Chamber reamer sharping

[wistlepig1]

Would anyone know who sharpens Chamber reamers? Thanks

[dragonrider]

I would suggest calling the manufacturer of the reamer.

[DougGuy]

Manson Precision Reamers might do it. 810-953-0732

[fast ronnie]

I talked with a gunsmith a few months ago that makes his own reamers. I asked him how he sets the back clearance on them after grinding the profile. He said he uses a stone and does it by hand. I haven't tried it. but do sharpen lathe tools sometin=mes by hand stoning. By the way, I'm looking for a used but still serviceable .30-06 reamer that might have one or two cuts left in it for a project mauser.

[Reg]

Clymer will re-sharpen their own, doubt if they would do others.
It is not uncommon to "touch up" or lightly stone a reamer that is slightly worn or has a couple very minor nicks but to actually re-grind the cutting edges takes a grinding set up and generally because of the lengths and angles involved you generally get only one shot at it and sometimes not even that.

[John Taylor]

Might cost half the price of a new reamer to have one sharpened. I use PTG most of the time.

[paul h]

There is a good article on sharpening chamber reamers in one of the Machinist Bedside Readers, the third one as I recall.

If you're not set up to do it right, send it back to the manufacturer to have it done. Much cheaper to pay to have a reamer properly ground than to damage a barrel with a dull reamer.

[Frank46]

Pacific gage and tool most like can resharpen your reamer and if your reamer is a solid pilot that can give you an floating pilot with interchangeable bushings to go with it. Frank

[wistlepig1]

Thanks for the tips, I will call the Mfg.

[Hooker53]

I use the diamond sticks that has Diamond dust on them and hand touch them up. Take a black magic marker and mark the Back-Releif Intirely. That way you can watch where you are smoothing. Use the watchmakers binoculars to see clearly where you are removing the black. Practice this on one that is maybe beyond saving to get a feel for it. It takes very little.

[leftiye]

What he said. Fine diamond. About 5 degrees of back rake.

[W.R.Buchanan]

In order to correctly resharpen a bottleneck chambering reamer you must move the whole profile of the reamer back.

By this I mean the reamer has a profile that cuts a chamber. If you simply regrind any of the cutting edges you change that profile by reducing it's diameter.

If the entire cutting edges are reground they would be done on a machine that can duplicate the original profile. This would require you to move that profile back towards the drive end of the reamer in order to have material to completely regrind the edges.

Simply regrinding the existing edges would result in a smaller chamber. Just stoning the edges probably wouldn't reduce the size by any significant amount, but unless you do it the same on all of the flutes it isn't going to cut right.

One other point. If you aren't storing your reamers in the plastic tubes they come in you are causing more damage but letting them bump into each other in a tool box than you would ever generate thru actual usage. I would think this would be a no brainer?

Randy

[leftiye]

Yup we be no brainers. Uh huh.

[CATTLEMAN]

I might have to get a copy of the book mentioned above if it tells how to resharpen reamers.
I recently called a major reamer manufacturer who generally has a good repuation about resharpening one of their reamers (30-30AI) and they quoted a resharpening price that was more than the cost of buying their reamer new from a major online supplier. When I mentinoned that to them they could not have cared less.
I did replace the reamer but bought one from another manufacturer.

[leftiye]

Serves 'em right!

[M-Tecs]

https://shop.pacifictoolandgauge.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=349

http://www.jgstools.com/mainarea.html

http://clymertool.com/catalogue/ClymerCatalogueVol11.pdf page 28

Switched to carbide oil groove bushings 20+ years ago. Haven't needed to have one resharpened yet.

Chamber reamers are circle ground and can be touched up by stoning the face of the flute but if the land is worn or damaged a full regrinded is required.