Bolt jeweling.

S

Schattenreiter

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Has anyone ever done any bolt jeweling? If so what did you use? Brushes, pencil erasers, Cratex rods. How did it turn out?

I have an old JC Higgins 22 bolt gun I picked up at the pawn shop and I'm getting it ready for my new grandson. Already refinished the stock and I'm looking at some sort of coating for the barrel but the bolt is a little ruff. I polished it but it still doesn't suit me so I thought maybe jeweling would be the way to go.
 
Checked out the cratex rods and I think I will order some. Found out you get free shipping on last Friday of the month. Now I just need some kind of indexing jig. Maybe a drill press vice that moves in 2 directions.
 
Schattenreiter said:
Checked out the cratex rods and I think I will order some. Found out you get free shipping on last Friday of the month. Now I just need some kind of indexing jig. Maybe a drill press vice that moves in 2 directions.
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If it has the index scales, and you pay attention that would work.
A tip on the Cratex Rods, keep the amount of rod protruding from the chuck to a minimum so it doesn't deflect when it comes into contact with the surface being jeweled and also pay attention to the amount of pressure being applied as the tip of the rod will "mushroom" as pressure is applied. Practice quite a bit beforehand and good luck....
 
BurnedOutGeek said:
@Sneakymedic
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Yep. I've done it on a 10-22 bolt, a few triggers and hammers on a revolver or two. I used cratex rods in my drill press.. I just watched a few youtubz bids and practiced a little bit. I didn't have a jig, and hand did it, but you do need to figure out how to move the part easily. I'll take a pic of the bolt and I may have a pic of the triggers I did.

@Bailey Boat is spot on about the mushrooming and pressure, etc. It's easy to do. I also ordered some valve lapping compound to try. That worked well too. You can use an oak dowel with that.

A flat 10-22 bolt face is easier, vs a circular bolt. As you can imagine. That's where the mash able cratex rod comes in handy vs a wooden dowel
 
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I can see where flat is easier to work with than round. For that reason I think I'm gonna go with the smallest rod I can find.

Any recommendation for which grit to get? Course,medium or fine.
 
Schattenreiter said:
I can see where flat is easier to work with than round. For that reason I think I'm gonna go with the smallest rod I can find.

Any recommendation for which grit to get? Course,medium or fine.
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The smaller the rod the more mistakes and misalignment's show up. The more rows and columns the more mistakes show up. Match the size of the part to a rod that will best blend. Their cheap enough to get several, experiment....
 
The bolt on this gun is pretty small. There won't be much more than 3 rows showing up at best with a 3/16ths rod. I figured with a larger rod the swirl would be heavy in the middle and light on the edges.
 
Schattenreiter said:
The bolt on this gun is pretty small. There won't be much more than 3 rows showing up at best with a 3/16ths rod. I figured with a larger rod the swirl would be heavy in the middle and light on the edges.
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Get several sizes and play to your hearts content...... If you get around to jeweling the stainless flatware in the kitchen, you'll know you've gone too far.....
 
Ordered the Cratex rods this am. Got 4 different sizes in medium grit. Also got free shipping because it is the last Friday in the month. Anybody who needs some abrasive rods or other shapes should Checkout Cratex.com. You can get them from Brownells but they are a few bucks more plus free shipping makes it a great deal.
 
Wow. Just got an email from cratex. One of the rods I ordered is back ordered. Will ship Jan 10th. The others will ship today. I just ordered them this morning. Talk about fast.
 
Schattenreiter said:
Has anyone ever done any bolt jeweling? If so what did you use? Brushes, pencil erasers, Cratex rods. How did it turn out?

I have an old JC Higgins 22 bolt gun I picked up at the pawn shop and I'm getting it ready for my new grandson. Already refinished the stock and I'm looking at some sort of coating for the barrel but the bolt is a little ruff. I polished it but it still doesn't suit me so I thought maybe jeweling would be the way to go.
Click to expand...

Go to midwayusa and buy the stuff to do it right. Its cheap if you have a drill press already. Mr porterfield will teach you.
 
Mightyox04 said:
Go to midwayusa and buy the stuff to do it right. Its cheap if you have a drill press already. Mr porterfield will teach you.
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Already tried that. Midway and all other places I can find that carried it no longer have it in stock. It is listed as discontinued and I can't find a website for the company that made them. They still have other B-Square products but not the bolt jeweling jig.
 
Schattenreiter said:
Already tried that. Midway and all other places I can find that carried it no longer have it in stock. It is listed as discontinued and I can't find a website for the company that made them. They still have other B-Square products but not the bolt jeweling jig.
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Collet indexer.
 
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