No Shop Rifle Building

I am getting ready to retire for real and the wife and I plan on full timing for a couple of years or longer out of our motorhome. Since I'll have plenty of time on my hands, I am thinking it would be the perfect time to get serious about learning how to build muzzleloaders, but obviously, I won't have a lot of room for tools and benches and such.

Has any one tried this?

If so, how did it work out?

MODS: I wasn't sure where to put this, please move if you think it's in the wrong spot.

Before I had a shop, I lived in a rented 1-BR apartment. I screwed a vise to an old desk in my little living room and built several guns there. It was hell on the carpet with all the sawdust, metal filings and inletting black (The carpet cleaning service performed a miracle there). I did all my building (assembling) using hand tools in addition to my Dremel and a power drill. So I guess it wouldn't be impossible in a motorhome....

I agree.
When I started building my longrifles the only "bench" I had was one of those Folding Workmates, a small 3 inch Pony vise attached to it, a electric hand drill, chisels, files, screwdrivers, drills and taps, a #2 Exacto Knife and a small carpenter square.

I sit on an old couch and listened to talk radio while I worked.

It can be done. :thumbsup:

i bought a work mate and that was my only shop bench from city living during college years ,took it to campsites on summer vacations a few years and finished more than a few stocks on my pic-o-nick table too ....still use my workmate after 20 years just got used to it i guess.

good luck and enjoy your retirement.

CHEERS!

I did it for about 10 yrs. It will work great if your wife lets you throw out the couch. If she balks at this you will need a folding table that you can setup outside. If you are out side you will be bothered by just about every passerby, and they will all think you are crazy. If that doesn,t bother you, you can, if you pick carefully have a drill press and a vice that you can attach with "C" clamps and all the necessary hand tools. It all depends on how accommodating your wife will be. Good luck.

Mel

After I got divorced, I built one rifle in my bedroom, using an old piano bench and a vice. I think I wore out a vacuum cleaner in the process. When the last of my daughters moved out, I graduated to the dining room table, using place mats in between the vice and wood.

You really don't need much room, but if you live in that same work area, you have to clean up everything when you stop working, or you're going to get the "LOOK" :shocked2: . Bill

You might want to consider working on a smaller scale, perhaps a pistol. Not that it is exactly what you are asking for, but you might like to look at some of the links off the Sherline machine tool site. Not too long ago they had a story about a guy who retired and carried a miniature machine shop (Sherlines are small tools) in his RV with him.

I have lived in my 33' 5th wheel trailer for most of the last 4 yrs while working out of town. When you live in a motor home / trailer all the time things accumulate quickly. I did build a pistol while "out on the road" but i had a 22' tag along trailer /rolling work shop to do it in.



My rolling shop has a side walk in door and a ramp style large back door as well a roof a/c / Heat. It is a great place to spend those nights and week ends in working while on the road. Since this pic was taken i've added a bench top drill press. I have a large rubber maid storage box against the front wall for tool storage and a row of cabinets across the top in the front for storage of parts & pieces as well. Just thought i would throw this out there for you to consider. :wink:

It's gonna be tuff, as you see everyone is using some kind of dedicated space (a workmate bench at minimum). It'll require storage and a sorting area for parts and tools.

And ya know what that motorhome travel is all about,,it's visiting and meeting other folks across the country. A wonderful thing, but each time you pull out the gear, it's going to strike a conversation, it'll be fun at first, then the novelty of the talk will wear out, the progress will be very slow,,,
As others have suggested, perhaps a pistol kit, or refurbs of factory rifles would be better suited to the small space and limited time.

My shop isnt much bigger than an ordinary bathroom so it can be done. where there is a will there is a way :thumbsup:

What about an enclosed race car trailor! Some of them have a work bench and cabinets already built in. You can put your little go to town car in it when you are traveling and when you get where you're going take the car out and you are in business! :grin:

While I have never tried working under these conditions, we used to have a man in our muzzleloading club who was a sales rep. for a company and spent a lot of his time on the road living in motel rooms. He made up a tool box in which he carried all of his essential tools and on which he could work. I seem to rember his saying that he had made a folding table to sit his tool box on when he worked. He also carried a drop cloth that he spread on the motel room floor under his work table. He passed a lot of lonely evening hours building muzzleloading rifles this way.

Most motor homes have an awning on the side that will provide you with a covered place to work. With a little thought :hmm: and imagination, you can put together a kit that will easily store away and yet provide you with the necessary tools and a place to work while you live in your motorhome. Unless your wife is unusually accommodating, you had better plan on doing your work outside under the awning. :nono: Seldom will a wife find wood shavings, saw and sanding dust as well as metal filings on the furniture and carpet to be acceptable. :haha:

Normally, I recommend something like Laural Mountain Forge browning solution for your metal parts but to use it, you need a humid place to hang your barrel and parts while the chemical works. Being in a motorhome, you will not have such a place (Mama won't put up with a rusting gun barrel hanging in her shower for a few days). So, when you are ready to brown your barrel, you will need to buy a propane torch and use it to brown your metal parts with Birchwood-Casey's Plum Brown. You can set up outside and get your barrel browned in only an hour or so. As for a finish to put on your stock, you can't beat Tru Oil or Linspeed stock finishes. You apply very thin coats by rubbing the stuff into the wood with your fingers and letting the stock hang someplace over night to dry. It takes several coats to do it right and then you will need some 0000 steel wool to buff your stock between each coat and after the final coat has dried for a few days. So, that's basically what it takes to build a muzzleloader from a kit.

Good luck to you and drive safely.

Bill

For a lot of work I rather like the Zyliss vice set http://toolboxblog.com/2009/02/26/zyliss-profi-king-plus-vise/ there is a new company in the US selling them now but you can pick them up on Ebay with some regularity. They clamp easily onto a tailgate, picnic table etc. Some folks like a pedestal vice http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=9587.0

And this thread over at the ALR might be helpful to you http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=845.0

I do all my work in my living/dining/kitchen. I picked up a small work bench from Harbor Freight and moved it in. I live alone so I only have myself to please. It does get dusty sometimes.

Bolting a vice to a couple of 2X4" will work. This allows you to move it to where you need it.

I have room for a small shopmate style bench, and most of the campgrounds I'll be working at have picnic benches. Storage for tools and such might be a problem, I think.

Mom doesn't care what I do, as long as I don't do it in the motorhome, and I have to agree with her on that. Nothing ticks me off quicker than a mess in my house.

I have still not completely figured out what I am going to do with all the guns and heavy shop tools that I have to get rid of in the next few months.

I built my first couple of rifles on the kitchen table. My wife still lets me do some of the work on the table and there are dents in scratches in it to prove it. I think of them as character marks. :idunno:

Working outside under the awning like was already said would IMO be the best, barely any cleanup, no chemical smells,make your own "humidity box", lots of room, anything to do is done better outside.
PS- I have a workmate also and they are surprisingly stable for such a small bench.

I knew there was someone on here who had built some nice guns on the kitchen table! I was trying to remember who it was. :thumbsup:

I think it would be a lot of fun and a great challange to come up with the systems that would allow you to build a gun on the road.

Having a set-up for working outside is probably the best way to go, if you have the patience and mentallity for it. If you're a social person and like to explain and converse while you're working, it would be a great way to meet your neighbors. Myself, the looky-loo's and question askers from the passers-by would drive me freakin' bananas! "Hey, what's that you got there? Is that one of those guns with the horn on the end? What's that tool for? Hey Ma, come out and look at this!" After 30 minutes of talking (and not working) they leave and a minute later here comes the other neighbor, "Hey, what's that you got there?...." :cursing: :surrender: Bill