Scratch Finish

H

huntandfish

Guest
What are the steps in completing a scratch finish on a SS barrel? Can this be acomplished without any expensive equipment?
 
I've never done it, but my understanding is you use a palm orbital sander with quite course grit paper, and use it on the barrel while it's turning in the lathe. You try for a cross-hatched pattern similar to a cylinder honing. Or any pattern you may like. They certainly stand out.
 
The key is to turn the barrel quite slowly. That is easy if you have a VFD.
And a lot of pressure on the sander.
 
I've done them as Mr. Shaw indicates. Coarse grit (20-40) on my orbital, and the slowest speed I can. I cover the ways and anything else of importance with aluminum foil. I "mold" said foil around the ways, the theory being that any grit from the sanding will deflect/slide off of the foil. When I'm done, I "reverse" my mold...cupping it to contain any grit that may still be on the foil, and remove it from the machine. Despite all this, I still clean and wipe down my lathe when I'm done.

The first time I saw this finish was on a Dan Dowling built rifle, and it was pretty sharp looking. I believe I read somewheres that Mr. Dowling doesn't use a lathe, though. He rotates the barrel on a flat surface using one hand, while running the orbital with another. I tend to think this is true as his finished patterns are very even and symetrical...much more so than mine. The ones I've done don't have a pattern per se, but a uniform, swirly, sanded finish from end to end. Or maybe I don't know what the hell I'm doing...

It's a nice finish to use as it dulls the finish, making it non-reflective, but is far more durable than a bead blasted finish.

Hope this helps,
Justin
 
Hey, this is intresting...can i take a blued barrel to "white' do this and blue it? any ideas?asking because i am working on a beat up mod1 brno 22, thought it would be something different...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Fergus Bailey said:
As Al said, the short answer is "yes". The long answer is that this is a smithing technique that is often used when a customer is looking for a mat finish on a blued rifle part. I have several hunting rifles finished this way and like the look it produces on the barrelled action
Click to expand...

Great, any chance of seeing a couple of pics?
TIA
Axx
 
Thanks Fergus,
The 450 Ackley looks awesome.
Wish i could see a better pic of the 9.3, this one doesnt do justice...
Best
Axx
 
Fergus me' man, AWESOME wood!

What is that lower one, the 9.3? Almost could be mesquite...... or is it imported?

al
 
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