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How common was "perfect" inletting in the 18th century?

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Peter LeRay

40 Cal.
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I have a stock (precarve) that I'm building a fowler with and the precut barrel channel is a hair too big on one side. (.032 gap on average). While I personally do not find this acceptable, was it common? Mabe I'm looking for an excuse to say it's ok. :rotf: :rotf:
 
More knowledgeable individuals than I will post on this. I've only examined a couple of originals from that era. The inletting looked so-so, not real impressed. BUT, both had been converted to cap lock and these were probably messed with by others well after the original builder.
.032" on each side would be a total of about 1/16" over size. If it bugs you, you could rip a couple of paper thin strips of the same wood and glue in place on each side of the barrel channel. :hmm:
 
Hi Peter,
Often it is hard to assess the quality of inletting on 18th century originals because of wood shrinkage over the years. However, I have had the privilege of examining quite a few American and European guns from that period inside and out. The quality of workmanship varies tremendously but is generally very good and tight where it shows on the outside (lockplate inlets, escutcheons, butt plates, trigger guards, barrel channels). Underneath, you often can see where they cut corners and hogged out wood. In your situation, I would bed the barrel channel with AcraGlas to fill the gap. If you build a fowler correct historically, the barrel channel will be egg shell thin on the sides. As Kit Ravenshear said, when looking down on the forestock part of the barrel, you should see almost no stock wood on the sides. The epoxy bedding will fill your gaps and strengthen the forestock so you can thin the wood properly.

dave
 
I go along w/ Dave Person.....as w/ many contemporary MLers made today, the original makers were precise w/ "what shows" and the hidden from view stuff wasn't necessarily very precise...in fact even by modern standards some of their work was "lousy".

Depends on the reason why the bbl inlet is too large, but if due to warpage, I've "fixed" that problem on a couple of precarves by first soaking the fore end w/ sloppy wetted rags or towels for a few hrs, lubing the bbl and putting it in the inlet and then tightly wrapping the fore end and bbl w/ surgical tubing. Let sit for a week and a really nice fit was the result. In fact, w/ a very small gap, I've just used the surgical tubing w/o soaking and left it for a couple three weeks while working on another build.

If a precarve has sat in inventory for an extended time, it can warp...that's why some suppliers ship precarves fresh off the profiler w/ the bbls in the stock....I know Chambers does, if possible.

I've returned 2 parts sets because of warped and twisted fore ends...the inlets were also undersized. Didn't want to contend w/ such. Good luck....Fred
 
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If the bbl inlet is too large because it was cut that way, the problem possibly could still be "fixed" using the "soak and wrap" procedure. Thin plastic wrap works well in lieu of the lube.

Don't know if you removed wood seeing some suppliers won't refund or exchange if the precarve has been worked on.....Fred
 
Hi Peter,
I had forgotten Fred's excellent suggestion. Mitch Yates once described that same procedure to me, which he used on a gun he made for a client. If the gap is small, wetting the stock and wrapping may do the trick.

dave
 
20151016_105547_zpsutfav3ud.jpg

I was thinking of 'grafting' from the outside edge since there is a lot of wood there,staining a little bit before gluing. That groove from the profile router only goes down about a 1/16th. What do you think?
 
Flehto explained the wet and wrap process in his first post above. I think you'd need to be close to the finished profile to do this; the thick wood might not give.
 
Yes I see that now. Have it wet then leave it under tension. I agree I will have to get it to the final professional for it to be thin enough to give. It is very soft maple also. Mabe that will help.
 
I am just throwing out speculation but, it looks like a round barrel would settle down in the stock and be equal on each side. How does a round barrel have a gap on one side? Are the sides cut down to the finish height? I'm not familiar with a round barrel but, I have worked with straight octagon and swamped barrels. I would use something to mark the barrel, and place it in the stock to see exactly where it's making full contact. I just don't see enough evidence to come to a conclusion.
 
The barrel inletting is complete. It's down all the way. If you can imagine the precarve router 'wandering' a little while traveling along this edge and skinning it, that's what happened. The forestock isn't warped either.
 
While looking at the muzzle, half of the bbl is inletted. I can bring the edges on the side down but not too much.
 
If you are going to do some gluing, Elmer's makes a terrific stainable glue. Any hardware store.
 
The soak & wrap method sounds like the best approach if you can make it work. I have however, seen repairs made by gluing that are about invisible.
 
I think I may try the soak/wrap method first. If it doesn't work then I can glue some in. I will be posting pictures as I go in this thread. :wink:
 
I have never seen a perfect gun but close. I actually think there were more good builders then percentage wise. Now it seems there are only a couple dozen builders who really give a hoot how good their work is. There are thousands now who call themselves builders. About 1/2 of them are looking for some original with bad features to justify their lousy work. Am I making friends yet? Sorry but that is the impression that Many are voicing. I doubt if a gun maker would have survived long back then with that kind of attitude. When you see an original that looks real bad it very likely didn't look like that when it was made. Other that that there were some real lousy makers back then also. Just like now somebody is always looking for something for nothing and they usually get nothing for something.
 
Hi Jerry,
I agree with you but in this case, I believe Peter has a precarved stock with a sloppy barrel channel cut by the manufacturer and he is trying to figure out a way to rectify that or just live with it.

dave
 
Exactly. I can be somewhat of a perfectionist. This parts set I received in payment for a rifle I built. I don't usually use precarve for just this reason. I'm just looking for a way to Make the best out of an 6" stretch of sloppy barrel channel.
 
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