doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Dent removal

In the video......are the wedges threaded? Is this tool manufactured or "home" made? I'd like to have one!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXQb2QoMJPo

He called it a "Baker" dent raising tool. Looks to act the same as a bicycle handlebar stem, with a threaded wedge and through bolt. Easily made I would say. It doesn't need to match the bore radius.

I went thru the "Baker" tool line on Midways web sight 45 pages with no result on this tool. It looks similar to a dent raiser from one of the old gunsmithing books, Howe I think, it was inserted into the barrel and was tapped together to raise the dent if I remember right. It seems to me that you would have a problem keeping the plug from turning and staying aligned with the dent on the one shown by Midway.

jim

Having made a bunch of solid plugs and considered making the same design as that sliding wedge type, I can say that I'll not likely make the sliding wedge type for myself. The solid plugs are just too easy to make. Frankly, I think the wedges would be time consuming to make. An alternative would be to make it one piece and cut it at the angle with either a thin slitting saw in a mill or wire EDM.

Right now, I'm wondering how much trouble it's going to be to remove a dent my brother-in-law put in the choke area of a 20g sxs I gave him. He leaned it against the truck and it fell over on my dogs SS water bowl. Sheeesh!

I have a dent raiser like the Baker tool except mine was made by a instructor years ago at the Trinidad Gunsmithing School. Mr. Sam Hinson an old friend and Gunsmith gave me the tool about two years ago right before he passed away. Also he gave me different sliding blocks for 12ga, 16ga, and 20ga. I have used the tool and it works great. Also he gave me some expanding brass dent removing tools that can be adjusted for different bore sizes.
I really miss the old time gunsmiths that had been there and done it all. I guess you can't re-invent the wheel.

Regard
M.L.
Oklahoma Panhandle

On dial-up so loading from youtube is generally out of the question, so haven't seen this expander. Some years back I made a set of expandable 12, 16 & 20ga dent raisers. These have a split line straight down the center. Prior to turning I cut a groove about ¼" wide at an angle down the center of each half. A wedge then slides through the matching grooves. The wedge was made to just come flush with the end when un-expanded. Two brass pieces were made to fit onto 3/8" rods, one having solid end, the other recessed in the center for the wedge tip. In use the plug is centered under the dent & supported by the recessed piece from the tip & the wedge tapped tight from the other end. The dent is then hammered from the outside & plug can be retightened if needed for bad dents. When complete the solid plug is inserted in the tip side, the wedge tapped out which lets the plug collapse for removal. These have worked exceedingly well over the years for me, & have come through on several occasions.

What, nobody remembers hitting the stem on their bike?
That tool is exceedingly easy to make. and easy to extract. When it's time to remove it, you just unscrew the t handle half way, and hit it with a mallet.

You would measure depth to get the mandrel under the dent. The wedge bridges the dent. It would be very difficult to over expand it, as the force you can apply decreases as the wedge slowly mates with the tube.

The best dent raisers are Horn repairmen. Their livelyhood is removing dents from curved tubing.

Any idea where i could find one or have one made?

Take the gooseneck off of a bike and go to your local high school skill center. Some kid needs to learn his craft.
It's a round wedge on a shaft, extending through, and bucking up against, an angled tube 60% as long as the barrels you wish to raise dents from. It's not a complex tool to make.
The plannishing of the barrel is where the skill comes in. Get a plastic hammer at Harbor Freight.

Clapper......i'm too old to remember how my bike was made. Don't think i ever took the handle bars off either. Sorry i can't follow what your trying to say.

battle-
here is a sample picture of a handlebar expanding assembly:

Am I the only one hoping no one takes their mountain bike apart and tries to stuff their handlebar hardware down the barrels of Grandpas' Parker?

A bicycle gooseneck is wedged into the forks by tightening the bolt on top of it. Inside the forks, a wedge is being drawn uphill over the angled bottom of the stem by the draw bolt.
The Baker tool mimicks the wedging of the bicycle gooseneck.

The wedge is touching the bump inside of the shotgun barrell tangentially. Plannishing relieves the stress in the bump of the barrell, allowing the pressure from the wedge to push it out incrementally. When the wedge becomes loose, or the tightening handle can be turned a little more, then the plannishing can reoccur. Rinse and repeat.

When the dent has been fully raised, and the stresses around it relieved through the hammering, the wedge can be removed by:
1. loosen the tightening bolt,
2. A sharp wrap on the tightening bolt head will drive the wedge down out of the taper, and the whole assembly will slide out of the barrell.

This removal process is exactly how one removes the handlebars from the fork of a bicycle.

I suggested going to the local skill center, because young people need to learn, the tool is very simple, and it gives the youngsters a look into the future application of their training. It would help them tie what they are learning today, with what the real world can do with such training.

A picture seems a thousand words.
Thanks.

But now I hope that everyone can see how the very simple bolted wedge is used to raise dents, or keep your handle bars straight.

I used the handlebar illustration because as a male centric site, I thought surely everyone here would have had an untimely meeting with their Ashtabula stem at some point in their youth. Memorable, and illuminating.