doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com First Stock Bend Job...and Second.

Mr. Chuck do you suppose I could borrow that jig,my daughter has her first date this weekend. I think I need to ask the boy a few questions.

I would think playing with a cigar cutter and your guns would be enough.

First date with my wife, a long, long time ago, when I picked her up I had to meet the parents. Her Dad just happened to be cleaning his guns when I arrived and we talked guns and hunting for about a half hour before she pried me away. He was surprised that a high school kid knew anything about guns, and she was pissed that I seemed to like him more than I liked her. No cigar cutter, though.

Shortly after meeting my future father-in-law, he invited me to go with him to Little John's Auction to buy guns. My girlfriend (now wife) was about half pissed. She said I was supposed to be polite, and that didn't involve going off on the weekend with him.

That weekend, I saw my future father-in-law buy guns by just setting there and not doing anything.

What a fantastic looking bending jig - simple and effective!

I had the stock on my Merkel 1620 bent by Griffin & Howe. In addition to returning the gun to me with a new crack in the stock, they also scorched the finish so that the wrist area is now much darker than the rest of the stock.

Since then, I have had many guns bent by Mike Orlen. He does a fantastic job, and the finish on the Orlen-bent guns looks to be completly unaffected by whatever heating process he uses.

Anyone know how G&H heats the wood for bending; anyone know what heating process Mike Orlen uses? Heated oil? Steam? Infra red? Heating tape? Hot air? Any others?

--shinbone

Mike apparently uses lamps and oil.
http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/16314697

I dunno about G&H.

Great examples of other bending jigs at the link. Thanks!

It looks like heat lamps and mineral oil soaked into a cotton wrap at the bend site are the way to go.

Just my opinion, but the big knobs on my fixture are unnecessary. Frankly, no knobs are needed. I just pushed the stock by hand as much as I was comfortable with, then turned the jackscrew to hold in place, repeat after some heat dwell time.

Smaller (than my 2") knobs would give a better feel if you elect to push the stock over by turning knobs instead of pushing by hand. Maybe some small plastic ball/knobs?

I heat mine quite a bit longer before bending. I like to let the stock heat all the way through before trying to bend. Usually wait from 30 to 45 minutes. It's probably from making damascus - with 6 to 9 layers of steel at start if only the outside layers are at welding temp and it's beat togeather the billet looks good but the inner layers aren't welded. You end up with a pile of sh**. So I like the inner wood also hot enough to bend so all the stress of bending is applied through out the wrist area. Good luck to all - Paul

Hello Chuck,

What a fantastic jig and corresponding result! Congratulations.

Here is a photo of a jig sent by Mr. Moe/Mike Orlen:



He uses canola oil; (more details in the Picturetrail posted above).

JC