steviejake
32 Cal.
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2010
- Messages
- 20
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hello, I bought Jon Laubach's dvd on forging a Flintlock Rifle Barrel and while informative and fun to watch it left me with more questions than answers. If anyone has forged a barrel could you help me out?
-it appears as though the skelp was cut tapered to give the breech end more mass but one of the first things they do in the video is taper it more without really explaining why.
-would the muzzle end be tapered also for a swamped barrel or would they just "jump" more mass into that end?
-I had no idea that the flats were hammered in. That makes sense that it would leave more material on the barrel by minimizing filing loss. He didn't explain how one straightens the barrel though. Is it done after the flats are finished with a file?
-The reaming bit seems easy enough to make (easy being a relative term here) but can you just put the barrel in a vice and put the bit in a hand drill and ream it freehand or does it all need to be held in some sort of jig? Would one use a lubricant with the reamer? Is this done before straightening the barrel?
-I understand annealing makes the barrel softer to work with (filing flats and reaming) but will it need to be rehardened when all the work is done?
-although not as authentic, wouldn't a gas forge make the welding process much easier?
-I'm not even going to ask about rifling yet.
Thank you for any help.
steve
-it appears as though the skelp was cut tapered to give the breech end more mass but one of the first things they do in the video is taper it more without really explaining why.
-would the muzzle end be tapered also for a swamped barrel or would they just "jump" more mass into that end?
-I had no idea that the flats were hammered in. That makes sense that it would leave more material on the barrel by minimizing filing loss. He didn't explain how one straightens the barrel though. Is it done after the flats are finished with a file?
-The reaming bit seems easy enough to make (easy being a relative term here) but can you just put the barrel in a vice and put the bit in a hand drill and ream it freehand or does it all need to be held in some sort of jig? Would one use a lubricant with the reamer? Is this done before straightening the barrel?
-I understand annealing makes the barrel softer to work with (filing flats and reaming) but will it need to be rehardened when all the work is done?
-although not as authentic, wouldn't a gas forge make the welding process much easier?
-I'm not even going to ask about rifling yet.
Thank you for any help.
steve