Bruce Bump
Forum Owner-Moderator
The more I feed em, the lazier they get 
Matchlock Axe/Pistol
- Thread starter Bruce Bump
- Start date
Dwane Oliver
Well-Known Member
And full of life they are.....
Karl B. Andersen
Well-Known Member
Magnetic Walnut!!! So cool. :9:
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Gahagan
Well-Known Member
[/QUOTE]Magnetic Walnut!!! So cool. :9:
Thats funny because I was going to say the same thing!!!
Bruce Bump
Forum Owner-Moderator
Thats funny because I was going to say the same thing!!![/QUOTE]
Its from the iron in the soil here. This is local grown walnut. Last year I surfaced a half dozen ears of corn.
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Steven Janik
SUPERMOD & AWARDS BOSS
I figured the secret to this. If you put crazy glue on your chuck it makes the wood magnetic. Amazing!!!
Bruce Bump
Forum Owner-Moderator
I was able to hone the adapter hole to slide the muzzle into it today. I used Lon's boring attachment in the mill to counter-bore the adapter where it seats against the barrel.
Also I borrowed Lon's 1/8" slitting saw and mandrel. The saw was slow but it cut a beautiful slot for the damascus blade to slide into.
I think the next thing is to make the cap nut to hold the adapter on. That and cut a keyway so it doesnt rotate on the muzzle.
Also I borrowed Lon's 1/8" slitting saw and mandrel. The saw was slow but it cut a beautiful slot for the damascus blade to slide into.
I think the next thing is to make the cap nut to hold the adapter on. That and cut a keyway so it doesnt rotate on the muzzle.
Josh Dabney
Moderator
Just Love watching you work Bruce !
Sooooo much fun !
-Josh
Sooooo much fun !
-Josh
C Craft
Well-Known Member
Bruce I believe that breech plug is from a site that sells parts for a traditional muzzle loader. If it is what I think it is they heat and bend that long tang to fit the curve of the particular stock they are working on, and then inlay the back of the breech plug and the tang into the wood and the long part the tang is drilled countersunk and screws hold it in place! But then I am sure you already knew all of this!:3:
Great progress!
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Bruce Bump
Forum Owner-Moderator
I think you're right about it being a universal breech plug. If I were going to make one for this barrel it would look nearly identical so I'm tickled I found this one. The long tang does need to be bent to match my axe/pistol contour. Right now I,m inletting the walnut for the barrel and breech plug. Boy this walnut is nice to work with. The last one of these was rock hard curly maple!
Bruce Bump
Forum Owner-Moderator
A couple days of wood work here. There are people that actually make custom gun stocks everyday. I dont envy them one bit. This is hard and tedious work and one slip of the tool could spell disaster to a high end piece of wood that has a many hours invested. I dont claim to be a stock maker but after milling and fitting and chiseling and fitting and scraping and fitting and fitting and fitting I finally have the barrel dropped in the stock. I plan to "bed" the barrel with epoxy and wood dust to make it solid and fill any voids under the barrel. The edges are not perfect but hopefully it will be acceptable, if not I have more wood, I can always chock it up to experience and start again.
Heres also a couple shots of the adapter thats is taking shape.
Heres also a couple shots of the adapter thats is taking shape.
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Patrice Lemée
Well-Known Member
Bruce, what is that round scraper tool called? Too cool! Got to get me one of those, even if I never make guns.
Bruce Bump
Forum Owner-Moderator
Bruce, what is that round scraper tool called? Too cool! Got to get me one of those, even if I never make guns.
Patrice, it's indeed a scraper designed for bedding barrels. I bought a pair of different sizes at a yard sale. I bet Brownells sell something similar.
Bruce Bump
Forum Owner-Moderator
I finished inletting the barrel and decided to bed it also. Bedding is simply filling the space with epoxy and squeezing the barrel down very tight allowing the excess epoxy to squeeze out. The result is a very tight fitting barrel. Another plus is the cavity is stabilized and very tough. This barrel will go in and out a thousand times before this project is finished. Notice the popsycle stick sections superglued on the top of the walnut to strengthen that fragile area so I can remove the barrel again after the epoxy dries without the walnut splitting there. I,ve used "acra-glass" before but this time I used 6 minute clear epoxy with a heavy mixture of walnut dust in it for color in hopes that all gaps will be non-existant to the eye.
I used a release agent made by acra-glass and a thin coat of vasoline just in case to be sure the barrel isnt locked into the stock permanately.
Next comes the mounting plates for the barrel. They also allow the serpentine to pivot and the powder box will be mounted solid to the barrel. These plates wont be seen but will provide mounts for the finished engraved side plates inlaid in the walnut on both sides. Right now they are drilled and tapped for 2-56 screws. Notice the yard sale tapping machine made from an elcheapo drill press.
In this photo I have one plate screwed solid to the barrel and opposite plate clamped and superglued to the barrel to hold it tight while drilling the mounting holes. The small square is used to be sure the serpentine pivot holes are lined up square. The barrel breech plug is one of the mounts and the barrel itself is the other. I need to be careful to not drill too deep into the barrel bore.
I used a release agent made by acra-glass and a thin coat of vasoline just in case to be sure the barrel isnt locked into the stock permanately.
Next comes the mounting plates for the barrel. They also allow the serpentine to pivot and the powder box will be mounted solid to the barrel. These plates wont be seen but will provide mounts for the finished engraved side plates inlaid in the walnut on both sides. Right now they are drilled and tapped for 2-56 screws. Notice the yard sale tapping machine made from an elcheapo drill press.
In this photo I have one plate screwed solid to the barrel and opposite plate clamped and superglued to the barrel to hold it tight while drilling the mounting holes. The small square is used to be sure the serpentine pivot holes are lined up square. The barrel breech plug is one of the mounts and the barrel itself is the other. I need to be careful to not drill too deep into the barrel bore.
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Patrice Lemée
Well-Known Member
Thanks Bruce. I'll definitely put it on the to buy list. Following this one closely. :thumbup:
Bruce Bump
Forum Owner-Moderator
Onto the priming powder box next. I decided to dovetail the barrel and the 1018 primer box. This is 3/4" thick steel and will need allot of material removal before its finished. The angled top will remain flat for a pivoting metal lid to seal against losing gun powder. The body of the box will be rounded and hollowed out. The lid needs a spring to keep it closed but a light spring because the dragons face will open it when the trigger is pulled. Gee I hope this all works. I feel funny putting pictures on here on gun parts that are unproven. I dont know if this is the only box I'll need to make but here we go with the fun stuff.
I JB Welded the box dovetail to the barrel so I can clamp it into my milling machine vice. There is allot of tooling to do on it and the barrel makes a good handle. Later I'll heat it up to loosen the epoxy and remove the box.
The right side plate will need to be drilled and opened up to go over the primer box.
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Bruce Bump
Forum Owner-Moderator
Keith Willis
Well-Known Member
Always fun to follow your WIP
God bless,
Keith
God bless,
Keith