Kids In The Shop: A Gunsmith’s Legacy, Part One

’m I in the shop on a rainy day working on an old Mossberg bolt-action shotgun somebody brought in. The safety is erratic. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I’m afraid some of its parts are worn and hard to replace, kind of like me. I suppose times such as these make one want to reflect. I can honestly say I’ve never seen a well-made tool I didn’t want to own. I don’t care if I can use it right now or not. Stick it somewhere and I’ll find a use sooner or later, maybe much later.

I literally have a ton of tools in my shop. I’ve been collecting them all my life. I might be spotted prowling around yard sales, antique stores, and farm auctions. Every job goes easier with the right tool is an axiom. Many times a tool can do more than one thing like a caliper or other measuring tool being used to measure reamers, bullets, or holes in revolver cylinders.

Sometimes, like a Remington bolt spring removal tool, they are pretty specific, however, each has its place and I know your shop is full of tools, too. Some of mine have sentimental value. My grandfather had his hand on them. Half of my shop is filled with power tools such as drill presses and milling machines. I have grinders and power sanders and Dremel tools, everything and anything to help me in my work.

A lot of gunsmithing tools fill drawers and line the pegboard walls behind the two independent eight-foot workbenches each complete with their own six-inch vise and bank of fluorescent lights. Specialty tools such as action wrenches, jigs, chamber reamers and the like all have their place. A dedicated area for rifle cleaning has a permanent position on another bench. One end of my shop is devoted specifically to reloading. Two reloading benches and a powder magazine are there.

Thousands upon thousands of bullets ranging from .22 to .416 caliber rifle bullets and .32 to .45 caliber pistol bullets line my shelves for use in testing and hunting. There is a bunch of rifle and handgun cast bullets. Muzzle loaders are not slighted as part of the shelves are filled with patches and round ball, sabots, and specialized black powder bullets. Boxes full of rimfires are tucked away awaiting range time.

Various reloading presses, both single stage and progressive, and scales, both mechanical and electronic, have their place on the benches and shelves. Loaded rounds and about a million empty cases and primers—OK, it just seems like that many—are all in places that only I have the catalog to. About fifty sets of reloading dies are there, too.

Shell holders, funnels, vibrating case cleaners, primer-seating tools, my collection of American Gunsmith, as many reloading manuals as I can afford, books and videos on gunsmithing and old reference works that I found by haunting used book stores, which can never be replaced, fill all the nooks. I have an area for knife-sharpening tools and stones, stacks of used targets (most of which I should toss) can be checked if I want to see what kind of group a rifle or pistol actually shot on a particular day.

My shelves hold spotting scopes and deer scents and old metal army boxes full of empty cases. Don’t get me started on the fishing stuff down there. I’ve made room for Coleman lanterns and stick bows as well as compound bows and arrows. Last but not least is the computer I’m using to write this piece as well as holding all my reloading data generated over these many years. That’s a partial list. I don’t really know how I’ve stacked all this stuff in here over the years.

I think you get the idea and many of you small shop owners are in the same situation I am. What in hell is going to happen to all this stuff when I’m gone? I can’t really sell out to another retailer and walk away when my shop is in my house. I don’t want to split up my tools—a set of screwdrivers to this one, a set of punches to the other. All these tools together combine to make my shop and I’d like to see one of my grandchildren take it over. I have three grandsons and a granddaughter.

All of them are interested in guns and hunting. The oldest boy, at sixteen, also has the most interest in gunsmithing. I suppose it’s just wishful thinking about what goes on after you’re gone. I don’t expect to have a cognizant dirt nap—heaven forbid, as I’ll need the rest. After special gifts are passed on, an auction would probably be to the most benefit. But suppose we want to indulge ourselves and imagine we can leave something behind when we’re gone. Let’s think about kids in the shop.

First, let me put forth the disclaimer that I am not telling anyone what to

do. If I wanted to do that I’d have been a cop instead of a gunsmith. I am trying to relate some anecdotes, topics, and techniques that have helped me with my students. If you have other ideas, help yourselves with whatever floats your boat. If I left one of my kids my special set of screwdrivers and another some pliers and hammers that grandpa used in his shop and could now be used in their home just to remember me by, that’s all right. What, though, of a half century of knowledge?

Is it more important to leave behind irreplaceable knowledge from my mind or tools in untrained hands? Tools can be bought. Knowledge must be taught and learned. Therefore, I submit to you that most of the tools can go to the yard sale but let’s bring the kids into the shop and teach them what we can. I didn’t have a mentor. I had to learn a lot of techniques on my own. I also had to unlearn much hearsay and untruths overheard in the deer camps and gun shops I frequented.

How much easier it would have been if I had a knowledgeable hand on my shoulder. With that in mind, how do we get started? For one thing, we can’t instill knowledge into a young mind that isn’t interested in the first place. Sure, all the kids want to fool around with grandpa in the shop when they’re little and easily distracted. Let them play with your vise and pound a nail, being careful to watch out for pinched fingers.

The ones that start to ask pertinent questions and show a real interest can be considered as eligible candidates to mentor. It’s hard to imagine a child younger than twelve having a real desire to Duct tape protects both unworked metal from the file the gunsmith. For the sake of pictures we left the protective glasses off but the student should be wearing them. learn gunsmithing. The ones that do, what a treasure they are.

By allowing the youngsters to have access to your tools and shop under close supervision you will soon notice which of them will benefit from more intense instruction. Children can be easily distracted. Many times having a problem and including them in the solution is the best teacher. It shouldn’t be too complex at first, something simple such as a chipped stock or a .22 rifle that doesn’t feed properly. Letting the child see how firearms can be broken and repaired can allow many lights to go on.

If the student already has his or her own gun, all the better. Cleaning and maintaining a personal rifle or shotgun is a real motivator. At any rate, field stripping and cleaning of the more common types of firearms that are likely to come into the shop is the best way to start out a young man or woman on their way to a gunsmithing career. Here is where the most important part of gunsmithing, safety, can be fostered in young minds. Years ago when I started my young ones in hunting, I positioned

Different speeds for different bits and the mill’s use on metal and wood should be discussed. Notice the student has his hands braced to give him better purchase of the work. the kids behind me in the field and then discharged a 12 gauge shotgun loaded with birdshot and pointed at the ground several feet in front of us in a safe direction. The noise, the torn up leaves and dirt gave them a visual impact that was hard to ignore. "Do you want to get hit by that?", I would ask. Believe me, none of them ever said yes.

Well then, don’t point your gun at me or yourself or anything else you don’t intend to shoot. It was a powerful lesson. Make sure they understand that when picking up a firearm it’s always loaded until a check shows otherwise. These kids are not the unfortunate children you read about in the paper that have unintentionally shot each other while "playing" with guns.

I have a gunsmith friend who thanks all his customers for not pointing the guns they bring in at him and for opening the actions before handing them over. I’m not sure what he tells the other kind. First Projects Stock refinishing is a good first project, especially if the student has an old gun worthy of the time it takes for sanding, shaping, and applying new finish. Being able to show off his or her work to admiring friends is a reward that leaves indelible memories.

Maybe the student can pick up some of his first business refinishing a stock for one of his friends, perhaps pro bono with payment being just the earned experience. Understanding which firearms should be refinished and which should be left in original condition is another trait that separates the gunsmithing student from an eager boy wanting to get started with the sandpaper. In the illustration used for this article an old full-choked model 340 Winchester single shot 12 gauge has been selected for refinishing.

This gun has a lot of sentimental value but very little collector value. It was an inexpensive gun to begin with but has been carried by several members of our family for small game. It bears dings and scratches in places where it has been dropped on rocks, has a little surface rust and is in need of rebluing. It is going to make an excellent piece to learn on and will be passed down to another generation

of hunters who will be proud to use grandpa’s old squirrel gun. I usually start teaching that the use of a sanding block is important and that many things can be improvised for this purpose, including erasers and wooden dowels and blocks cut to specifications integral to the job. Those old scrap flexible automotive hoses make a good backing for a lot of purposes and come in different sizes to fit a particular curve where around block is needed.

Show your student when to sand with the grain and when specialized techniques call for moving across it. Feathering the stock by wetting it and using a heat source to raise the grain cannot be overlooked. Explaining that these little "feathers" will rise later, after the stock is "finished", if not addressed beforehand and will save us from ruining an otherwise good job.

How to "clean out" checkering with a single-line checkering tool, a riffler and a veiner are some good techniques that may be included in this process. Explain the differences between 60 and 90 degree checkering tools and when each should be used. How to use a checkering cradle and adjust light to give the clearest picture for our work is a lesson that won’t be forgotten. Grab our toothbrush again to brush out sawdust and apply anew finish.

For beginning woodwork Tru-Oil is an old favorite and a good finish to start with. It allows the student a "hands-on" approach when rubbing in the oil and emphasizes the need for proper drying times and using more than one coat to get the desired result. Since stock finishing can be a discipline in itself, these basic techniques will lay a good foundation for future projects. The idea is to train the student to teach him or herself by building on the fundamentals.

Staining, filling, and final finishing are three separate steps to be learned. How these jobs are tackled is up to the finisher. I once read about a gunsmith who used berries and real walnuts for stain. I think he boiled his own hides to get the oil for the finish he desired on his home-made muzzle loaders.

How to get from there from the high-tech, spray–on, bake-on marvels available to the gunsmith today to the wonderful luster of traditional hand-rubbed oil finish is the type of knowledge we are trying to pass on. The use of hand tools can never be neglected. Understanding the types and uses of files is a good place to start. There are many types of files but the ones we mostly use in our work are mill files, the bastard, second cut, and smooth. Needle files and other sizes, and diamond files have their place.

Show the student the differences in how these files are cut and give examples of when to use each. Teach how to hold a file in use. Stress the importance of not cutting on the back stroke lest the file be chipped or dulled. Explain how to draw file. Half-round, round, and "rat tails" should be represented. That old saw about throwing the student a chunk of steel and demanding that it be filed into an inch-square block is pretty much nonsense. Pulling stunts like that is a good way to lose a student’s interest.

If there is one gunsmith’s tool that must me mastered it is the stone. Every student should be thoroughly versed in the different types, such as Arkansas, India, ceramic and the other various synthetics. Not only are these stones used to smooth up a trigger or take off a burr, they are used to resharpen many of the tools in the gunsmith’s chest. Chisels and stock-inletting tools must be kept razor sharp. Reamers need a touch-up now and again.

Any gunsmith worthy of the name should be able to sharpen a knife or scissors. I have always been a sucker for bidding on some of the old stones and sharpening tools found at farm auctions. If you want to learn how to sharpen almost anything ask a farmer. Think about screws for a second. Yeah, yeah, we’re all looking for a good screw, but what about all the different types a ‘smith can encounter? How to use a thread gauge should be included here.

There are machine screws, metric screws, wood screws, countersunk screws; with square-drive heads and slotted heads, torx, Phillips, pan head, button head, round head, fillister head, with high-low, self tapping, wood, metal threads and many more I can’t think of right now, but you get the point. Then there are the drills that are metric, American and numbered which need to be paired with the screws you may want to use. How to keep a drill sharp is an essential skill for saving time and money.

I say take time as you go to thoroughly cover this subject. If you’ve ever had a split stock come in with a horrible, rusty wood screw stuck in it you know what I mean. One of the projects I have used to illustrate this concept is drilling and tapping for scope mounts on older rifle receivers. Matching the number of the drill 31 or 29 and the difference between 6×48 and 8×48 mount screws can easily be visualized and understood.

Allowing the student to drill and tap the holes under close supervision is something that can’t be learned well unless it is actually undertaken with their own hands. Experience is always better than reading about it. If they break a tap, well, have a broken-tap remover on hand. It’s another lesson on how and why not to do something. Don’t throw your student into a pressured situation at first. Take the time to cover the subject thoroughly. Deadlines have their place but not necessarily in the classroom.

You must ask yourselves if you are up to taking on a student or would it be best left to someone else. I’ve had some rough teachers, I’ve had some gruff teachers, but I’ve been able to learn something from all of them. A good teacher learns from his or her student. Remember that and you cannot go far wrong. In Part Two, we will cover more tools and skills as well as address some business issues important to gunsmiths. AG