerstalkert]

any antique malls close or just plain old junk stores? great places to get good old tools if you know what you want.
todays prices, you will have trouble getting even half of your list for $150.
start watching yard sales if they are active about your area.
i have everything you listed and still seem to find something i want to do that i need something else to accomplish. wood butchers like myself have to learn to make some tools we need.
best of luck. Oh, just remember, your outlay on this first stock may seem like a lot but spread across the many more you WILL do, the price diminishes per stock!

 

[Phil Coffins]

Here’s the files I us the most for stocks, add to this a 10” rat tail file. A couple of cabinet rasps and two cabinet files. Then scrapers before finial sanding.
IMG_0215 by Oliver Sudden, on Flickr

 

[HighUintas]

any antique malls close or just plain old junk stores? great places to get good old tools if you know what you want.
todays prices, you will have trouble getting even half of your list for $150.
start watching yard sales if they are active about your area.
i have everything you listed and still seem to find something i want to do that i need something else to accomplish. wood butchers like myself have to learn to make some tools we need.
best of luck. Oh, just remember, your outlay on this first stock may seem like a lot but spread across the many more you WILL do, the price diminishes per stock!

I know it. The prices of today are incredible. Unfortunately I live in the suburbs of a city where it seems like the only yard sales around have junk. Not useful junk though. I keep my eye on the classifieds. I moved here 6 years ago from a small town 20 hours away and I still haven't figured out how to operate here. For example, I can't find a trustworthy service provider or any sales with old useful goods.

I'm comforting myself with the fact that the next one will be cheaper!

 

[HighUintas]

My goal (I'm not sure how ambitious this is) is to be able to hunt with it this fall.

I've got enough cash now after selling some unused items for all the rifle parts (I think) and roughly $150 in tools. So, I think my plan might be to buy what tools I need now, of decent quality, to get the barrel channel and breech/tang inletted and breech plug fit. At the point I'm done with that, I may have found the other items in the classifieds

 

[necchi]

I very quickly went from...
To
I'm going to build one from a blank...

Oh, you poor feller.
Don't.


Just back up a bit, set some and ponder

 

[Colonial Boy]

Old worn out files make great chisels and scrapers, but you’ll need a grinder (there are cheap ones around).

 

[billraby]

The trick is to get by with what you have. Buy more tools as you need them and can afford them. You will be set up better for the next one. I started out with hardly any tools and now I spend over $150 on a single rasp. It usually takes years to build up a good set of tools.

 

[rchas]

a 1/8, 1/4, and 1 inch chisels are my most often used tools. A 1 1/2 wide #6 sweep gouge can hog off a lot of unnecessary wood and with a lighter touch is good for shaping the concave surface of a cheekpiece. I use a V gouge (parting tool) to outline lock panels. The 4-in-hand rasp you have is helpful. My favorite tool to get down to final shape is a spokeshave.

I think you're right, yardsales today typically have only junk. Keep an eye out for estate sales, instead, and be patient.

 

[HighUintas]

Oh, you poor feller.
Don't.


Just back up a bit, set some and ponder

I truly am a glutton for punishment and stubborn. I'm considering making the thimbles and front sight too.

 

[HighUintas]

The trick is to get by with what you have. Buy more tools as you need them and can afford them. You will be set up better for the next one. I started out with hardly any tools and now I spend over $150 on a single rasp. It usually takes years to build up a good set of tools.

Thanks for your videos! Something you said multiple times in them is how I always approach seemingly complicated tasks.. focus on each tiny individual task and then it's not so complicated. It works pretty well

 

[Larry (Omaha)]

116052[/ATTACH]

 

[Vaino]

One important tool when working from a blank is a bandsaw....didn't see one mentioned. Laying out an accurate stock outline and then sawing on the line eliminates a lot of wood removal. My first blank was cut w/ a Skillsaw and my wife was watching me make the cuts and finally said...."I'm not watching this" and went upstairs. Shortly bought a 14" bandsaw and from then on, only blanks. Used a spokeshave to round the corners of both forestocks and the blank became a stock,

After doing the bbl/RR work on the first 4 LRs, thereafter sent the bbl and blank to Fred Miller and then to Dave Rase. Both of them did fine work and Dave was able to give me a 1/16" web at the breech and 5/32" at the muzzle for a very petite Bucks County LR......Fred

 

[HighUintas]

One important tool when working from a blank is a bandsaw....didn't see one mentioned. Laying out an accurate stock outline and then sawing on the line eliminates a lot of wood removal. My first blank was cut w/ a Skillsaw and my wife was watching me make the cuts and finally said...."I'm not watching this" and went upstairs. Shortly bought a 14" bandsaw and from then on, only blanks. Used a spokeshave to round the corners of both forestocks and the blank became a stock,

After doing the bbl/RR work on the first 4 LRs, thereafter sent the bbl and blank to Fred Miller and then to Dave Rase. Both of them did fine work and Dave was able to give me a 1/16" web at the breech and 5/32" at the muzzle for a very petite Bucks County LR......Fred

My buddy has a bandsaw I've used for a bolt action stock they are nice to have

 

[The Crisco Kid]

Here’s the files I us the most for stocks, add to this a 10” rat tail file. A couple of cabinet rasps and two cabinet files. Then scrapers before finial sanding.
IMG_0215 by Oliver Sudden, on Flickr

That top file looks like the Nicholson #50 which is the file I've used the most. In fact, I've worn mine out. There is a place that re-sharpens them for a moderate price. I bought mine from Brownells many stocks ago. Prices for one now are around 50 bucks.

 

[Codger Craig Wilcox]

Save some of that money for some good stones or other sharpening means. Really sharp chisels are excellent tools. Dull ones WILL hurt you - you apply too much pressure on the cut, and the chisel will jump and get your other hand. Keep 'em sharp! a piece of leather glued to a piece of wood, and smeared with ZAM (green polishing compound) will be your best friend - pause every few minutes to strop your blade, And don't forget to give a few swipes to the back side.

 

[Larry (Omaha)]

I truly am a glutton for punishment and stubborn. I'm considering making the thimbles and front sight too.

Now you are talking, but what about the back sight? No more difficult than the front, just more labor!
Hack saw, files, and Dremel for dish out at slot.
Larry

 

[deerstalkert]

there is no end to this sickness called "building"! i am now in the middle of making a double set trigger.
i am challenged at creating something new but i can copy the heck out of something existing.
am making flat springs this morning.

 

[HighUintas]

Save some of that money for some good stones or other sharpening means. Really sharp chisels are excellent tools. Dull ones WILL hurt you - you apply too much pressure on the cut, and the chisel will jump and get your other hand. Keep 'em sharp! a piece of leather glued to a piece of wood, and smeared with ZAM (green polishing compound) will be your best friend - pause every few minutes to strop your blade, And don't forget to give a few swipes to the back side.

I was wondering about stones and what I would really need. I have the small flex cut stopping block that came with the rouge but I also have some leather to make a larger strop. Could I get by with just a larger strop if I'm using it really frequently? Or should I also get hard very fine whetstone or a diamond stone in the several thousand grit neighborhood?

 

[HighUintas]

there is no end to this sickness called "building"! i am now in the middle of making a double set trigger.
i am challenged at creating something new but i can copy the heck out of something existing.
am making flat springs this morning.

So true. Since April 2021, I went from only shooting a centerfire to getting my first Win 1886 and then needing to make charcoal and make BP, then casting bullets, then making a bolt action stock from blank, and now this. Yes I have a problem.