Tools for inletting

[kmeyer]

Hey all. I'm just curious if most of you use small wood chisels for this? Or a electric dremel too? Thanks.

 

[MikeChapin]

Depends upon the job. I always use small chisels for the final work and for small parts. It's too easy to let the dremmel get away from you.

I do use a dremel with a router attachment to rough the lock plate and trigger plate. I just use it to remove a lot of wood and keep the depth uniform. I only come within an eighth or sixteenth of an inch to the edges. I then use chisels and scrapers to do the final fit.

 

[rich pierce]

Just hand tools for inletting, because I enjoy it that way. For me, the process is as much of the goal as the result. I make a lot of my own chisels or heavily modify ones I've bought at flea markets, etc.

 

Stay away from them electric power tools,, They are an Aww Sh#t waiten to happen, except for maybe a drill press, which is the only power tool I use now, and then only sparingly. (don't ask me about power planers and how I know) Them electric thingy's are the Devil's own devices. Power tools will take you past the point of removing wood that don't belong, to expensive kindling in the blink of an eye. Although they do give you the chance to practice splicing in a patch. :crackup: Bill

 

[44-henry]

I would disagree with the thoughts on power tools, I use both for my own work and I feel that I can do a better job with them than without them. Though it is certainly possible to work entirely with hand tools, power tools do offer the advantage of speed and quality does not always have to suffer as a result. I don't sacrafice quality when doing a job, if hand tools are better for the job I'll use them, and often do. The dremel tool with router attachment mentioned above is a great tool for doing the lock mortise, but, just like mentioned it needs to be kept within it's limitations. I have used routers to successfully inlet barrel channels on many rifles, I wouldn't go back to doing it by hand. The drill press is yet another time saver, and let's not even talk about the bandsaw. If you want to try to replicate what the old gunsmiths used in way of hand tools you had better have more than a few planes, hand braces, chisels and files. The old masters weren't fooling around, they didn't do this job for a hobby and just like now time was money. Hand tools were often much more specialized than what we have available today, often only performing one task but doing it exceptionally well. They also generally had a small workforce to do other tasks and also to help when the job required more than two hands. Today few of us have these luxeries, hand tools are great, but to level the playing field I often look for power tools that will do the required jobs. I consider these my apprentices.