Looking for a used Scraping Straight edge
- Thread starter Pete Wass
- Start date
Gene Beggs
Active member
Mort, don't worry 'bout it. Knowing Pete as I do I would say he's probably still laughing.
I'm as serious as I can be about you coming out to shoot in the West Texas tunnel. It's nice! Aircondidtioned and equipped with comfortable loading area. I built it in 2003 after I retired. It's been quite an experience. I fired the first shot down it about this time of year in '03. I was so sure of it and my rifles that I thought I would just go in there and shoot one zero after another!
Wrong!! Yep, I've learned a thing or two about not only rifle accuracy but also how to get the best results in a tunnel.
There was a lot more to it than I thought. Now, I enjoy a perfect sight picture any time and with the use of the fixed reference scope, I'm assured of no slow mirage which can have you holding close to a half inch off from shot one to shot five.
I sure enjoy visits from serious rifle accuracy nuts. Come on out. We old guys have a lot of knowledge to share and much of what I know, I've learned from others. It'll be a new adventure fpr you. Later,
Gene Beggs
GeneT
Active member
On scraping...
I'll offer my .02 here - worth about that. My awe-inspiring scraping background includes ownership of a copy of Connelly (THE book on the subject) and a two (three?) day class taught by experienced and well-known pros whose names I won't taint by association with yours truly.
Scraping _is_ somewhat obsolete. A surface grinder can get the desired flatness readily, and a little 'flaking' (kin to scraping, but different*) can add the oil-retaining properties desired. However, it's pretty darned inconvenient to get one's tool on a grinder large enough for the task, and the folks that can do so command a hefty fee. So, in some (many?) cases it's "easier" to scrape things in - and by easier, I mean that if you, or someone you know has a lot of back, elbow, and forearm - as well as a lot of patience - you can get similar results for only a few thousand man-hours of skilled labor.
OK, that might be a _slight_ exaggeration, but scraping is hard, tedious, and skilled work. It's physically demanding (Biax scrapers aside) as well as a very skilled avocation. Imo, a scraper is something like the bladesmith that forges blades from raw steel. _Maybe_ they're better, but for certain they are an exemplar of craftsmanship and know-how that is relatively uncommon today.
GsT
* "Flaking" produces the little crescent-moon shapes you see on a lot of higher-quality machine tools - but it is not scraping. Flaking serves to hold oil (and grit) on the ways. "Real" scraping patterns look something like the crystalline display you might see on your windshield after a frost. You won't see "real" scraping on anything new-ish that I know of. AFAIK, no competent scraper has ever been paid commensurate with his skill, but it's still too expensive.
I've never tried it but the question that always came to my mind was, why would it not be better to 'sand' or 'grind' away the high spots rather than scrape them away? Scraping just sounds so crude and unprofessional to me.
I'll offer my .02 here - worth about that. My awe-inspiring scraping background includes ownership of a copy of Connelly (THE book on the subject) and a two (three?) day class taught by experienced and well-known pros whose names I won't taint by association with yours truly.
Scraping _is_ somewhat obsolete. A surface grinder can get the desired flatness readily, and a little 'flaking' (kin to scraping, but different*) can add the oil-retaining properties desired. However, it's pretty darned inconvenient to get one's tool on a grinder large enough for the task, and the folks that can do so command a hefty fee. So, in some (many?) cases it's "easier" to scrape things in - and by easier, I mean that if you, or someone you know has a lot of back, elbow, and forearm - as well as a lot of patience - you can get similar results for only a few thousand man-hours of skilled labor.
OK, that might be a _slight_ exaggeration, but scraping is hard, tedious, and skilled work. It's physically demanding (Biax scrapers aside) as well as a very skilled avocation. Imo, a scraper is something like the bladesmith that forges blades from raw steel. _Maybe_ they're better, but for certain they are an exemplar of craftsmanship and know-how that is relatively uncommon today.
GsT
* "Flaking" produces the little crescent-moon shapes you see on a lot of higher-quality machine tools - but it is not scraping. Flaking serves to hold oil (and grit) on the ways. "Real" scraping patterns look something like the crystalline display you might see on your windshield after a frost. You won't see "real" scraping on anything new-ish that I know of. AFAIK, no competent scraper has ever been paid commensurate with his skill, but it's still too expensive.
Gene Beggs
Active member
Thanks for the input
Yes, such skills and old world craftsmanship are gradually becoming harder to find. I love to search out the real craftsmen. They're there but you sure have to look for them.
Thanks for the information about 'flaking.' Never heard of that one before.
I enjoy your posts.
Later,
Gene Beggs
Yes, such skills and old world craftsmanship are gradually becoming harder to find. I love to search out the real craftsmen. They're there but you sure have to look for them.
Thanks for the information about 'flaking.' Never heard of that one before.
I enjoy your posts.
Later,
Gene Beggs
adamsgt
Jerry Adams
Mort, you might want to put that at the top of your bucket list because you'll likely want to do it more than once. Been to Gene's tunnel twice and it's a real education.
Pete Wass
Well-known member
I'm BACK
I was away for about a week on my annual Birthday trip. We went to Newport this year and looked at the old Summer Homes / museums now. Hard to imagine why those people saw a benefit in throwing as mush money away as they did back then. Only took one generation to realize they were not sustainable.
At any rate Gene, I borrowed Mike Suhi's reamer. I must get with him to find out what the neck size is, unless you know. I don't know why we have had trouble communicating. Perhaps a PM on here would do it?
I gave up on CF tuners some years ago. Until there is an easy way to adjust them during the match day, I'm not very interested. What I have found is I know rifles go out of tune with them on but by the time that becomes evident, I find it difficult to be able to tell if it's conditions or tune and which way to turn the tuner, etc, etc. Too frustrating for me. So I resolved to find a good load and go with it, like the old days.
Can you tell us more about the fixed reference scope please?
My skin has toughened up over the years and I sometimes remember it is impossible to prove a negative; more often now than it use to be.
Pete
Mort, don't worry 'bout it. Knowing Pete as I do I would say he's probably still laughing.
I'm as serious as I can be about you coming out to shoot in the West Texas tunnel. It's nice! Aircondidtioned and equipped with comfortable loading area. I built it in 2003 after I retired. It's been quite an experience. I fired the first shot down it about this time of year in '03. I was so sure of it and my rifles that I thought I would just go in there and shoot one zero after another!
Yep, I've learned a thing or two about not only rifle accuracy but also how to get the best results in a tunnel.
There was a lot more to it than I thought. Now, I enjoy a perfect sight picture any time and with the use of the fixed reference scope, I'm assured of no slow mirage which can have you holding close to a half inch off from shot one to shot five.
Later,
Gene Beggs
I was away for about a week on my annual Birthday trip. We went to Newport this year and looked at the old Summer Homes / museums now. Hard to imagine why those people saw a benefit in throwing as mush money away as they did back then. Only took one generation to realize they were not sustainable.
At any rate Gene, I borrowed Mike Suhi's reamer. I must get with him to find out what the neck size is, unless you know. I don't know why we have had trouble communicating. Perhaps a PM on here would do it?
I gave up on CF tuners some years ago. Until there is an easy way to adjust them during the match day, I'm not very interested. What I have found is I know rifles go out of tune with them on but by the time that becomes evident, I find it difficult to be able to tell if it's conditions or tune and which way to turn the tuner, etc, etc. Too frustrating for me. So I resolved to find a good load and go with it, like the old days.
Can you tell us more about the fixed reference scope please?
My skin has toughened up over the years and I sometimes remember it is impossible to prove a negative; more often now than it use to be.
Pete
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