Vent Pick and Pan Brush

[jfaldo]

Got the urge this morning to make these. Quick and easy, maybe an hour. Eastern whitetail antler on the pick with a spring steel blowgun dart. The brush is a 357 mag case with the headstamp removed and a piece of 14ga electrical wire soldered through the primer hole for the loop. Took the bristles out of and old paint brush. Nothing fancy but will get the job done.

 

[ncmtmike]

Looks good to me :thumbsup:

 

[ZUG]

I like it especially the brush - how did you get the bristles to stay in the case?

 

[Mickc01]

Very well done, indeed! :thumbsup:

 

[MSW]

looks nice!

 

[Silky921]

Looks like a good way to spend an hour.

 

[jfaldo]

The paintbrush I used had the bristles secured in some kind of cement. So I took it out In several small pieces then just epoxied them in together. Then cut the ends all even with scissors.

 

[Black Hand]

Beware - spring-steel is harder than the touchhole liner and could wear it. I use baling wire, soft enough to do the job and less likely to cause damage.

 

[MSW]

ff

wow- you must be further in the 'sticks' than I - nobody used baling wire here any more- -they've all switched to the newfangled twine, and it's polypropaline at that - ugh!!

 

[Black Hand]

Bought a roll of it years ago for some project or other (I carry a few lengths in my hunting pack to make a travois for downed game). At this point, I've got 85% of the roll left and several lifetimes-worth of vent-picks... :grin:

 

[MSW]

good to have stuff, which will doubtless go the way of the typewriter ribbon or 5 inch floppy

 

[BillinOregon]

JF: Like your work. That brush is just plain sweet.
As to bailing wire, there's still gobs of soft wire around for use by welders, blacksmiths, guys tying up re-bar for foundation pours, that sort of thing.

 

[jfaldo]

Well that's good to know. Baling wire can still be found around here. Yes I have a roll around here somewhere. I do live sorta in the sticks so you just keep stuff you may need just because you never can tell.

 

[Twisted_1in66]

Hey Black Hand,

My grandfather use to run a ranch in CA and we put up the hay in either 2-wire or sometimes 3-wire bales in the barn. Every time we stayed there seems we were either stacking bales, feeding cattle, or moving them to another pasture.

All the baling wire I've ever had my hands on, and that's a lot of it, was way to big in diameter to use as a vent pick. Did you sharpen it or how did you use it?

Twisted_1in66 :thumbsup:
Dan

 

[M. De Land]

Yes, good point and with my soft wire picks I radius the ends so they don't bugger the bore on the off side of the flash hole.
All they need do is push out the plug of fouling without enlarging the flash hole.
Truth be told I almost never use them other than to verify if I dry balled or not.

 

[Black Hand]

Did you sharpen it or how did you use it?

Maybe this stuff would be more properly called "utility wire"? It is smaller in diameter than a toothpick (maybe 1/16"). I twist a loop in one end, sharpen the other end (into a tapered square point), heat the wire red-hot and quench (gives it a little more backbone, but still bends easily). Takes all of 5 minutes and you don't feel bad when you lose it or loan it out and it doesn't come back. I've also done the same with coat-hanger wire.

 

[BullRunBear]

In the past I've used a piece of guitar string (think it was the B string)for a pick and a straightened paper clip that was thin enough. Figured if the metal was that flexible it would be OK.

Oh, Some of us still use manual typewriters. My favorite is a Royal KMM from 1939 which works perfectly. Ribbons are available online but I sure miss the old time family run office supply store that every town used to have.

Jeff

 

[M. De Land]

I use black wire which is very soft iron and can be bought at Home Depot or Lowe's. Comes wound around a stick of wood and I'm about out after ten or fifteen years of using it for various needs around the shop and home.
I use a lot of it for making snag wires when heat treating gun and tool steel parts in stainless foil.

 

[Twisted_1in66]

***SNIP***

Oh, Some of us still use manual typewriters. My favorite is a Royal KMM from 1939 which works perfectly. Ribbons are available online but I sure miss the old time family run office supply store that every town used to have.

Jeff

Hey there Jeff,

How did your manual typewriter manage to get your message to appear on my computer screen? :stir:

Twisted_1in66
Dan

 

[jfaldo]

Wow from a vent pick and pan brush to typewriters. You guys just crack me up. Always interesting to see how these threads progress. Anyhow thanks for the compliments, observations and suggestions. May have to re-visit my vent pick design.