how do you begin to even try to figure out....

[sussexmuzllodr]

how to carve a metal barrel with a pattern?

 

[tenngun]

Well first you get far more skill then I’ve ever had.
Metal tooling/ carving is a super talent.
One would have to go down a deep rabbit hole on research as Spanish is diffent from French and both differnt from German and none like Italian and North African. Then to throw a wrench at the monkey 1630 is a world away from 1730
Not much employed on American guns with some engraving at most it’s not widely discussed
I bet you have a year infront of you to lock in the pattern your thinking of

 

[sussexmuzllodr]

Well first you get far more skill then I’ve ever had.
Metal tooling/ carving is a super talent.
One would have to go down a deep rabbit hole on research as Spanish is diffent from French and both differnt from German and none like Italian and North African. Then to throw a wrench at the monkey 1630 is a world away from 1730
Not much employed on American guns with some engraving at most it’s not widely discussed
I bet you have a year infront of you to lock in the pattern your thinking of

tenn your,e right!

 

[deerstalkert]

I ran two lines one inch long on a lock plate i am trying to restore. it had been welded and ground.
they turned out so nice I an ready to scratch lines on a 10k rifle. NOT!
those two lines looked like slug trails. i am tempted to buy some tools needed but looking at those lines removes the temptation!

 

[sussexmuzllodr]

I ran two lines one inch long on a lock plate i am trying to restore. it had been welded and ground.
they turned out so nice I an ready to scratch lines on a 10k rifle. NOT!
those two lines looked like slug trails. i am tempted to buy some tools needed but looking at those lines removes the temptation!

All the reason to refine and move forward...

 

[deerstalkert]

anybody have a stamp that will make all those pretty curlyques. i know how to swing a hammer!

 

[sussexmuzllodr]

seems to me very shrap tools and patience..,.

 

[billraby]

https://www.airgraver.com/help_and_options.htm
Start off with the right tools. Expensive, but it is the best tool you can get to do the job. After that it all comes down to practice.

 

[deerstalkert]

https://www.airgraver.com/help_and_options.htm
Start off with the right tools. Expensive, but it is the best tool you can get to do the job. After that it all comes down to practice.

next question Bill, do you have a substitute name this could be called in the check register? something like house cleaning supplies or such? asking for my health's sake. wife is a Scot.

 

[IanH]

If you figure out a pattern please let me know. The research is maddening.

 

[deerstalkert]

if one has the book Steel Art, at least i think that is the name, there are a mind boggling array of patterns.
should go find my copy but my butt is glued to this recliner.
maybe its steel canvas?
yup, google says its steel canvas, and we all know google is never wrong!

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
Do you mean carve and sculpt a metal barrel or engrave it? In either case, the first step is to create a good design on paper. Look at photos, the French pattern books that you can still buy, and there are good inexpensive pattern books from the Dover "design" series. When I do this, I draw the design on paper, then scan it to my computer, adjust and invert it using Powerpoint, and then print it out on a transparency sheet. Next I paint the barrel with Tom White's "Transfer Magic", which is just acetone mixed with lacquer. I paint that on the barrel, let dry and then place the design on the barrel, ink side down, and rub it hard with a burnisher. That will transfer the image on to the barrel. If you really mean carving or sculpting relief designs on a barrel (rather than engraving), I outline the design with a square graver and then remove the background using flat gravers or chisels. The design is then detailed with small flats, round bottomed, and square gravers, sometimes riffler files are useful, and then polished with stones and ultimately fine abrasive powders on pencil sticks dipped in paraffin oil.

dave

 

[ronaldrothb49]

The tools to do it are not expensive, A couple of gravers and a chasing hammer. How to use them is a whole different thing. Suggest you get John Schippers book on engraving. John was a master engraver, I have watched him engrave screw heads and he could look at a picture and start engraving free hand without drawing out a pattern.

 

[Herb]

I built Rachel a smaller Kit Carson Hawken. .50 caliber. She wanted it engraved like another Hawken I did, which was a .54 caliber.

Ron wanted the barrel engraved. I hesitated to do that, but then thought, a mountain man with a lot of time in the winter might have done this. So I engraved it with a graver and hammer. I think my pattern might be called "Cheyenne snake slithering through the prairie grass".

 

[Herb]

I built Rachel a smaller Kit Carson Hawken. .50 caliber. She wanted it engraved like another Hawken I did, which was a .54 caliber. View attachment 272144View attachment 272145View attachment 272146View attachment 272147 Ron wanted the barrel engraved. I hesitated to do that, but then thought, a mountain man with a lot of time in the winter might have done this. So I engraved it with a graver and hammer. I think my pattern might be called "Cheyenne snake slithering through the prairie grass".

 

[IanH]

My second ever attempt at engraving with a homemade graver and chasing hammer. No pattern, just freehand. DO use a pattern and transfer it well, otherwise it will look like me or an inebriated chimpanzee did it.

 

[deerstalkert]

my attempts look like a drunk chicken with dull metal spurs tried scratching up a worm or something under the rifle.
Dave, i have absolutely no ability to draw. my straight lines aren't, my circles resemble an egg, wavy lines are flat.
but as with other things i will keep trying. the messed up stuff finds a home in my personal collection.
may need to buy a bigger shop .

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
Keep in mind today's steel barrels and cast parts are much more difficult to cut than the wrought iron of the past. The famous Brescian iron filigree carvings would be really difficult with modern mild steel. In my opinion, carving metal is the hardest of all the decorative arts we apply to guns. From easiest to hardest, I rank common firearm decoration as follows: metal inlays, metal wire inlay, relief carving, incised carving, metal engraving, and finally, metal sculpting. Here is an example of carving wrought iron by one of the greatest barrel makers of all time, Nicholas Bis. Note the fine detail and crisp cuts. It is a first class example. However, let me focus your attention on a little trick used by Bis. Look at the areas below the carved leaves. They were shaded by single point stippling. That hides any roughness in cuts used to relieve the background. A simple trick, looks great, and is a short cut.

dave

 

[jdw276]

I ran two lines one inch long on a lock plate i am trying to restore. it had been welded and ground.
they turned out so nice I an ready to scratch lines on a 10k rifle. NOT!
those two lines looked like slug trails. i am tempted to buy some tools needed but looking at those lines removes the temptation!

Not to steal this thread but I have always had a goal or dream to make a long rifle. Ok build a kit....you have just described why I can never build a rifle. I can buy the tools, I have the space but will never achieve that bucket list goal. To engrave metal? It is even harder than wood in more ways than I care to describe.

 

[deerstalkert]

Not to steal this thread but I have always had a goal or dream to make a long rifle. Ok build a kit....you have just described why I can never build a rifle. I can buy the tools, I have the space but will never achieve that bucket list goal. To engrave metal? It is even harder than wood in more ways than I care to describe.

don't defeat yourself. there are many kits out there that take minimal work but help you learn.
find an old CVA or Traditions, heck even an old spanish no-name, tear it apart and refinish the stock. they all have more wood than they should have and you can gain muscle memory and learn technique working on it.
draw file the bottom of the barrel to get the hang of that and then proceed to the exposed flats.
take apart the lock and take a picture of it assembled. then tear it apart. order a new fly for the tumbler before you are ready to put it back together because that little pest will have flown off somewhere.
get a cheap set of scrapers and use them to shape the stock. amazing how quick the work and don't leave rasp marks you will miss and finish over. don't ask how i know!
if the wood is proud of the metal scrape it smooth. thin the barrel channel top edges to a razor thin edge.
you can sometimes find those old rifles for less than 100.00 so investment lost is out weighed by learning should you upscrew something.
try it you will love it!