Inletting Tang problem

[nuttbush]

Dear Sirs, I am new to the forum so forgive me if someone has already ask this question. I recently bought one of Track of the Wolfs "Southern Mountain rifle kits. It is flintlock and I had them to mount the tang to the barrel. I have several books and tapes on building muzzleloaders,but this is my first attempt. I did pretty well on inletting the tang into the stock but there may be some gap on the underside of the tang. I read in one book to put release agent on back of barrel and tang, then to mix up some slow set epoxy with some burnt umber added, fill in tang area with epoxy, mount barrel and tang till glue dries, then file away seepage when you finish your stock. Is this the best way to solve this problem or is there a better way. Many thanks in advance.

 

[Erzulis boat]

Knowing what I know now, you could glue in some wood and "try it again", or use the epoxy/Acra-glas method.

If you do go the epoxy or Acra-glas route, the remainder of epoxy in the mixing cup or pallete, should not be discarded, but saved until the job is done. Since these epoxies dry via chemical reaction, you will have a portion from the same batch that you can check to make sure it is completely dry etc. before you go to town removing things. After the job is done, of course you toss the sample, but sometimes epoxies take a lot longer to cure than anticipated (or advertised), this way you can keep track without molesting the real article.

 

How right uou are. The epoxie will do just fine.

 

[guncobbler]

If you take some of your surplus and freeze it it wont set up and you can use that surplus to fill in any air pockets that were left over from your first application of epoxy. When you are done getting your fingers sticky wash the epoxy off using a paper towel and some vinegar. Makes it come right off. GC

 

Is this gap all the way along the bottom of the tang, i.e. the inlet is too deep, or just one or two spots under the tang. If it's just spotty, I wouldn't worry too much about it, or fillet in the lows, as opposed to glassing it in. Any glassing you do, cannot be stained afterwards, and if not matched will show up big time. To fillet, you would mix only enough epoxy to raise the depressions, and then, after it's set up, use a small file to work it down until the tang fits proper, or try glueing in a small piece of wood, and then work that down. Just my thoughts, and welcome to the forum. Bill

 

[mikelange]

I've gouged my tang inlets too deep on occasion, and find that simply gluing a thin piece of wood, preferably of the same kind as the stock's made of (if you're working from a blank or even a precarved stock with shaping yet to be done, a small bit of wood like this is easy to trim off), works best. If the whole inlet is too deep, just lay the strip in, then place the breechplug tang in on top of it and clamp it till the glue dries. This makes sure the strip has adhered its full length to the bottom of the inlet. Getting the strip the correct thickness is great, if you can do it -- otherwise settle for one a little on the fat side, and shave it carefully down after it's in place.

If only part of the inlet is too deep, taper the thickness of your fill piece, glue, clamp, and correct the error as described above.

I have nothing against epoxy, but the wood remedy is less messy, involves far less chance of something getting glued permanently in place that shouldn't have been, and makes for easy staining. Just MHO.

 

[Zonie]

If you do decide to Epoxy the gap, be sure to cover everything anywhere near the stuff with the release agent. Even the smallest unprotected metal on the tang will bond in place and you won't know until you try to remove the barrel/tang.

 

[rabbit03]

Hi Alamosa,

I have a method that I used on the first rifle I built. It was a Vincent from TOTW also. Believe me I made alot of mistakes but was able to cover most of them. I did what you did also because it was my first time to try and inlet the breach lug/tang section. What I did was instead of using release agent I used siran wrap! I mixed my epoxy and spread it (sparingly) where I wanted to fill in the gaps and then placed the thin layer of siran wrap over the top of the section and then placed the barrel with the tang back in to the stock. I placed the tang screw and the barrel pins in the barrel to hold it in place for a perfect fit.

When it all dried I removed the barrel with no sticking problem and removed all the siran wrap also with out any problem nothing stuck to anything! The microscopic thickness of the film was inperceivable and if anything it may have helped in removing the barrel for future cleanings. I think I actually gained another side bennefit from using the epoxy too. This was the fact that I now had an almost unbreakable section behind the tang which is where you don't want any slack during the recoil. So I think I ended up with a stronger gun in the end. Of course this will not work well if you have too wide of a mortise for the tang or other areas of the barrel/tang assembly since as noted above it would not be stainable. On my rifle the problem I had was not on the sides of the inletting but the space behind the tang bolt and under the tang itself.

I had the opportunity to take an original apart many years ago. And I found that during the life of the rifle, either at the date of manufacture or at some later date, that someone had actually put a substance under the barrel which resembled a hard putty. I could only think back and figure that it was there to do exactly what it is we are talking about here. So although they did not have the luxury of the modern day epoxies they did see the need to use something to fill in the gaps that were sometime created during the inletting process.

I remember reading or hearing that the gunmakers in the past were more concerned with making a living than whether or not the inletting was EXACTLY perfect like we try to do today.
[url] http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b206/rabbit03/first1006.jpg[/url]

Good luck

rabbit03

 

[captgary]

Rabbit,

Nice looking rifle :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[rabbit03]

Thanks Captgary appreciate it. I am currently working on another rifle that I am making from a blank (first time). I will most likely use the nitric stain again as I did with the Vincent but I sure liked the vinegar stain. It will be a flint (flinch lock) my shooting buddies call it but I want to master shooting the flint if I can.

rabbit03