The Strauss Pirate 36 caliber

Yep, I bought the guide from Brent Finnigan and JB Welded the carbides on. No special milling for the carbides but they've stayed on for a couple years now.
Thanks for watching.
Mike Barton said:
Bruce this WIP is keeping me very interested...not a chance of becoming bored :thumbup1:

Does your blade grinding/file guide have carbide inserts? It's hard to tell for sure from the pictures.
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Coppers look like he has got big, and look like he a big help in the shop . Do you ask him what he think is the picture?
 
Copper wieghs in around 75 pounds now. Mostly head with the mastiff and hound dog and is a joy to have around. Great watch dog but he doesnt know a high end custom bowie from a cheap Chinese knock-off. Both the girl pugs have been around the shop for 10 years and they dont have much patience trying to teach him about knives. He does like getting in pictures.
James-G said:
Coppers look like he has got big, and look like he a big help in the shop . Do you ask him what he think is the picture?
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Yes, to make a cartridge gun is a pain with the Feds but this one isnt a cartridge firearm. This one is a "muzzle loader" and thus requires no "Federal Firearms License" "FFL" to build and sell. To make any gun that takes a cartridge including black powder breech loading requires a special Federal Manufacturing License and is subject to strict rules. Too much of a pain for me so I stay to these front loaders. I think the artistry is better with the old styles anyway.
badgerknives said:
are the laws about makeing guns a pain?
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I got mine from Brent too. I've only used it with safed hand files up until now. How thick did you go on the carbide blanks?

Bruce Bump said:
Yep, I bought the guide from Brent Finnigan and JB Welded the carbides on. No special milling for the carbides but they've stayed on for a couple years now.
Thanks for watching.
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I'm interested in hearing about the carbides too. I have a Brent Finnegan guide that's getting a little worn, that would be a fantastic way to restore it.

Bruce, forgive me if I missed it, but how is the barrel mounted to the frame? I'm not seeing that somehow, and it's pretty important to me. Still have dreams of trying to build a front loader one day. :) Just have to work on that machining thing...

Thanks for the fantastic WIP; it's a wonderful thing to see a piece like this come together. You're a wonder.
 
Hi Dave, The barrel is to be mounted from both sides at the breech plug and after the engraving I plan to soft solder it to the frame bed. That's good paying attention my friend.

Mike and Dave, Without going out and measuring I know the carbides are just under sized and about .125" thick. I put a toothpick between them and clamped them both between micarta to keep them parallel overnight until the JB Weld cures.
ddavelarsen said:
I'm interested in hearing about the carbides too. I have a Brent Finnegan guide that's getting a little worn, that would be a fantastic way to restore it.

Bruce, forgive me if I missed it, but how is the barrel mounted to the frame? I'm not seeing that somehow, and it's pretty important to me. Still have dreams of trying to build a front loader one day. :) Just have to work on that machining thing...

Thanks for the fantastic WIP; it's a wonderful thing to see a piece like this come together. You're a wonder.
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Spent some time on the front bolsters. They are 1018 steel and .187 thick. I super glued them to the left and right liners and drilled the mounting holes and profiled them on the belt grinder. The blade pivot is the front mount drilled for a number 4 screw on the left one. The rest of them are for 2-56 screws. After I mounted them they looked way to thick so back to the grinder to shape and contour em. It looks much narrower now. The rear bolsters get the same treatment.

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way too cool Bruce if you need someone to sweep your floors while you work id do it for free :)

how big is that wheel on your grinder?
 
Lon Humphrey said:
way too cool Bruce if you need someone to sweep your floors while you work id do it for free :)

how big is that wheel on your grinder?
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Lon, come on up, the forging room floor needs sweeping real bad. Hehe.
Thats a 14" Wheel. its very handy.
Thanks for stopping by here.
 
Great...Donna is now officialy a LPN .... She passed it all first time,I am so proud of her....now to get back in the shop and get to work myself.
 
Bruce Evans said:
Great...Donna is now officialy a LPN .... She passed it all first time,I am so proud of her....now to get back in the shop and get to work myself.
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I knew she could do it. She's gorgeous and smart. You lucky dog!
Give her a congrats hug for us.
 
Its been awhile for an update. You wont believe it but I made another damascus billet. I wasnt happy with the pattern. I'm my own worst enemy. The new billet has a much smaller tighter pattern. It seems that by the twisting and flattening the pattern gets smashed and stretched out. Oh well its only a week out of my life.

The ram rod holder got shaped, the trigger and hammer got some much needed wieght removed and shaped too. They also are now heat treated and tempered down to 51-52 rc hardness. Thats soft enough to be very tough but hard enough to keep from wearing out.

At the end I laid out all the parts so far. This thread is long winded with over 200 pictures, I just cant help that. Just hate to miss an important step.

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