doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DIY Gunsmithing @ doublegunshop.com Heading up a boxlock

Bill, Get you a several bent, flat edge, narrow chisels. I like small ones that I can put the end of the handle in the palm of my hand to push. They usually have a little pear shaped wooden handle, and are short. But, by bent I mean that the shank is bent in a slight, tight curve just behind the flat end. If you can't find any just carefully heat the shank of a straight one just behind the flattened end and bend it yourself, with the bevel on the cutting edge up, being careful not to get the cutting edge area hot enough to hurt the temper.

I find that I use these a great deal when inletting, for removing material from the bottom of a recess. Nothing else will do it as well, IMO.

Best, SRH

I have over a hundred chisels from years of wood carving and stock work. Funny thing is that I use maybe eight of them for 99% of my stock inlettning. Oh a few might come in handy in some odd situations but a basic group does almost everything. More than a large number of tools is being able to sharpen them to a razors edge and touching them up quickly while in use. Nothing cuts as well as a sharp edge or can ruin a job faster than working with dull tools and forcing harder to cut things because they are dull, then loosing control and screwing things up. Been there a done that.

A good vise, good light, magnification, comfortable seat if working sitting down, inleting black or soot and time to work without distractions of fatigue. I've screwed up stocks working too long, after I should have called it a day or night. Sometimes you are trying to bring three or four things together at the same times and don't want to stop. Sometimes you set a point you must finish before stopping. That's always a mistake for me. Work when you are fresh, keep your mind on the job or just put it down and do it anther day.

If you are smart you'll write down notes as you go. Problems encountered and methods used or missed to get around them. No matter how hard you try you will miss things the first time that you could do better if you did the job again. Notes help you do it easier and better. I have bought several project guns, in the exact same model, so that I can use the worse condition ones to learn with and save the best one for the final exam. Same for blanks, use plain ones to learn with and better one for the final.

Ky Jon: You sure hit the nail on the head!! Where were you when I was learning these things the hard way? It took me years just to learn to lay down the tools and walk away.

R/

oldr31, Most likely I was either crying over work ruined, tossing a stock into the fire wood pile or starting over. It would have helped if I did not find any job or re-stocking that requires glass bedding to fill in the over in-let areas to be in need of a match.

I love looking at other peoples work and seeing if they love glass bedding, gaps or did a job that I would be proud of. Problem is that it is tacky staring at their mistakes and there are a lot of them out there on some home done jobs and not so home made jobs. But most of us are armatures not a pro doing it every day for years at some factory. I expect the person who inlet Fox or Parkers had the job down to an art form and could do one in a tenth of the time we take. That comes with years of doing the same job over and over. We do one at a time and learn as we go. By the time you learn a few tricks it is time to take on another different challenge.

Jon, I would find it very helpful for me if you could please describe or post a photo of your most used chisels.
I want to make a practical & useful set for myself to get into stock work.
It seems that you can save me a lot of trial & error & wasted time. Thank you.
O.M

2nd request Jon. This would be extremely helpful.
Thanks,
Bill

Ithaca: Don't over-think it. Chisels are often sold in sets. Buy a set. Learn to sharpen them. You will use them all at first, but will gradually favor one over the other. They can be very expensive, so I suggest the mid-priced ones. I prefer the short shanks for careful handwork and the standard shank if I might use them with a hammer or a mallet. I'd suggest you visit a wood working store and stay away from the local hardware or big box outfit. The bent shanks appear attractive at first, but in reality, only have limited use. So I'd postpone their acquisition.

Personally, I enjoy going to local auctions and the occasional "yard sale". I've made some good buys at auctions and once in a great while at a yard sale where an old guy died and the widow had no idea of value.

As an aside: I just thought I knew how to create a sharp edge until I had to do careful work! It took me a while to learn how to create a really sharp edge. You might want to review your sharpening technique and equipment.

R.

That's why pictures can be so great. No one really wants to discuss mistakes, but seeing where folks got into a tough spot and how they worked through it are better, to me, than staged pro photos. I like to see glare on snapshots as I think it's maybe the only way to figure out how carefully surface prep was done.

Aside from the various chisels and maybe gouges, does anyone have a thought or two on handled scrapers?

I disagree. I use the tiny bent shank chisels a great deal.

I do agree on learning to sharpen them properly. Sharpness is of the utmost importance with inletting tools.

SRH

A couple bent chisels were used extensively inletting this lock 25 years ago. Sorry for having to use a link, but my photo bucket account isn't cooperating right now.

http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbt...true#Post220495

SRH