had a fun day in the shop, weather cooled down some so i could rough out a "core cutter"... not really a core cutter as most of you guys are using lead wire or something similar, where all i need to do is trim off the ogive of a cast boolit to get the desired core weight i need... here is the business side where you can see the boolit ogive sticking out ready to trim to length:
i set it up so i can use different inserts for different size of boolits, and adjust how much of the ogive will stick out with an adjustment screw... here is the back side where i just clamped it to the top of my press, there is the insert with a tiny ejection punch... trimming this way initially had my boolits within 1 grain of each other, before i was using tin snips and getting 5+ grain variations so i am very pleased with this setup:
i will explain the details this week in my swaging thread, i have a few more details to finish up on, but thanks everyone for your help on this, could not have done it without you!
Looks professional, good job.
CC
Looks Fantastic Cane_Man!
"Consequently we move away from other shooters to remain focused on our passion, as our ideas are quickly dismissed or misunderstood by others. Sharing does not come easily for swagers, not because they are necessarily selfish, but because they have been whittling away in their only little world for so long, that being able to relate to others what they understand is no simple task."
Mentor
hey CC you are just the man to know this... i want to heat treat the blade part of "chopper", all i have is a small map gas torch, can i heat up just the blade area to red/orange and then quench it oil? do i need to temper after hardening? any suggestions as i dont have a fire or heat treating oven...
edit: the steel is 1018 cold rolled
Last edited by Cane_man; 06-10-2013 at 01:29 PM.
Cane,
1018 is a low carbon steel, and can not be heat treated. If you need a harder edge, you could try case hardening. If you are just cutting soft lead, I doubt that it would need to be hardened. I'm assuming you are using this for cutting cores? If the cutter gets dull try sharpening it at a blunter angle. Like a metal chisel vs a wood chisel. I've never cut any lead yet, but don't know how quickly it would dull the cutting edge. I'm in the lawn care business so I've got a ton of old lawn mower blades available that I'll make mine from. You could also try attaching an edger blade to your cutter, they are hardened.
hope this helps,
CC
well i ended up case hardening using Cherry Red... i tellya what, that Forrestr aint no gump and his tip to use ceramic insulation when torching up the part worked like a charm... i just wrapped the blade/handle part in the insulation like a taco, hit it with the torch and in about 5' the cutting edge was orange... then did the case hardening and it turned out awesome
i took a course and then fine file to it, probably spent more time that i should but i was having fun, it cuts like a knife cutting cheese:
Last edited by Cane_man; 06-10-2013 at 08:37 PM.
What kind of cheese? I tell ya that Munster stuff sure is delightful just not easy to cut!
That really is a nice looking cutter.
"Consequently we move away from other shooters to remain focused on our passion, as our ideas are quickly dismissed or misunderstood by others. Sharing does not come easily for swagers, not because they are necessarily selfish, but because they have been whittling away in their only little world for so long, that being able to relate to others what they understand is no simple task."
Mentor
hahaha, thanks Joe... i really like sharp cheddar with gobs of sea salt sprinkled on it... and an icy cold bud light
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |