inletting ramrod pipes

[scott adair]

accidently posted this earlier in the wrong section:


Hey guys,

I just spent the better part of last weekend inletting my ramrod entry thimble. Inletting the attachment tab and the tube itself were no problem. Inletting the tang is taking forever. I must have pressed the blackened part in and scraped over a hundred times. Am I missing something? Is this supposed to take this long?

Scott

 

[Erzulis boat]

I am also a beginner, and take a "long" time too.

I believe that as a builder gains experience, the amount of aggressive wood removal before the final fit becomes greater. With time, you begin to know what a corresponding inlay looks like on the "inside", and you push the initial hogging out to the limit.

I also feel that the angle of attack has something to do with it. Like inletting a buttplate on a correct course, not just willy nilly scraping and hacking.

Another thing I learned, is that just because you have transferred inletting black, does not mean that you have to remove it! By strategically removing only some, some of the time, you can influence alignment. If you always scrape the "black" in it's entirety, the inletting job might be horrible.

If your inletting is nice and crisp, I would not sweat the time at all. Speed only comes from experience.

This is just my take. I want to get faster too, but not at the expense of quality.

 

[bioprof]

I too just finished inletting the entry ramrod pipe on the Bedford rifle I am building. I was up till 1:30 on New Years Eve (Yeah, I know, I need to get a life) and then spent another 3 hours on New Year's Day for a total of about 6-7 hours. I broke into the barrel channel, but that can be fixed. The good news is that the other ramrod ferrules are a lot easier. It took me about 3 hours to get the front thimble inletted and pinned.

 

[coehornboy]

Scott: I agree with Erzulis...sometimes speed comes with experience.
However, taking your time to do the best job you can TODAY is a better use of your time, lets say, than spending more of your future time lamenting a 2nd rate or rushed job you did on the intetting. As a kid, my dad constantly reminded me to slow down and take my time on projects, not to rush things, etc. :shake: Every project I have posted here has taken me considerable time, sometimes for revision and research, other times just because I put it down and walked away for a while..

Many of us out there have seen the guy at the range that hurried to completed a blackpowder rifle "kit" in a weekend. It may have shot good but for looks.....

Hang in there, and let all of us know how the project finishes up. :v

 

[Stophel]

It used to take me hours to inlet the rear rod pipe (it still takes a good bit of time now...). It is a VERY difficult part to inlet. One of the main problems is trying to inlet it "too much"...leaving "extra wood" and trying to inlet through it all. It takes practice to figure out just how to do it and how to get it all down to where inletting the rear pipe could be called "easy"...I'm slowly getting there.

The front pipes take me 20 minutes. They're "easy"! :winking:

 

[hcook]

I usually inlet one of the front pipes where the entry pipe goes. Once that is done, I take it out and inlet the entry pipe in its place. For me it's much easier.

 

[oldarmy]

it just takes practice.
the first one is always the worst.
I think the biggest misstake I used to make was leaving the metal "tang" too big. You only need a little tab to put a 1/16 hole through. Unless you want to put in 2 pins and even then you only need a small amount of metal. you need to have faith in your drilling ability. push it in deep, so the thimbel is flush with the grove
The rear one is a b%^&h. that's why the good builders are always showing off that area. takes skill and a good hand to do it right.
Again you need to remove wood and seat it deep. the wood between the metal and the ramrod hole should be just wisper thin. plus it is going to move backwards so don't go to far forward to start

 

[dlemaster]

During my apprenticeship we referred to the entry pipe as the armpit of the gun. I hated inletting them. They are always a pain but must be done right to get a good fit and no rocking of the tail piece in the inlet.
Sounds like your doing it right, go slow and as others have said it will get easier as you gain experience.

Regards, Dave

 

[54JNoll]

I also start the entry pipe inlet using one of the other thimbals. This works great provided they are the same length. Once the "normal" pipe is fully in I have only to inlet the tang. This is much easier and quicker for me.

But as the others have said. Slow and tight is much better than faster and sloppy. Speed does come from practice. But good inletting come from taking your time. Experience let you know when you can go fast and when to slow down.

 

[scott adair]

Thanks for all of the responses. I'll post photo's when I finish the rifle.

Scott

 

Maybe I got lucky, but my first one went right in easy as nothin'. Wasn't nearly as much work as the dang buttplate was...