Thanks for the heads up, Vall.  From now on when it comes to barrels, I'll always fill and peen.

Bill Lawrence

kensmachine wrote on Jan 10^th, 2019 at 12:07am:


Al is another who told me not to weld on barrels. He and Denny are the ones who explained to me how to fill holes and dovetails and peen them to make them disappear. Denny showed me to not use screws, but instead to tap rod short, so the threads ended before the rod bottomed out in the barrel. Then cut the rod about 1/16" long and peen it down. Then draw file.
Same for dovetails. He told me to make my own hand filed fillers that would drive in tight. Then cut them long and peen each end. Then draw file the fillers too. 
I've followed their advice for years to fill holes and dovetails. When rust blued the difference in metals between filler and barrel wont ever show, but if hot blued dissimilar alloys can be slight color differences. 

Kensmachine I have filled a few holes using the same method and really not all that difficult to execute. One only needs to be very careful and cautious of not damaging the surrounding area around the plugged screw hole while doing the work. If so when all is said and done it can longer be seen or found by the eye of the one who has done the work.

A nicely ground tool and to size for the job at hand along with a magnifying visor can be a bit more helpful than just a hammer in hand. Just the way I prefer to go about it and to me there is no right or wrong way to go about it as long the finished result turns out to be the same.

Bill Lawrence wrote on Jan 10^th, 2019 at 3:03pm:


I use a plain old ball peen hammer to work the donor metal down. Then once peened down, it is expanded enough that when draw filed the joint doesn't show.

That's what I said. I use threaded rod because screws wont fit tight enough. Rod being short threaded will tighten into the hole before it bottoms out, thus fully filling the hole at the top. Cutting the rod off about 1/16" or longer above surface will then allow the metal to expand even further when peened, prior to draw filing.
I also use mild steel rod, as it forms easier, and makes a better filler. Same for the dovetails where I make my fillers from mild steel stock also. Dovetails are much trickier as I use a body and fender dolly on one end while peening the other end. Then switch to do the opposite end.

Very interesting.I have searched all over trying to find something in the line of this Ballard stock.German Craftsmen makes sense! Pete

Didn't realize that Henry Simmons ever did any stock carving when he was the stock maker at Schoyen's shop? I've seen some elaborate stocks he made, but haven't seen any with as much carving as the OP's Ballard has.
Simmons' stock work is just about as good as any great stock maker of the 1800's and early 1900's! His schuetzen stocks done at Schoyen's, and Peterson's shop are exquisite!