Draw Filing

rafterob said:

Rice barrels are ready to go, they need no further filing or polishing. With that in mind I would remove wood from the stock, much easier than draw-filing.

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I was going to say the same thing . . . I have three rice barrels and have not seen the need to draw file any of them in my builds . . . I have sanded them a little mostly due to dings and scratches when building.

SciAggie said:

No. I have the wooden card with the metal comb teeth on one side and the sinthetic brush on the other side. I'm not sure what a brass card looks like or how it differs. Can you explain further?
This is what I have:
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I use a flattened brass cartridge case to clean files of the pinning. Injave found those steel wire brushes to cause too much wear on the file.

rafterob said:

Rice barrels are ready to go, they need no further filing or polishing. With that in mind I would remove wood from the stock, much easier than draw-filing.

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Mine wasn't, mill marks full length on all the flats, and it was good bit oversized. I called them and asked if it was supposed to already filed and sanded. The gentleman I spoke to said that they weren't doing it anymore because of the lack of help.

Scota@4570 said:

I use a large mil file. It is held 90* to the flat and pulled. You should get steel wool looking shavings. Use sharpie marker to tell what you are filing. I used to use wire brush file cards. I learned that the hardened steel wire dulls files. Now I used a smashed brass cartridge case to push the pins out of the file . You should no be getting pining anyway. I do not use chalk. After filing I work the barrel with maroon scotchbrite to blend. There is not need to sand it to a fine finish. The browning process will etch the surface and mostly obliterate the filing marks that may remain.

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Better than the Brass cartridge case and easier to hold is a piece if 1/2" Copper pipe Flattened one end.Left long enough to make a decent handle and the copper is softer..

I had never draw filed before my Kibler. I was very pleasantly surprised by how easy a process it was, and the excellent results I got. Just be patient. The entire bbl. probably took less than an hour for a nice finish which I finished with 220 then 300 grit sand paper.

I wouldn't remove wood; I would lightly draw file then sand the barrel flat to 220 grit. A TC stock fits TC barrels very well, somewhere down the road you might want to change to a factory TC barrel of another caliber, if you remove wood the barrel fit on a TC barrel will be sloppy.

I picked up a Kibler SMR kit for $800 that the previous owner said he didn't have time to complete. When I got the kit, the seller had failed to mention he had cracked the forestock trying to improperly pull the barrel from an overly tight inlet. No big deal, as a bow maker I am crack repair savvy and fixed the crack in a couple of minutes.

This was an early kit with a Rice barrel, these barrels made for Kibler guns weren't as finely finished as one you would buy directly from Rice and needed a little surface prep. I draw filed the barrel, and block sanded it with 220 sand paper. This barrel had been very difficult to remove from the inlet, even by me and I had pulled barrels over and over on previous guns and knew the correct way to it, after a little work it fell into place with a perfect no gap fit.

1BadDart said:

Mine wasn't, mill marks full length on all the flats, and it was good bit oversized. I called them and asked if it was supposed to already filed and sanded. The gentleman I spoke to said that they weren't doing it anymore because of the lack of help.

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Good to know, that must be fairly recent.

How much "filing" does it take to remove the 'warning" labels etc on a barrel? Thoughts? I have an Investarms GPR/Gemmer Hawken and would like to remove the marking, if it does not require too much filing. ?

The first step in removing the factory logo is to use a small flat punch and lightly tap the letters as closed as you can get them, you will be able to turn them into a blur but not get rid of them. If you try to file them off without punching them closed you will have to remove twice as much metal and they may still show.

I was indexing a breech plug on a GM barrel and was having a bad day, I kept having to go one more flat, then another and finally had the plug index perfect except the GM logo was on a side flat instead of the bottom. I said to heck with it and punched the letters closed and filed them off.

No logo to be seen above the front lock panel.

Eric Krewson said:

The first step in removing the factory logo is to use a small flat punch and lightly tap the letters as closed as you can get them, you will be able to turn them into a blur but not get rid of them. If you try to file them off without punching them closed you will have to remove twice as much metal and they may still show.

I was indexing a breech plug on a GM barrel and was having a bad day, I kept having to go one more flat, then another and finally had the plug index perfect except the GM logo was on a side flat instead of the bottom. I said to heck with it and punched the letters closed and filed them off.

No logo to be seen above the front lock panel.

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Eric, what are you using as a punch? I have the same situation with the logo on the side of the barrel.

The only kit ML rifle I have built was a TC Hawken , I left draw filing the barrel to last because I thought I would ruin it , well I got good instructions , the right files , chalk and carding brush , I took my time and was pleasantly surprised as to how much easier it was to get a really good finish than I expected it would be .

I have a set of punches and probably tried various ones for closing the stamped letters on a barrel, I ended up using a 5/32 the most, light taps over and over is the key to getting them to close.

I use a 12" Nicholson Mill Bastard. I was taught to mill at a slight angle on the side flats. Just like all the other pieces inletted, a slight angle will help you achieve a tight fit.

I've tried chalking, still on the fence whether it helps or not

Eric Krewson said:

I have a set of punches and probably tried various ones for closing the stamped letters on a barrel, I ended up using a 5/32 the most, light taps over and over is the key to getting them to close.

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Thanks, Eric. I will get some.

On the very fine Pillar files you should use to get a finish with draw filing Chalking will definately help keep the file free. Never use a steel carding brush.They're hard and will dull your expensive files. See previous post on copper tube really flattened one end..O.D.

The best card file you can buy is a cheap $1 brass BBQ brush from the Dollar Store, I have been using this one for at least 15 years. It has had a bunch of use cleaning out Nicholson 49 and 50 rasps after making over 100 bows with them as all as cleaning all of my gun building files.