I really like the looks of the old "black powder" cylinder chamfer. Does anyone know how it is cut? I cannot figure out what tool could make these angles, is it cut by hand?

Here's a picture "borrowed" from the almighty Handejector to illustrate the question:

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Daniel.

It can be done by hand with a file as long as you're good enough to keep it even.

I don't know how Smith did it, but if I had to do it, I would do it on a horizontal mill with a cutter specially ground to the proper contour to cut the flute and the bevel at the same time.

Maybe that was done by hand by those skilled craftsmen that were replaced by CNC machines.

Looks like a tapered/conical cutter swung on an arc around the chamber centerline.

"It can be done by hand with a file as long as you're good enough to keep it even."

If you have a good mill file and several grits of abrasive paper, you can do it yourself. Actually, having done three Ruger GP100s and two SP101s by hand, I have found that you don't need to good, just careful. It helps to file flats on the 'points' on either side of each flute (both points simultaneously), then, after confirming that all the flats are identical, blend the flats toward the minimum-width areas directly over each chamber. The hard part is keeping a 45 degree angle during the whole procedure. Frequent 'eyeballing' as you go takes time, but I have found that it is much easier to remove a bit more steel than to put it back on...

I actually did it a long time ago on a beater 36, it turned out pretty well. No pics sorry, the gun is long gone...

Thanks, I can now picture that. For some reason I tend only think of machining in straight lines, not arcs.

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Daniel.

Yes, actually now that I look at it closer, I can see that what I suggested would not work because my way would result in a concave cut....

They may have made a pivoting fixture and then ground them on the cylinders one at a time.

Or in todays world did it on a CNC machine.

I THINK THE WAY TO DO THIS JOB WOULD BE TO PUT THE CYLINDER IN A LATHE CHUCK AND USE A TOOL POST GRINDER SO CONTROL COULD BE MAINTAINED. OR YOU COULD MAKE A JIG TO HOLD THE CYLINDER ON THE TABLE OF A BELT GRINDER AND WORK SLOWLY.

Here is what I use.Cylinder in the indexer on the mill.



Ken

There you go boys, that is the cutter right there. I should have remembered that, but you know how old folks are.....

There wouldn't be much in shipping to send it off to a professional.

Thanks for all the replies, I just wanted to add that this was pure curiosity. I'm not looking to get any cylinder cut and would rather do it myself, by hand, just to keep me busy anyway.

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Daniel.

By hand doesn't take too long.
Lay out a radius on the end of the cylinder between two of the flutes.
The radius can comes back as far as you want the cut to be and just kiss the front edge of the cylinder. Or it can just lightly radius the front corners and not sweep all the way around the front, leaving a flat front edge .
A cheap clear plastic circle template works great for this. Find a circle/radius that looks good to you and mark each of the 6 areas.

That will be your guide line to keeping a nice even sweep between the flutes.

Then lay out another circle guide line on the front face of the cylinder. This should be concentric to the cylinder itself and about 1/2 the depth of the flutes or a bit less IMHO. That will be the how far down the face of the cylinder the cut goes.
You can make it as far down as you want. The cuts in the revolver in the pic go quite deep. I like them a bit shallower into the face but every body has a different idea of what looks best.

Then (carefully) file the metal away leaving a nicely formed radius on the cylinder between the flutes and sweeping down evenly to the depth of the guide line in the front.

You can make the cuts slightly rounded in profile or dead flat. I've seen both and if done cleanly, both look good. The larger chamfer cuts,, I'd have a tendency to go for the slightly rounded profile I think. Maybe that's why I prefer a smaller chamfer. Just personal choices.

One of my friends has a 629-4 that has the cylinder shaped exactly like that in the picture. He bought the gun new, and that is the way the cylinder looked straight put of the box. Did the factory make some cylinders like that? I kind of like the way it looks, and I wouldn't mind having the cylinder on one of my guns cut to look like that.

Hello, What radius of cutter is usually used for this cut? .250? It's an attractive modification, Thanks for your time.