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Vent pick inlay????

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4570tc

40 Cal.
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pick.jpg
 
Some how I lost the post explaining the pic so here it is again;
I used to use the inlay pictured. I went under the cheek piece & held a touch hole pick made of SS.
I have found it to be very handy!!

But alas I cannot find any place that sells them anymore? Any ideas who might carry them now a days?

thank in advance Brothers of the smoke!
 
I bet if anyone could make one it would be Tom A. Hawk.

He has a lot of talent.
 
Tempting. Would one be inappropriate on a SMR?
I've lost too many picks- usually at the worst time. Now I carry spares, but haven't come up w/ a carrier/storage that I like and is reliable.
 
I carry a wire pick in the tool/patch box and one on the flask or horn thong/cord .Paper clips make useful picks to go in pocket or bag and cheaply had. Or like I do in matchlocks just bore a deep hole and put the slightly bent picks in there along with a small wire brush to serve as a jag your rod tip screwing onto the jag to pull it out .
Rudyard
 
Wonder if something like this could be attached to a non-custom built gun? I have a GPR and would like to add something like this, but it appears that these are meant to be inlayed... not exactly sure how the actual physical attachment happens?
 
Wonder if something like this could be attached to a non-custom built gun? I have a GPR and would like to add something like this, but it appears that these are meant to be inlayed... not exactly sure how the actual physical attachment happens?
Tempting. Would one be inappropriate on a SMR?
I've lost too many picks- usually at the worst time. Now I carry spares, but haven't come up w/ a carrier/storage that I like and is reliable.
I've used the metal vent pick inlay on several of the guns I've made but on the two shown below, I used a different method that would work for your guns.

cangun3.jpg

Notice the bright spot at the lower edge of the cheek piece.
TRANS-WEG.jpg

Notice the small loop of wire at the lower edge of the cheek piece.

On both of these guns, I burned a small hole about 1 1/2" deep using a piece of straight music wire that I heated to glowing red.
The reason I used this wire burning method is, the angle of the hole and its close location to the side of the stock made it impossible to drill with a normal length drill bit.
Using locking pliers to hold it and a butane torch to heat the wire, I started the hole by very carefully burning a shallow hole into the wood after the wire got up to a glowing bright yellow-red color. The wire rapidly cools so I had to reheat it and then stick it into the hole many times before the hole was deep enough for my purpose. With each reheating, the wire would burn slightly deeper into the wood. (Try to push the wire straight in. You don't want to enlarge the hole, you just want to burn it in deeper.)

After the hole was deep enough, I used the same wire to make the vent pick by using some needle nose pliers to bend one end into a loop. I sharpened the other end of the wire and, I was done.
Although I could have hardened the newly made vent picks, I chose not to do that. They don't have to be hard to do their job and I would rather have them bend than break.
 
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I've used the metal vent pick inlay on several of the guns I've made but on the two shown below, I used a different method that would work for your guns.
Neat idea! I’m sure that I can’t inlay well enough, but I could burn a hole! Will have to find some suitable wire for this and practice on some scrap lumber first. Thank you Zonie.
 
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