Mortiser mill

[Crow#21957]

Ok I know this is a cheapo but I can't spend thousands on a real one.lol
Would this be ok for cutting barrel channels and other such jobs. Could it be used for dovetails or is rpm to low 1750

 

[Crow#21957]

I know I would need a cross slide vice

 

[HSmithTX]

If you want to shortcut the barrel inlet process just use a router to cut a channel? Lots cheaper.

 

[Crow#21957]

Ya thought of that. Maybe I better do precarves as me and power tools usually get in a fight/ scrimish.lol

 

[HSmithTX]

I'd suggest getting the chisels out and inlet a barrel in a piece of soft wood from the box store. Get a 4x4 and you can do it 4x on each end. See how well or not well it comes out, do it a little better each time and pretty soon I think you'll be confident enough to do a plank for a rifle. I'd be surprised if you did it more than 3 times on the soft wood. I don't have anyone around here to learn from that I know of and I can't afford the time to go take classes, I read books, watch videos, and go slow. I make a lot of mistakes but going slow enough they are almost all able to be fixed before they are permanent. Power tools can remove the option to fix quickly so you can bet good money I am going to run the process a few times before I try it in good wood so I know how to get it done without destruction if I do use a power tool. I don't have any desire to produce in volume, so the slower process of doing a barrel inlet with chisels and scrapers only appeals to me, it's the opposite of my day job and a really nice change to do just one thing until it's done well.

 

[Crow#21957]

I can do precarves fairly well. I just don't see me chiseling and entire channel it be straight enough

 

[HSmithTX]

If you follow the inletting black or soot it will be perfect. Once it starts down into the stock just keep nipping off the black and it will go down, perfectly straight. You cannot get in a hurry, and you won't know till you try. Soft wood from the box store won't cost much, after that it's just some time.

 

[Crow#21957]

Thanks HsmithTX

 

[Mulemauler]

Barrel channels look intimidating but really not that hard. It takes me a lot longer and more frustration to fit a curved butt plate or an entry pipe.

 

[Packrat]

Looks like a expensive Drill Press to me. I use a router for dove tails, probably 20 K rpm

 

[Felix the Cat]

I would not really consider a morticer for cutting a barrel channel for a number of reasons:

1. As you say no traversing capablity.
2. Not a fast enough spindle speed. A morticer is really just a modified auger drill and cannot do the revs you need to cut a clean channel in wood. Even a regular milling machine will struggle as metal milling is done a lot slower than wood routing. A morticer cuts a slot by "drilling" a series of square holes which is difficult to keep straight and get an even base.

Provided you can get a flat edge to the blank, a router is probably the best bet if you want to machine most of the slot. An alternative is to use a table saw and cut a shallow groove that you can use as a starting point for inletting. This is what I do, and use a hand router ("Granny's tooth") to set the depth. Bevel the sided with a small block plane and then finish with a scorp or multi disk cutter..