I just ordered a Lyman Great Plains rifle . A flinter in .54 cal . I'd like to install a pewter , german silver patchbox but my woodworking skills consists of chopping firewood . Any tips would surely be appreciated as i don't want to splinter the wood by trying to gouge it out . I've been thinking about tracing the patchbox on the stock and then trying to cut the shape out with a dremmel rotary tool . I have a few old rifle stocks of no value that i could practise on .
-
Friends, our 2nd Amendment rights are always under attack and the NRA has been a constant for decades in helping fight that fight.
We have partnered with the NRA to offer you a discount on membership and Muzzleloading Forum gets a small percentage too of each membership, so you are supporting both the NRA and us.
Use this link to sign up please; https://membership.nra.org/recruiters/join/XR045103
Patchbox Install
- Thread starter atr
- Start date
Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:
Take a small mill file & slightly bevel the edges of the patchbox so the Outside of the patchbox is slightly smaller than the inside edges of it.
Then lay the patchbox on the rifle in the place you want it & take the tip of an exacto knife & scribe the outline with the exacto blade tip In at a slight angle, so you actual scribe line will be Smaller than the actual patchbx. Now cut a line on the line with the knife & again, at the angle of the bevel you out on the patchbox. Now cut an oposing V cut Inside the scribed line & this V of wood should lift out.
Now take wood chissels or carving tools & remove the wood inside that til the patchbox fits properly. You can get some cheap carving tools at the hobby shop for under $10 for a small job like this.
To check the fit, you can lay a piece of carbon paper over the hole & lay the patchbox on top of it & tap it with a plaxtic mallet & the carbon paper will leave a mark where it needs to be lower. You can do the same thing with Inletting Black & on a light stock you can sometimes use a magic marker but it is hard to use with walnut. Care mist be taken that you hve the patchbox straight Every time of you will have major gaps.
Just carefully keep inletting until it is done. & keep checking & take off a little at a time.
Then lay the patchbox on the rifle in the place you want it & take the tip of an exacto knife & scribe the outline with the exacto blade tip In at a slight angle, so you actual scribe line will be Smaller than the actual patchbx. Now cut a line on the line with the knife & again, at the angle of the bevel you out on the patchbox. Now cut an oposing V cut Inside the scribed line & this V of wood should lift out.
Now take wood chissels or carving tools & remove the wood inside that til the patchbox fits properly. You can get some cheap carving tools at the hobby shop for under $10 for a small job like this.
To check the fit, you can lay a piece of carbon paper over the hole & lay the patchbox on top of it & tap it with a plaxtic mallet & the carbon paper will leave a mark where it needs to be lower. You can do the same thing with Inletting Black & on a light stock you can sometimes use a magic marker but it is hard to use with walnut. Care mist be taken that you hve the patchbox straight Every time of you will have major gaps.
Just carefully keep inletting until it is done. & keep checking & take off a little at a time.
atr, when I installed a patch box in my GPR, I had a problem installing the spring. I plain couldn't get it to work. Luckily, I had bought a cast steel box from TOW, and was able to use a small magnet to act as the catch...if you are able to use the spring, that's better, if not, keep this solution in mind. If you've got a box of non-magnetic material, you can always expoxy a small steel plate to the lid...good luck, Hank
Dang, I just read what I wrote & I got it backwards & it won't let me change it. You want the Outside edges Larger than the inside edges of the patchbox. So the patchbox is going down intp a "V" effect & when the screws pull it in, it pulles it tight into the V.
Sorry.
Sorry.
Guest
I do close to the same as birddog
I however beveled the edges as he meant "not as he said "LMAO" :: we gotcha back " then take a candle and hold the box about 4 inches above the flame. This will put a large amount of black soot on the part to be inlet.
Now you have one shot at this or you must clean off the stock and re-soot. Lay the part where you want it, press down and walllaa you have a copy of the part onto the stock. Now I know a dremel tool isn
I however beveled the edges as he meant "not as he said "LMAO" :: we gotcha back " then take a candle and hold the box about 4 inches above the flame. This will put a large amount of black soot on the part to be inlet.
Now you have one shot at this or you must clean off the stock and re-soot. Lay the part where you want it, press down and walllaa you have a copy of the part onto the stock. Now I know a dremel tool isn
About the same as Birddog6 (except the draft or angled sides of course). if there are hinges/catches you will need to start a pocket for them so the patchbox lays down flat on the stock.
I like to use a small dab of Superglue Gel to hold it in place while I am incising or cutting the outline into the wood with my pointed Exacto knife.
The reason I do this is I have found it is best to go around the outline several times to cut into the wood about 1/16 inch and to make sure it is fully cut.
A light whack with a plastic mallet will break the glue joint to remove the patchbox.
I have made some tiny little chisels and use these to chip out the wood from inside the profile cut, outward to intersect it.
This chiseling is about 1/32 to 1/16 inches wide.
The end result is the same as cutting a V as was described above.
Using the clean cut vertical edges as a guide, I then recut straight down to deepen the vertical cut. Then more chiseling to deepen the whole pocket but starting about 3/16 to 1/4 inch inboard to remove more wood.
You can remove the rest of the center area wood with a standard 1/4 inch chisel.
When the entire center area has been lowered, try the patchbox in the pocket. Using your thumb to hole it into the best fit with the pocket, use the pointed Exacto again to recut and deepen the patch boxes shape. Then repeat the operation of removing the wood out to the cut.
This may be required several times because of the taper you made on the sides of the patchbox but eventually you will end up with the patchbox flush with the stock and absolutly no gaps anywhere around the sides.
Have fun!
As a follow up to this here is a picture of the little chisels I made from some 3/32 dia music wire (available at Hobby Shops).
The picture doesn't show it but the faces are polished mirror bright and the cutting edges are razor sharp.
If you could stand the glare of looking at some of my rifle pictures, you can see that these have had a busy life in the inlay department. ::
I like to use a small dab of Superglue Gel to hold it in place while I am incising or cutting the outline into the wood with my pointed Exacto knife.
The reason I do this is I have found it is best to go around the outline several times to cut into the wood about 1/16 inch and to make sure it is fully cut.
A light whack with a plastic mallet will break the glue joint to remove the patchbox.
I have made some tiny little chisels and use these to chip out the wood from inside the profile cut, outward to intersect it.
This chiseling is about 1/32 to 1/16 inches wide.
The end result is the same as cutting a V as was described above.
Using the clean cut vertical edges as a guide, I then recut straight down to deepen the vertical cut. Then more chiseling to deepen the whole pocket but starting about 3/16 to 1/4 inch inboard to remove more wood.
You can remove the rest of the center area wood with a standard 1/4 inch chisel.
When the entire center area has been lowered, try the patchbox in the pocket. Using your thumb to hole it into the best fit with the pocket, use the pointed Exacto again to recut and deepen the patch boxes shape. Then repeat the operation of removing the wood out to the cut.
This may be required several times because of the taper you made on the sides of the patchbox but eventually you will end up with the patchbox flush with the stock and absolutly no gaps anywhere around the sides.
Have fun!
As a follow up to this here is a picture of the little chisels I made from some 3/32 dia music wire (available at Hobby Shops).
The picture doesn't show it but the faces are polished mirror bright and the cutting edges are razor sharp.
If you could stand the glare of looking at some of my rifle pictures, you can see that these have had a busy life in the inlay department. ::
Oh, I forgot to say about the dremmel tool. Man, want a great lil gadget ! Hard to believe something so useful & fast & neat can give you so many problems. BE VERY CAREFUL with it & keep your bit in close as you can & use BOTH hands & don't get near any edge. That lil sucker will grab wood & walk up over the edge before ya even think of what is happening & cause you a livetime or grippin' about it.... Keep it Away from any edges, as it is hard to put that wood back in the place ya just ground out by mistake.....
Guest
That
Similar threads
Latest posts
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
FOR SALE very nice Veteran Arms 1st Land Pattern Brown Bess for sale!- Latest: FlintlockMilitaryRifle
-
