Bowl gouge from rifle barrel

[Paul39]

Has anyone made a gouge from a rifle barrel? I'd like to hear the good, bad, and ugly. I want to turn 24 to 30 inch bowls. It seems that slotting the muzzle end of a barrel and sharpening would make a stout gouge from a .30 cal about 30 inches long.

I tried a search and came up with nothing.

I have been reading for some weeks and I like the helpful tone of the folks here.

Paul

[texx]

now that is a great idea , dont have any bigger cal barrels lying around at the moment , i do have a .17 cal and a .22 cal barrel though ,
may be worth talking to a few gunsmiths i know and scrounge a few heavy cal barrels .303 should be easy to get i would think.

[Ad de Crom]

Wish I had one, think that material is very good for a gouge.
Ad

[glock40sw]

now that is a great idea , dont have any bigger cal barrels lying around at the moment , i do have a .17 cal and a .22 cal barrel though ,
may be worth talking to a few gunsmiths i know and scrounge a few heavy cal barrels .303 should be easy to get i would think.


Texx.
Talk to the blokes at the Local Full-bore Rifle Range. They change barrels like we change undies.
I know that Black Mountain 7.62 barrels are made of very good steel as are MAB.

[OGYT]

I was under the assumption that rifle barrels were from too soft metal for cutting tools. I cut one off once with a hacksaw. I don't think you can cut a HSS turning tool with a hacksaw. I may be wrong, but thought I'd throw this in here. :D
Something to look into...

[Papa]

I think an old car spring, or maybe a sway bar, or an old torsion bar
would be a better choice???

I think a gun barrel would be too soft, and likely to bend??

You can cut a gun barrel with a hack saw no problem.
I used to buy barrels and cut and turn them on a lathe.

[texx]

yep you are probably right they are soft , but it would be easy to heat and case harden , the same way i did when i made a open end spanner as a kid at school , and the barrel being soft would make it easy to get the desired profile at the start .
worth a bit of experimentation i think .
the torsion bar idea is a good one too that stuff is very tough .
also makes me wonder about running a few beads of hardface welding rod around the end of what ever steel bar and then grinding that to an edge cos that stuff when sharp would hold an edge for a long time .
i use hard facing rods on some of our tillage gear on the farm and it takes a lot of wear and is hard to grind

[orraloon]

As Al said the steel is too soft to keep an edge for long. It is designed to contain the sudden pressure of the explosion and has to absorb the shock to a degree. Too hard steel would shatter under this punishment. I may be wrong here but I think gun barrels are case hardened so if you grind through the harder outer layer the softer metal is exposed. I am not up on this side of metel working but it may be possable to retemper it after grinding an edge.It still will not be as good as HSS.
Regards
John

[hughie]

Paul,

To the best of my knowledge rifle barrels are made from carbon steel and most likely can be re hardened etc. But at the end of the day its still carbon steel.

The up side if done well you should have a gouge that could be kept for fine finishing as carbon steel produce a very fine edge, finer than HSS and definitely much finer than any Tungsten steels.

I f you have one lying around, go for it, you have nothing to lose by trying. :U

[Paul39]

There is a used rifle barrel in an auction tomorrow night. If it is cheap enough I'll buy it and have a go. If too soft, I have a metal lathe and will use it for something else. I have made monster scrapers from broken truck springs, free for the asking. Also thought about shock absorber shafts for gouges. I'm retired and have more time than $$. Maybe more time than good sense. Many ways to amuse myself with wood and metal lathes, wire welder, etc. I heat with wood so keep saving out chunks with crazy grain, crotches, etc.

Thanks for the input. If I make something I'll make a report.

Paul

[texx]

this could turn out to be interesting we could end up with different cal gouges for different jobs , and then sporter weight all the way through to vatmint weight tools

[rsser]

The up side if done well you should have a gouge that could be kept for fine finishing as carbon steel produce a very fine edge, finer than HSS and definitely much finer than any Tungsten steels.

Displaying my ignorance here I expect: yes to that, if it's an acute angle and/or honed ... but when you whack a CS bowl gouge on a 60 or 80 grit dry grinder, aren't you going to get a ragged burr thrown up?

[Gil Jones]

http://www.crucibleservice.com/eselector/index.html

http://www.rifleshootermag.com/gunsmithing/RSgunsmith1/index.html

http://www.geocities.com/felixthefish.geo/cryogenic_treatment.html

Have fun educating yourselves.:)

[INVENTOR]

Paul, many years ago I had a similar idea. however what I made was a hollowing tool out of an old barrel. I put a goose neck shape in the end, mounted a tungsten carbide insert in the end. In the other end of the barrel a fitting for compressed air.

I idea was to blow out the shavings of hollow forms as I turned, rather than having to stop all the time to clear them.( with a small blast of the air)
I used the wrong cutter at the time and so shelved the idea, but with the right cutter perhaps a small ( non ferrous) 6mm TC round cutter (Similar to the Hunter tool) it might be a different situation.

Maybe I should make myself another one?
:U

[bobsreturn2003]

guys its the high speed steel you need to get along lasting edge . a lot of heat and abrasion ,from turning ,blunt the carbon steel quickly . but works fine for a while. if you touch up with a diamond file . cheers bob

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

People seem to forget that HSS is only a relatively recent invention and turners managed quite nicely with worse quality CS (than a rifle barrel) tools for quite a looong time.

If one has the ability (and the know-how to back it up certainly helps! :) ) to retemper the gun barrel after milling then it should be perfectly OK. As Hughie said, CS will take a finer edge than HSS; I prefer to use my old CS tools for those last few finishing cuts where the quicker blunting isn't relevant and a good finish is..

HSS is better when you're hogging out hard 'n fast, but there's still a place for CS.

[joe greiner]

I was hoping that Gil would jump in before I'd have to send him a prod. Maybe you didn't know he's a gunsmith too.:rolleyes:

One problem I see with using a rifle or pistol barrel is the rifling - spiral grooves that spin the bullet for better trajectory. When a barrel is cut to produce a gouge, there'd be slots along the cutting edge at locations that would vary according to the amount of sharpening. Not the best situation for sharpening consistency, unless the tool is re-cut whenever the slots re-present themselves (or something like that).

On the other hand, according to my VERY imperfect understanding, a shotgun barrel might not have such grooves, and it could be a better choice.

Over to you, Gil.

Joe

[robutacion]

Hi everyone,

I didn't know that Gill is also a gunsmith, good to know.

I did also gun-smithing for many years, until I finish all that in 2004.

I've done a lot of tools and other stuff out of gun barrels, preferentially the stainless ones in large sizes bore and ext. diameter, blanks up to 32mm on some. Shotgun barrels are no good for this porpose as most of the barrel surface is 1mm or less (used barrels). Rifle barrels is another story, using the barrel chamber section and/or the last 4 to 5 inches of the barren end (muzzle), the steel temper is harder but still flexible. Making tools out of it, is quite simple and easy, and even with a soft nature,this type metal does accept a properly sharped edge, working very well.
The most common treatment I have done to re-temper (harden) the metal after finished, was to get the metal red hot and insert it on brake fluid until if cools down. If it didn't get hard enough on the first go, just do it again. Don't finish the tool completely (sharpen) until after tempered. Impurities make always the metal look bad. One thing is for sure, make a bowl gouge out of 1" stainless blank, chamber end, and you can have a super monster all solid bowl gouge up to nearly 30 inch long, and that in anyones language is a heavy mother gouge, literally...!:oo:

In another words, tools to work with timber, can be made of almost anything, (just see the pics bellow) the sharpening is the secret, and the steel quality provides the durability and sharp edge duration. I will not even attempt to mention all the tools I've made and sharped with the most unbelievable metal bits and pieces, most of us just throw away. Combination of recycling and experimenting and as such, some work better then expected, some work well, some just work, and others just do not work. Ceis la vie :D

Cheers:2tsup:
RBTCO

[Paul39]

RBTCO,

Your post reminded me of something. I have done home repair for years and have bunches of worn or broken Philips head screwdriver tips. I have a new to me 10 inch swing lathe. One day I snapped off a screwdriver bit, again. I thought if it is hardened enough to break off maybe it's hard enough to cut. I ground a proper angle on it and used that to machine a cast iron floor flange into a faceplate. Then I tried a broken off cobalt drill bit. Also worked fine.

As you say, try it, if it works, it works.

Thanks to all of you for the additional input.

Paul

[joe greiner]

Paul, many years ago I had a similar idea. however what I made was a hollowing tool out of an old barrel. I put a goose neck shape in the end, mounted a tungsten carbide insert in the end. In the other end of the barrel a fitting for compressed air.

I idea was to blow out the shavings of hollow forms as I turned, rather than having to stop all the time to clear them.( with a small blast of the air)
I used the wrong cutter at the time and so shelved the idea, but with the right cutter perhaps a small ( non ferrous) 6mm TC round cutter (Similar to the Hunter tool) it might be a different situation.

Maybe I should make myself another one?
:U

I have a vague recollection of something like this, but instead of using compressed air, it used suction; probably from a shop vac, and probably running continuously of course. Or maybe with a foot switch? Or:?

Joe

[joe greiner]

RBTCO, a shotgun barrel with a 1mm wall sounds more like electrical conduit. Hmmmm. Uh oh! :oo:

And what about steel pipe itself? If I don't have a suitable scrap, one of my pipe clamps might have to make the supreme sacrifice. Nah; probably too rough on the interior.

Joe

[robutacion]

RBTCO, a shotgun barrel with a 1mm wall sounds more like electrical conduit. Hmmmm. Uh oh! :oo:

And what about steel pipe itself? If I don't have a suitable scrap, one of my pipe clamps might have to make the supreme sacrifice. Nah; probably too rough on the interior.

Joe

Hi Joe,
Yes, most of the normal shotguns made in these last 3 to 4 decades, have a wall construction of 1mm or less for about 2/3 of the barrel length. From the end of the chamber up to about 4" from the muzzle, the barrel gets pretty thin, with the middle of the barrel being the most critical point (with over 80% of the barrels that blow-up, doing so exactly in the middle. This does become even more critical, when the barrel is old(ware), reason why magnum or heavy loads are not recommended on old shotguns. Common shotguns have the choke built on the last 4" of the barrel's end, more expensive/better quality shotguns are various chokes built within some distance of each other. In barrels built like this, the critical points are multiplied by the number of times the "valley" widest part of internal barrel diameter, is built within. Even tough, this type of barrel construction does appear weaker, is normally not so as the quality of the steel used by these manufacturers, is normally of higher quality (resistance). Less expensive shotguns are the ones to create a higher risk of blowing-up (like peeled bananas...!):o oh yeah, seem many of them!.
I should have a pic of normal shotgun barrel cut in profile through the full length, if I find it, I will show it to you, no bull...!:D

You would be surprise, of what can be done with a normal steel pipe, we all have readily available tools and accessories (grinders, stones, diamond wheels, etc., etc.) to transform any rough metal surface in a mirror finish if necessary, just some people are better at it than others, reason why tools shops exist, huh? thanks goodness for that...!:roll:.

Cheers:2tsup:
RBTCO

[Paul39]

The used no name rifle barrel with deep pipe wrench gouges was paired with a new 12 gauge shot gun barrel. They went for $45 + 10% buyers premium + 7% tax.

I asked the winner if he would sell the rifle barrel, he said no.

I did meet a gunsmith who said he had several old barrels from rebarrel jobs. He gave me his card. Unfortunately he is 100 miles west of here.

The search goes on. There is oil or water hardening drill rod, 1/2 inch for around $35 for 36 inches + shipping. By the time one machines, grinds, heat treats, puts on a handle, we are getting real close to brand new HSS bowl gouges.

Paul

[joe greiner]

I visited a Sporting Goods shop today, and verified no rifling in shotgun barrels. Also noted very thin walls on most of the gear. A few had quite thick walls, though. No veteran barrels, rifle or shotgun, available; they suggested a gunsmith.

My last rifle was an M-14, 40 years ago, and they didn't let me keep it. It would've been heavy enough for a gouge, I reckon.

Joe

[robutacion]

The used no name rifle barrel with deep pipe wrench gouges was paired with a new 12 gauge shot gun barrel. They went for $45 + 10% buyers premium + 7% tax.

I asked the winner if he would sell the rifle barrel, he said no.

I did meet a gunsmith who said he had several old barrels from rebarrel jobs. He gave me his card. Unfortunately he is 100 miles west of here.

The search goes on. There is oil or water hardening drill rod, 1/2 inch for around $35 for 36 inches + shipping. By the time one machines, grinds, heat treats, puts on a handle, we are getting real close to brand new HSS bowl gouges.

Paul

I Paul,

I understand that you are trying to make a bowel gouge out of a gun (rifle-shotgun, barrel:?), it would be helpful if you could tell us what sort of size (dimensions) cutting edge, you are looking for, and also if you are trying to have the whole tool (gouge & handle) made out of a continuous piece?

Cheers:2tsup:
RBTCO

[Manuka Jock]

robut ,

Paul is thinking about making a stout gouge from a 30 cal rifle barrel that is about 30 inches long.

its all in his opening post :rolleyes:

Jock

[robutacion]

I visited a Sporting Goods shop today, and verified no rifling in shotgun barrels. Also noted very thin walls on most of the gear. A few had quite thick walls, though. No veteran barrels, rifle or shotgun, available; they suggested a gunsmith.

My last rifle was an M-14, 40 years ago, and they didn't let me keep it. It would've been heavy enough for a gouge, I reckon.

Joe

Hi Joe,

I have no intentions of starting some sort of firearms barrels forum discussion, nor I want you to think that I'm having a go at you, not at all forumate. I can see you area little confused about these barrels issues, so I'm in the position (ex-gunsmith) to clarify some things for you and others reading this thread and interested in making turning tools out of firearms used barrels, so bare with me, I explain...!

There are various profiles of gun barrels, rifles & shotguns, the case I mention on my previous post about shotgun barrels made with various choke "valleys", I was not referring to barrel "riffling", but to "tight rings" made at intervals through the barrel length, getting tighter as they get to the end choke or muzzle (working like a cone). This is represented on the pic bellow marked with a red circle. Still on the shotgun barrels issues, certain shotguns barrels are made with riffling (pic bellow), to shoot special "solid slugs" (single projectile). These barrels can be found in single or double barrel shoguns, and in some rifle-shotgun combinations, where from the same gun, one barrel is a normal rifle barrel (many possible calibres) and the other is a shotgun barrel riffled. There are many other possible combinations!
Now, commonly, shotgun barrels are smooth/polished bore, when rifle barrels have riffling. These are "twisted" groves cut into the internal barrel's surface to give the projectile the speed, the balance (accuracy), and penetration forces (Knt), and they come in various shapes and sizes (pics bellow).

In my army times, my rifle was also a M14, they would make a good gouge but not a very thick or long one!:D

Don't take it personally Joe, not everyone is aware of these things, I'm only providing information based on the thread topic, and I'm doing it, because "I can"!:)


PS: Now that we are talking about this, see if I can get my hands on a old barrel and make a gouge or two out of it. Not that many years ago, I was dumping then in a old 44 gallon drum, and sell them as scrap metal, :doh::no:.

Cheers:2tsup:
RBTCO

[robutacion]

Has anyone made a gouge from a rifle barrel? I'd like to hear the good, bad, and ugly. I want to turn 24 to 30 inch bowls. It seems that slotting the muzzle end of a barrel and sharpening would make a stout gouge from a .30 cal about 30 inches long.

I tried a search and came up with nothing.

I have been reading for some weeks and I like the helpful tone of the folks here.

Paul

Hi Manuka Jock,
Thank you for so promptly, remind me of the possible obvious...! I read it but I forgot all about it as we got into some more detail, sorry Paul & Folks...!:doh:.

Most barrels are only made (1" blanks) at 24" to 26" long. In Australia some are produce in blanks stage at 30" long but they cost a lot more. The average finished barrel we find in most guns are about 22 to 24" long, now that is more than enough to make a "super bowl gouge" as using the full barrel and a good handle, the tool could easily reach 30" or more. Now, the more important part, would be using the chamber end for the cutting edge, the metal there is 1" diameter or more, and you can use the biggest drilled hole on it, giving you about on a 30-30, 30.06 or any other 30 cal. chambers, a 16mm inside curve on the gauge. The chamber thickness (of 5mm or more), would give you lots of metal (meat) to work with, there is, allowing you to increase the inside diameter of the gouge (to be). If you want a small gouge, then use the muzzle end of the barrel, 30 cal. will give about 8mm hole and a exterior diameter of about 12 to 15mm (unless is a "bull" barrel, 1" or more).

Damn, it would be so much easier if I still had a couple of these barrels to show...!:((

Cheers:2tsup:
RBTCO

[joe greiner]

Not at all, RBTCO; not at all. My only point 'way up at #17, was that rifling could be a problem in getting a usable cutting edge for a gouge. With my 10 percent knowledge of gunsmithing, I didn't realise there were so many grooves. Hence the notion of using a smooth-bore barrel. And also ignorant of the "choke" consideration. The "chamber end" now makes more sense too.

The outside shape could also be considered. I reckon only a cylindrical shape would be suitable, to enable rolling the single barrel on the toolrest. An over-and-under profile, or a double-barrel, wouldn't work at all (I think), unless one of the barrels were cut well away.

Thanks to you and Gil for boosting my/our knowledge of gunsmithing to 11 percent.

And thanks to Paul, for bringing up the question in the first place. Exercising the grey cells helps to alleviate Grumpy-Old-Bastardosis.

I'm now wondering, though, if the cylindrical flute shape of a large bore would be better suited to a spindle roughing gouge than a bowl gouge. A small bore, with a thick wall, might be just dandy for finishing cuts as a bowl gouge, in accordance with Skew's observations; also facilitates swept-back wings, too.

Heck, I'm still on the learning curve for woodturning too, and this is a great thread; let's keep it rolling. This is just my windbag summary so far.

Joe

[robutacion]

I'm glad Joe, that you learning something, no one ever knows it all...!

If I was to use a gun barrel to make a wood turning gouge, of some sort, I will be going for a light rifle barrel (Featherweight) of the biggest calibre I could find, (less drilling, shaping). I don't think that would take me more than 1 hour the make a double end gouge, out of one on them. One end could be made into a detail gouge and the other into a roughing gouge/bowl gouge, etc, and this is how:
From the muzzle end drill a smooth hole to suit the size you want (consider the wall thickness necessary), about 1-1/2" deep. Mark and cut the top half end of the barrel (muzzle) at the same distance the hole was drilled. On the chamber end mark and cut the top half end of it, about 2" in (same as the muzzle end), but this time no need to drill, the smooth hole is already there (unless, you want to increase the diameter). Now that you got both ends with the top halves cut off, shape the ends to suit the profile you want, (fingernail, etc.) and sharp/polish them, and voilà, one gouge with 2 ends ready to some work. If you want it a little more fancy, (well better gripping) there a dozens of different things you can use to help with the grip, such as; push bike handles, grip handle tape, masking tape, etc., etc., etc. The mentioned barrels are about 24" long so, you maybe don't need to block (rubber cap type) the sharp end of the barrel not in use, but for safety reasons, I would recommend you to. Again, dozens of possibilities here!

In relation the the shotgun barrels, the best option would be to get a single shot or a semi-automatic shotgun. They only have 1 barrel but the single "shotty" has double of the metal thickness. If this wouldn't be possible, then a double barrel shotgun either side by side or under & over would do but, the barrels had to be separated, and this is a lot easier than most people would think. I simple oxi-torch would "melt" the silver solder or similar used to braise them together, a bit of cleaning and there you have, 2 barrels ready for use. I wouldn't have any hesitation in using the chamber end for making a gouge, but I wouldn't use the muzzle end as it would be too thin.

Just a simple pic, with the normal light rifle barrel profile and the cuts I've mention.

Sorry if this is too much information, I will stop if necessary!:-:)

Cheers:2tsup:
RBTCO

[Paul39]

I sure started a storm of discussion.

What I had in mind was a shot out Mauser 1898 748mm barrel or a Mosin-Nagant 1891 800 mm barrel. The Mauser was made by the millions and the action was much desired for high powered rifles of many calibers. I suspect the old barrels were junked as stated above.

The rifling on the muzzle end could be dealt with by using a mounted about 8mm dia. round stone in any sort of rotary tool, running it in the groove once the barrel was opened up on top. The bore is a hair under 8mm.

I'm retired with limited fixed income, so I'm always trying to beat the system. Starting with a $5 to $10 hunk of steel and making a workable tool is what I have in mind.

I've heard of another gunsmith who does rebarreling about 10 miles up the road, so I'll explore that.. I can't wait to see what the first member of this forum comes up with if he or she should stumble across a cheap barrel.

I do think water pipe would be too soft.

Paul

[robutacion]

Hi Paul,

There is no crime or reason the be ashamed or even embarrassed, of having limited financial capabilities, anyone living on any pension will understand that.

Now, being creative, good with tools, having good hands and having imagination (improvisation), is not beating the system, is being smart. Money or people with money has nothing to do with it but, not having it tough, does encourage people to get their creativity fluids running, not much of a bloody choice, huh?:-

Now, if I'm looking for a used rifle barrel, where would I go to find one?
1- Gunsmith's, obviously!
2- Who uses plenty of barrels?, hunters?, no!, target/competition shooters do. Who are they and where do you find them?, shooting Clubs.
3- At the shooting clubs, who do you find?, the shooters and the gunsmiths (most of them shooters themselves).
4- Who to ask for a used barrel? both!, most shooters keep their old barrels, some other leave them at the smithy shop.

In relation to smooth/cut the rifling at the end of the barrel (muzzle), a couple of inches in, max., the best way is to use a drill just a "nudge" over the overall int. diameter, and then polish it with a stone on a drill if you have the correct size, otherwise, the cheapest and easiest Way to polish/cut after the riffling is removed, is to use a round wood stick (Chinese chop-sticks will do) by splitting one end of the stick with a knife about a couple of inches in, then cut a piece of sand paper (wet&dry preferentially) 1' or so wide and with enough length to be rolled around the stick until is close enough with the hole diameter. Start rolling the paper by "sliding" one end of the sand paper into the split stick. Obviously, some consideration has to be given to the direction the drill turns, so that the sand paper has the "cutting" surface facing out. With the aid of a container with some water, keep inserting the stick end with the sandpaper on it, into the water container and back or forward motion on the barrel end. When the sandpaper start getting lose, un-rap the paper on the stick but do not remove it completely, use another piece of sandpaper or similar (shim) same width but shorter, put if against the stick and start rolling it again, this time with the 2 layers of sandpaper rolling together, making the diameter of the "cutting head" increase to a tight fit and go again, and again...,in & out, in & out! :o:D got it?:doh:

Cheers:2tsup:
RBTCO

[bobsreturn2003]

hey guys what about a piece of high speed steel round .and just cut the flute with a chainsaw sharpener wheel in an angle grinder? this can be purchased easily . good cutting bob

[Gil Jones]

There is no doubt that 4140 and 4130 chrome moly steel rifle barrels are a fine source of high grade, hi-carbon, tool steel. I should have saved all the shot-out barrels that I replaced over the years (but back then I was not into woodturning). Now I will be on the lookout for several .22, .30 and .50 cal. Barrels (the heavier the better!!), but not to re-machine into gouges. After all the labor time is expended, you will still have a nice carbon steel gouge. I would prefer to save up for a quality HSS gouge, and use the barrels as the base for an Oland deep boring tool. The centered hole is already there, and just needs to be drilled out to fit a HSS cutting bit (round and/or square), and then drill and tap for a grub screw to hold the bit in place. Plus, maybe drill a hole at an angle for side cutting, and place the cross point under the grub screw hole so you only need one (actually, drill and tap all the way thru, and have two grub screws, or a backup).
Here is a fine article on how to build your own Oland boring tool >> http://www.aroundthewoods.com/oland.shtml <<.
In the past I have used long, 3/4", socket extensions found cheap a flea markets, but I would not mind using a heavy rifle barrel instead.
Just my 2¢ worth.
Cheers,

[hughie]

There is no doubt that 4140 and 4130 chrome moly steel riflegenerally these two are tough stable High tensile steels and not given to, too much hardening.So I not sure how good they would be for gouges





. Now I will be on the lookout for several .50 cal. Barrels (the heavier the better!!), but not to re-machine into gouges.
When this topic came up I immediately thought of . 50 cal.But they are a bit hard to come by down under. :no:

[joe greiner]

(actually, drill and tap all the way thru, and have two grub screws, or a backup). Just my 2¢ worth.
Cheers,

When you tap all the way through, do so VERY gently. Resistance in the far wall, with the tap captured in the near wall, can present enough flex in the cylinder to shatter the tap. DAMHIKT. Re-tapping from the far wall may be a better procedure.

My $3.50 worth.:D

Joe

[Paul39]

I started digging around on the internet as no free rifle barrels have fallen from the sky. I found a metal supplier that sells small quantities of tool steel in the form of drill rod, rounds, flats, and plate. By looking around in the site specifications can be found.

Three feet of 1/2 inch O-1 drill rod was less than I expected to pay for a rifle barrel. For those of us old geezers with more time than money and a sense of adventure, this might be a solution.

See: https://www.speedymetals.com/c-8287-tool-steel.aspx

Also found specs for 4140 barrel steel at:

http://www.metalsuppliersonline.com/Research/Property/metals/25.asp

Further poking revealed that concrete rebar is made of A615 steel, a relatively high carbon steel. I have been cutting rebar for years by notching and breaking, which gave me the idea that it was pretty hard. I have made punches and chisels of rebar that work pretty well.

For those of us who like to see what crazy grain is in tree stumps, a 3 foot hunk of 3/4 inch rebar ground smooth where it hits the tool rest and a concave grind on top with some relief on the front would gouge off the bark, dirt, pebbles, etc around the shortened roots of a stump. When it gets dull give it another grind and keep going.

Sure would save your $100 bowl gouge.

I would hope there are metal suppliers in Austrailia with comparable prices as the one above. Shipping from the US would not be a bargain.

Paul

[joe greiner]

I guess I'll postpone the search for rifle or shotgun barrels. I have about 3000 lbs. of rebar from a contractor's garage sale. ~$50 IIRC.

Joe

[RETIRED]

Wonder which building is going to fall down?:D

[joe greiner]

Wonder which building is going to fall down?:D
No, no, . They were mistakes, or otherwise surplus.:)

Joe