Same concept of a miter saw, except it uses a file.

I have to fit a barrel on my 1911 and need to grind down the back of the hood (so the barrel can lock up with the slide). Yes I know in the end the hood is going to have to be square with the breech face, but I'd like to keep things at 90° before I do the final finishing touches.

I have a die filer and it is like a scroll saw with different shaped files.
Butch

Surface grinder and a harig head. But I doubt you have that just lying around.

Doesn't brownels have a fixture for this stuff???

Have a look at the gizmo used to sharpen chain saws. It can be adjusted to various angles - albeit it is desighed to use a round file but should still give you a square cut. FWIW --- John303.

Can you get the piece in a vee block? The side of the block could serve as a guide; I don't know which would be better, a hardened cast iron block, or hardened steel, but either will resist a file.

Just thinking in print, here.

quote:

Originally posted by tin can:
Can you get the piece in a vee block? The side of the block could serve as a guide; I don't know which would be better, a hardened cast iron block, or hardened steel, but either will resist a file.

Just thinking in print, here.

For that matter a cheep V block from Enco or Ebay would do the job. It don't have to be .0001" tolerance so one of those Chinese cheepy v block is a good idea there Tin can

Find someone with a lathe. stick the barrel in the lathe and square and trim it to length in one pass. Or, cut and fit the hood by hand. Pretty simple to do with a vise, a file and a good sense of when to stop.

quote:

cut and fit the hood by hand. Pretty simple to do with a vise, a file and a good sense of when to stop.

A little layout blue or lamp black along with this line and it shouldn't take more than 30 minutes.

It is a good thing to want to do things ourselves. It is a way to keep knowledge and independence alive.

At the same time, we hire gunsmiths because they have practical experience which we do not have...or better skills...or more time than we have available.

The most important item is "practical experience". So, I am not recommending a gunsmith to you, but AM recommending that you get some practical experience before you set forth working on a good new barrel. If I were you, I would acquire a couple of old junker barrels and try your hands on them. You will soon enough find out what works, and why. Then you can set out on your good barrel with every reasonable expectation of success.

Good luck.