doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DIY Gunsmithing @ doublegunshop.com Mullered borders

Can anyone here recommend a good hand tool for cutting mullered borders? Comments on technique or any other advice would be most welcome.

W.E. Brownells used to sell a cutter insert for their handles called Concave in a few sizes. I have one ? Size and don't know if they still offer?
I use a carbide wheel in my electric hand-piece from defunct Carbide Checkering Tools to rough cut. Finish with Concave hand tool. Finish cut ends with small gouge, when two borders meet cut to making V groove with a ridge line down the middle.

I checked, the wheel is about .050" wide and the hand insert about .070" wide. I use replaceble X-acto knife type gouge (and veiner) inserts I buy at the University bookstore.
Joel Schafer has a whole chapter on Mullered Borders in his book, The Final Touch (highly recommended!).

Steven, Thanks for your help here. PS: My new French rasp is fun to use.

I think I know what you mean by that, Steven, but do you have a pic that would illustrate it?

Thanks, SRH

Stan,
There are numerous close-up photos of this in my book Custom Rifles in Black & White. My own examples on pages 80 and 87 an another of Ed Webber's on page 155.

If you are an aficionado of custom gunmaking you should have this book, PM me or go to amazon.com to purchase.

Bill, I'm delighted that you are enjoying the rasp!
The 7" Modeler's is proving to be great fun to use reported by many, especially for comb nose, cheekpieces and for detail shaping~~~
SDH

Steven, I have your book CUSTOM SHOTGUNS, but not the one on custom rifles. Not much of a rifle guy anymore. Thanks anyway.

SRH

I really think a mullered border adds a lot of "class" to any point type checkering job.

I remember when perfectly executed borderless checkering patterns were all the rage in custom rifles & borders were looked upon as a means of covering up checkering runovers. Although there may be a bit of truth in this I always thought a point pattern looked "naked" w/o a border & a perfectly executed mullered border isn't exactly a cover up for runovers.

I'm completely lost,,,,Back up stairs to finish some checkering.....

I completely agree that checkering benefits from borders the same way a picture does from a frame. Of all borders I think the mullered one is best.

Three cropped close-ups of mullered borders and how the are finished at the point of a V. Note the slight ridge down the V of the mullering. This is the right side drop point photographed upside down on my bench vise. The checkering is 25 lpi checkering enlarged quite a bit above real size so imperfections are more obvious. There is no such thing as "perfect checkering" James Tucker and Jerry Fisher (who do the closest known to man "almost perfect checkering") agree with that statement.

Mind you,this is my custom Fox that was checkered about 1993 and I've been using and shooting it ever since so some wear and slight damage has occured.

Bill, if you don't quit responding to that idiot, I'll quit responding to you! Use the IGNORE FEATURE, it works!!

I'd be interested in a checkering discussion and some pictures of mullered borders vs alternatives. What makes good and not so good checkering? I'm trying to learn a little and maybe try my hand at recheckering and checkering.

Personally, I prefer borderless checkering, but I'm not very sophisticated and might change my mind if some interesting examples and variations could be posted. I certainly need the education.

Brent

PS. I have made good use of the "ignore" function. If folks don't post offensive quotes, I generally don't even see them. Anyone can do this to avoid going off road...

PPS. Steve, I didn't see those photos when I put up my post a few minutes ago. They just jumped in now.

In my opinion there is little use for borderless checkering. It just looks unfinished.

Steve, thank you very much for posting those excellent photos and for the further explanation. It is as I had pictured it in my mind. I will leave for the Vegas show tomorrow with a much clearer understanding of mullered borders.

One other question about all this ........... what is the earliest example of mullered borders that we know of? Is it a contemporary thing, or was it practiced on best guns 120 yrs. ago?

SRH

Mullered borders were used in American on ALL Parker guns from inception (so, late 1860s).
I cannot speak clearly to the history of use in Britain and the European continent. But it was certainly in use in those areas before the turn of the century.

The British were using mullered boarders in the flintlock period. There are a number of pictures in Unsworth's excellent book "The Early Purdey's".

Thanks to Dave for monitoring this post!

Yes, mullered borders predate American gunmaking as does the term mullered.

I had great luck restoring an old hammer Parker by cutting a double line border and then using a small round needle file to cut the concave middle. Wasn't really much of a job and looks perfect.

A round file is great for cleaning up the groove but would be tedious for making new one. Files are not the best tools for working on or finishing the ends of the borders.

A concave cutter or a small U gouge is the way to go.