I have been trying my hand at turning a few bolt knobs and I have some questions. I have looked at the Oberndorf, Burgess and Talley style. Are there any guidelines as size of the ball and the length and with of the shaft? Do you just shape them until they look right?

If you are trying to exactly duplicate the Oberndorf, then yes, they are a specific dimension. If not , then just make it to suit your eye.
I always make them at least 1/4 inch longer than factory as those were made for 19th century guys with very short fingers.

I wonder what happened between the 19th century and now to cause guys fingers to get longer.

Better nutrition, better medical care, clean water. Antibiotics. Those things have caused most off the Earth's population to be much taller, with longer fingers, than 19th century folk. Even 1940s folk. And to live much longer too.

Thanks for the help.

Me, off on a tangent again. After running machines for 35 years I have never used or seen a radius turning attachment in a machine shop or gunsmiths shop I have been in. I probably wouldn't even know they even existed, except I saw one in model makers shop many years ago. It was a dinky little thing set up in place of the tool post on an old Unimat lathe and with it the guy could make perfect balls. With a sprue or stem which was held in the chuck of course. I do know that they make them for tool room lathes as well and every time I have to make a bolt handle the first thing I think of is that gizmo. For some reason I have just never gotten around to ordering one.

Has anyone ever bought and used one?

If so do they actually work that well?

My bolt handle lathe turning radii apparatus is bio-mechanically controlled and works perfectly every time.

Rod.

Like you I had seen one of those radi cutting things years ago on a lathe, but never used one.

I made a spring loaded tracer attachement for the one manual lathe, i turned many bolt handles with that unit, still have it somewhere.

In 2003 I started using a CNC lathe. Well the first bolt handle program took me about 6 hours to write and debug to get the bolt handle I wanted.
Then used that program as a base for two other bolt handles programs with the proper changes for their shapes.

JW

I wanted to make the jump to CNCs about 5 years ago Jim and it wasn't the cost of the machines that spooked me. It was the cost of the space. There is simply no way that I could get enough work to pay the rent on a larger place say 1500 square feet. Rent and property is super expensive here. Unfortunately, we don't have Americas gun culture here. I know for a fact that we have right around 100,000 hunters each year in Alberta because Fish & Chips publishes the numbers. We have a small box full of pistol shooters, probably 15 bench rest shooters who double as gopher exterminators and a handful of disgruntled trap shooters who pick up cans and beg for money on street corners to afford their plate smashing hobby.

As for those little radius turning gizmos. I just hate it when other kids have a gizmo and I don't have a gizmo ! lol

Bolt knobs . I was always curious about smooth vs checkered knobs. One day I came across a WWI photo of a line of solders on the firing line. Camera angle was perfect , showing how each of the shooters handled the bolt . About half used a knob in palm system and half used the thumb and forefinger type !! I'm a palm in hand man and my M98 works fine !

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
My bolt handle lathe turning radii apparatus is bio-mechanically controlled and works perfectly every time.

I have that exact same bio-mechanically controlled attachment loaded with a dozen or so pre-radiused forming tools Tom. That's still no excuse for not having a really neat gizmo that makes radius's.

Raduissis ain't a word in most languages.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Raduissis ain't a word in most languages.

I know. We try not to use that word up here in the great white north. Out here in the scrub, a circle usually indicates that yer a damned fool and went and got his-self lost again ! A real fool however, will stay lost by chasin after the fawker that he thinks has stolen his boots. But I'm not quite that dumb. I always check and make sure that I'm not still wearing them and if I am - - - - - - Well, you only make that mistake once or twice !