Oops!

So it has come to my attention that I used the wrong form of "calluses" for the title of this blog. I'm ashamed. It's a good thing that I am attending school for gunsmithing! To correct this, I started a new blog with the proper spelling. I will leave this one up, for future reference, but all posts from now on will be found at www.callusesfromblisters.blogspot.com. There will be link there to this page as well!

Sorry for the confusion!

This week has been far better than last week. I managed to get caught up, so I didn't have to go in today. Only one of my projects was down-graded due to being on Fridays. Furthermore, I'm getting into things that are more than just tools... They're directly gun related. I'm currently making a front sight for a rifle. The sight ramp is hand formed from a 3/8" piece of square stock about 2.5" long. It's really proving to be quite a challenge. We do have the oportunity to use certain machines (grinders and drill presses) for some of the rough shaping, but the hardes part has to be the actual dovetail cut. It is quite tedious, as it starts with a vertical cut using the edge of a file. Later it is widened with other small files, until ulitmately, a dovetail file (a triangle file with two safe sides) is used to get the final fit of the piece of trapezoidal stock that replicates the actual front sight piece. Two of the requirements on that project are that the fit of the two pieces must be light-tight (no gaps allowing light), and the piece must be a press fit that requires tools to accomplish. It's tough going, but I've taken the time to do some practice cuts so that I don't screw up the rest of the work piece. I'll be sure to include pictures of that next week. The dovetail is actually the last project I need to finish before I start working on customer guns.

Another project that I worked on this week was installing a recoil pad. It was nice because it was the first project that I actually use one of the tools that I made. Additionally, it was nice to have a short project (there were 8 hours allotted for that one). As with everything else, there was a bit of a learning curve to get over before things started coming together on that project. Working at shaping rubber was a nice change of pace from shaping metal, but I'm not at the school just to learn how to shape rubber!

I'm definetely looking forward to getting into the gun side of things. I feel like there's light at the end of the tunnel now!

 A recoil pad as it came from the factory ready to be cut to size.

 

 

The installed recoil pad. The light band of wood next to the pad was there when I got the stock (so it's not my fault).



Frustration

This week was the toughest week I've had yet. Not because the projects I've been working on were especially difficulty, but because of the schools policy for students that have fallen behind in their work. Unfortunately, I have managed to fall (slightly) behind in the number of projects that I've completed. Because of the fact that I've fallen behind, I was placed on Fridays to get caught up. Unfortunately, while on Fridays, each project turned in will be docked one full letter grade. So, due to that policy, I've recently gotten my lowest grade yet. I've been doing pretty well to maintain a good GPA, but I'm not sure how long I can support the automatic docking of my grades. Fortunately, my being "behind" is completely arbitrary, and I wasn't really that far behind. I'm hopeful that I won't have to go in this coming Friday and that I'm able to save my GPA.

After a long talk with one of my instructors, I've become painfully aware that I have been entirely too critical of the work that I've been doing. It's as if the school is trying really hard to promote extremely mediocre gunsmiths (the Fridays policy just seems to bolster that idea). The hardest thing for me this week was not quitting. I was quite close to walking out of school because it seemed like nothing was going the way I needed it to go. I've just got to remember what the end goal is and push through. A fellow classmate and I have adopted a "new standard" where we have become less picky and are starting to be OK with "good enough". Even though we aren't happy about it, that seems to be what our instructors want. I've always heard "Good, fast and cheap: Pick any two" and that really seems to be the case. Hopefully "good enough" is good enough to get me through school. I'll start being picky again when I'm working for myself.

Here are a few pictures of a project that was a thorn in my side from the beginning. It's a recoil pad installation fixture. I'm happy it's done.

Politics

Politics

This is just a brief note regarding the current politics surrounding firearms. I don't want this blog to become a political soapbox by any means, but I do feel it's necessary to address the topic. 

For those who are not a part of the gun culture, there really is no way to understand how deeply the passion goes on my side of the debate. For so much of my life, guns have been a means to recreate, a means to put food on the table and a means to defense. They have, however,  become much more than that for me and for my family. For the past two years, I worked in one facet of the the firearms industry, and now I'm working towards another. Guns have become much more than a hobby, they are my vocation. Guns put food on the table now in a different way (though they still manage to help in that area in the traditional sense as well). For politicians who are ignorant of guns and ignorant of the gun culture to try to restrict our gun rights as a nation is absolutely unacceptable. I agree that the loss of innocent life is one of the most tragic things that can ever occur, but criminalizing the actions of law abiding citizens is the wrong answer. I often hear the question "Why could you possibly need [insert any gun here]?" I don't really feel a need to answer that question. I feel that people who want to know should instead ask "Why would people need...?" And then do some research as to why things are the way they are. Do some history homework. Look at the situation that forged the Constitution. Read the Federalist Papers. Find out what the framers where thinking when they put the Second Amendment in place. Show me how gun control prevents crime. Explain to my wife and child why I shouldn't be able to put food on the table. 

This isn't meant to convert a gun grabber to a pro-gun person. Once someone has made up their mind, it isn't likely changed, however if I can shed some light on my side of the argument, maybe someone who is indifferent to guns will no longer accept the spoon-feeding from the liberal media and look into the issue for themselves. It is those people who I aim to convince. That being said, when I write to my politicians (and I do quite regularly) I know my thoughts aren't  likely to change their minds, but it is my responsibility to let them know how I feel. I would encourage you to participate as well, regardless of your position on the topic. Don't take the backseat approach to government. Be active. Let those who represent you know you're there and paying attention. Additionally, put your money where your mouth is. If you're pro-gun, join some of the organizations that work for your rights. Join the NRA (I don't always agree with their point of view or their politics, but over all, they do a lot for gun owners) or the Second Amendment Foundation (very active in litigation concerning the Second Amendment). If you're pro-gun control, I'm sure there is an organization out there who would love to have your support, however I don't know much about those groups. 

Hopefully, this hasn't been too abrasive. If it was, that certainly wasn't my intent. I'd like this to be the only time I bring up the political aspect of guns, and I hope if any of you are anti-gun, that this wasn't enough for you to stop reading.

Some quick links for you:
NRA Membership
Second Amendment Foundation
Gun Owners of America
NRA Institute for Legislative Action

Valentines Special

Valentines Special

This week has been quite a frustrating week. I missed a day and a half due to illness, and the two and a half days I was there were exceptionally challenging. I currently have two projects going and they've both had their challenges. One of them is a recoil pad installation fixture, the other is a thread checker use to determine the thread pattern on screws. The recoil pad fixture is a combination of three pieces which all had a fair amount of drilling and thread tapping on them. Unfortunately, due to some sloppiness in the drill press vise, the most intricate piece needed to be restarted. The final piece of that project has a couple of complex curves that need to be brought into spec and squared (in relation to the faces of the piece) and then all three pieces need to be polished to their final finish. Because of the restart, I will be over the allotted time for the project. Due to that fact and the fact that bringing the piece to its final dimensions wasn't going too smoothly, I was content to let that one sit for most of the time I was at school this week. I spent a lot of time on the screw checker, and had far fewer problems with that. I should be able to get both projects done early next week. 

One thing I've really been trying to determine lately is whether or not I am being too picky with some of the work I do. I'd like to say no, because I want to do the best work I possibly can. However, other classmates have been speeding through projects (not usually with very good grades) at a pace that I cannot imagine is giving them time to get the level of accuracy that I'm striving for. Thankfully, I'm not the only one in my class that feels that way. The problem for me is finding an acceptable level of inaccuracy. For me, the largest incentive to get through these projects as quickly as possible is the time savings at the end of the program. This course is a set number of hours with a mandatory number of projects to do. If I'm able to bank a bunch of time at the beginning, I will have more time to specialize at the end and more time to do more detailed projects. Hopefully I can figure it out soon!

Since yesterday was Valentines Day, I should really express my appreciation for my wife. I know I mentioned her in the first post, but over the last month she has been incredible. She is so busy keeping everything in order between her job, the baby, and all of their appointments. I think it could be argued that Sara is sacrificing more for this than I am. I am eternally grateful. 

Anticipation

Four weeks down. It's hard to believe that I've been at this for a month already. The next class starts next week so we won't be the junior class anymore. It also means that we won't have to do some of the clean up work that we've been having to do for the last month. But there will probably be new clean up jobs to do.

One of the highlights of my week was finally getting the stock blank and receiver for my project rifle. It's nice to have tangible proof that I am in fact going to school to work on GUNS. I'm quite excited to get to the project gun phase, but at the same time, I am grateful for the practice and experience with the hand tools that I'm getting right now. Filing on small pieces of flat steel is getting quite mundane and it is very tedious. While the tools we make will be useful, a comercial variant can be purchased in nearly every case for little money. But again, the skills we develop on creating these tools will be the same skills that prevent us from screwing up our own rifles and the guns of customers in the future.

I figured I would share the joy of my new rifle action with a couple pictures.

Montana Rifle Company 1999 Long Action
(I'm chambering the rifle in the classic .30-06)

 

This is my stock blank. I'm not sure on manufacturer, but will update when I know.

 

Until I get to start working on guns, this is what will keep me busy.

 

 

I would like to do another update each week, but finding the time is quite challenging. If it would be worth me making the time to do two posts per week, please let me know. Additionally, if you happen to have any questions about what I'm doing or anything gun related, please leave me a comment and I will try to be helpful!

I've discovered that blisters come in more than one fashion. I got my first grade. Needless to say, I wasn't super thrilled with the grade. I did better than quite a few, but not as well as I would have liked. The grading seems to be quite stiff at school, but I can deal with that. I started a new project yesterday and I've already changed how I do things, I'm much more deliberate. I guess part of that is because of the learning curve, and part is just a chang in perspective. The project I started yesterday is a 1911 bushing wrench. Bushing wrenches are quite common and can typically be purchased for under $10, but again, the point of making a wrench by hand is not the end product, but what is gained in experience while making the product.
 

The silver part here is the bushing. It is a necessary part of the 1911 pistol as it keeps the slide/barrel assembly together during firing and can often be quite tight (especially on high-end pistols) which is where the wrench comes in.

 

 

Unfortunately, with the bushing wrench, I've already wasted a few hours simply by overthinking the project. It was after talking with two of my instructors that I elected to stick with the KISS principle. It didn't really need to be super fancy anyway, I've already got several bushing wrenches.

Happily, I completed another project today. My practice barrel (which was discussed in Just the Basics) is finally done. I unfortunately went over on hours, but according to our grading criteria, there shouldn't be a deduction for going over time. The project was supposed to take 20 hours, I finally got it done right under 23. Two hours of that time was spent standing around today waiting for the hot bluing tanks to heat up.

The process of bluing that we use starts with a hot soap bath to clean the metal one last time followed by a hot rinse (both tanks are 150 degrees). From there, the metal parts go to a cold bath for roughly 10 seconds, then into the hot salts (270-275 degrees at this elevation). The parts needed to sit in the bluing salts for about half an hour. From there, the get rinsed in the cold bath briefly, then placed into a boil-out tank. The boiling tank helps to remove all of the salts from the metal and took about 10 minutes. For something more complex, the times would be longer for the salts and boil out tanks. From the boil out tank, the metal parts get placed in a water displacing oil bath (NOT WD-40). After five minutes there, we then wipe down the barrel with a gun cleaning solvent to remove the oil from the oil bath, dry the part with a clean cloth, then apply a firearms appropriate oil to the finish to protect it.

Sorry for the blurry photos.

The bluing tank set up.

 

 



 

My polished barrel.

 

Barrels in the bluing salts.

 

My blued barrel.

 

 

 

Sorry the pictures are so small. I'll have to see if I can change the size later.

 

 

Just the Basics

Two weeks down. Fifty-eight to go! Not that I'm counting down, but for me (and some of my classmates) this school is more or less just one more box to be checked. Not that it's insignificant, but in the fact that it is not the end goal. It is definitely something that we were all excited to start, some of us having waited almost two years to get in. I personally waited over a year. I enjoy the fact that while it is "just a box to check", this box will give me the basic skills and knowledge that I need to do what I want, provided I put into it everything that I can. Because this school is directly inline with what I want to do, putting 100% of myself into it is easy! Most of the time. For some reason, Thursdays seem to be the bane of my existence. Last Thursday and this Thursday had me feeling like I was running headlong into walls repeatedly with no different outcome.

The program I'm in starts out (rightly so) with the basics. The first two real projects we have are a forend wrench for a Winchester Model 12 shotgun (one of the more prolific sporting arms of the last century) that we form with hand tools from a flat piece of stock. The second project is an old beat up rifle barrel that has been dragged across pavement and concrete, hit against brick walls, etc. Our goal with that is to get all of the dings, scrapes and scratches out with hand files and sand paper, then polish and buff the barrel to what is known as a "matchless" finish in the firearm industry. Essentially, it is a mirror like finish with a high luster. Finally, the barrel will be blued using a hot caustic salt bluing process (more on that later).

So for the past two Thursdays, each one of these projects managed to frustrate me. Last week, while filing the wrench to its final shape, it occurred to me that I had accidentally removed a radius that needed to be there. So I had to start over. I was so frustrated, I ended up rushing things with the second wrench and did some things out of order, however it was a recoverable error. This week, the barrel has been frustrating me. When polishing metal to such a high shine, it really uncovers a lot of the "sins" that more coarse finishes can hide. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of repetition and a lot of tweaking of techniques to get things right. That wasn't happening today. But I got it to the point where after a weekend away, I should be able to knock it out in a few hours on Monday.

(The Model 12 wrench layout (not mine)L, my first one in the middle and the current one R)

I've read some reviews of my school written by past students, and some seemed to think that the basics section was a waste of time. I feel like the basics section is the foundation of all that a real gunsmith is and does. I'm happy to have the opportunity to learn from more experienced gunsmiths. And I love every minute of it.

The Beginning.

Before I get too far into this, i want to thank my wife for allowing me to do what I do. She has been super supportive of me and my dreams. I hope that I can someday do the same for her.

The Back Story

 Tinkering has been a lifelong pastime for me. I can remember a lot of different toys that I had as a child, however the only memories I have of them is of toys in many pieces. Specifically R/C cars. I had to find out how they worked. When I was introduced to shooting over 25 years ago, fortunately, nobody let me "tinker" with guns. But my interest had been piqued. The curiosity I have for how things work has always been there and it wasn't until I was roughly 10 years old that my tinkering met firearms and grew from there. ***Quick PSA: PARENTS! If you have guns in the house, please keep them in a safe. Children WILL find them and children WILL play with them. I know from experience!*** 

After nearly 9 years in the military, I was fortunate enough to get a job at a gun shop in Columbus, Ga where my gun related enjoyment and intrigue continued to grow. My boss was very encouraging of my desire to go to school for gunsmithing and helped me out by growing my knowledge base substantially. 

First day of school:

Didn't sleep very well last night mostly due to nerves. The hour and forty five minute drive was pretty nerve wracking as well. The first words that were spoken to me and my 12 classmates were not words that I had expected to hear at a gunsmithing school. "How do you define art?" The dean of the program explained that prior to "art" becoming paintings and sculptures, art is what the artifacts of society were. Products, items made by craftsmen. Artisans. He went on to explain that this is out goal. To be craftsmen capable of creating works of art. The anxiety that I had been experiencing was gone, but it had been replaced by a different variety of anxiety. I have never been "artistic". I'm doing well to match my clothes appropriately for going in public. How am I going to take something that I see as very cold and mechanical and turn it into a piece of art? I don't doubt that I have the ability; I am, after all, someone that won't buy certain guns because they have no soul or feeling behind them. Hopefully, the passion that I have for guns will marry with my drive to produce high quality, skillfully made firearms, and turn to works of art in my hands.