Sunnen Hone

[northwest]

I have owned my Honing machine for a long time now, it used to get used regularly but I don't think I have had it plugged in in ten years! Anyhow, with the advent of steel shot and the upcoming banning of lead shot I am going to get it up and running again. Reason is you really need half choke as minimum when using steel, it really doesn't like quarter or full so I am going to provide a barrel honing service (again) to allow people to use their shotguns safely by honing them out should they need it. (if they are fixed choke)
This is not my machine but mine is the same:

I know, primitive right, well I can tell you, it will hold tenths, easily. I use Delapina stones in it with some very highly modified honing extensions made by a pal of mine many years ago. My question really is this, what honing oil would any of you who have experience of this type of work use? Delapina oil is now £180 for 20 litres and I was seriously considering Rocol Ultracut 320, mainly because I have a drum of it: https://www.rocol.com/products/ultracut-320 It would be helpful if anyone could shed any light on how the hones are going to react, having been used with Delapena oil in the past.

 

[BrokenBiker]

you mean that upcoming ban on lead that was upcoming when i got my first section 2 almost 15 years ago?

 

[nickk]

Wow ,that takes me back to the early 80’s I used to hone gears for blowers and superchargers.

 

[brightspark]

you mean that upcoming ban on lead that was upcoming when i got my first section 2 almost 15 years ago?

yep bismuth was suposed to be tried

 

[8ob]

you mean that upcoming ban on lead that was upcoming when i got my first section 2 almost 15 years ago?

The clean up of lead contamination on old ranges can/does run into millions, priced some of this a while back and the scrape off/muck away to a certified waste disposal site is insane. I wouldn't allow a clay shoot on my patch.

Bob

 

[brightspark]

The clean up of lead contamination on old ranges can/does run into millions, priced some of this a while back and the scrape off/muck away to a certified waste disposal site is insane. I wouldn't allow a clay shoot on my patch.

Bob

pity they couldnt recover it

 

[sako243]

The clean up of lead contamination on old ranges can/does run into millions, priced some of this a while back and the scrape off/muck away to a certified waste disposal site is insane. I wouldn't allow a clay shoot on my patch.

Bob

There was a big clay ground in Mid Wales which has now got shut down because of incomers to the area complaining about noise but they used to get a machine in that simply drove down the fields digging everything up and running it through various filtration tanks. Lead got sifted out and ejected into trailers as it went, soil got left behind.

If I'm remembering correctly the ground didn't have to pay anything in the end as the costs were able to be covered by the scrap value (there was a lot of lead).

 

[500e]

We only used Delapena oil @northwest
Our hone hung down and we could hone up to a 32ins barrel
Had hone extensions to do from 4/10 to 12 bore. Tried a Shell oil went back to Dp, the smell is worth the money, was not so speedy 50 years ago
We a modified Van Norman boring bar head worked well

 

[oldbikedavey]

Have a BuMa cylinder hone here, which was intended to do follow-on operations from the BuMa JPM boring bar, but it proved better and easier to cross-hatch using a ball - hone, and then plateau- hone with a Lisle type setup running cork pads and Solvol as the abrasive. Both of the honing operations are run from a speed-reduced mixer drill, hanging from a Desoutter balancer over the parts washer.
Not gunsmithing honing, but there's not quite the same level of precision required.....

 

[northwest]

you mean that upcoming ban on lead that was upcoming when i got my first section 2 almost 15 years ago?

It is happening, the clock is ticking you have about four years left. Right now any Side by Side is worth approx tuppence and a balloon. In fact one of the well known auction houses has told everybody not to send any more, they cannot cope with the quantity. I have watched the value of shotguns steadily decline over the last three years to the point that Firearms dealers don't want any more.

 

[northwest]

We only used Delapena oil @northwest
Our hone hung down and we could hone up to a 32ins barrel

Well that's that then, £180 it is. I now have well over a grand in oils in stock. Bloody madness. My hones are all horizontal and I can manage 32" barrels. I have no idea what this is doing to the bearings but it works fine. At the moment.

 

[hotponyshoes]

Is there enough meat in full choke barrels to machine them out and thread them to convert them to multi-choke?

Although the only fixed choke I have is a semi-auto and that's recoil operation. It needs a pretty heavy load to cycle it so it might be scrap anyway if I can't get cartridges with enough kick!

 

[northwest]

Is there enough meat in full choke barrels to machine them out and thread them to convert them to multi-choke?

Quite often there is yes, I have all the tooling to ream and then thread barrels for interchangeable chokes (cost a bloody fortune) and I have had exactly two requests for this work so the tooling still owes me!

 

[500e]

That's the problem with tooling, had tools for a lot of jobs that never paid for themselves.
A lot in motor trade were just delivered as part of franchise, weather you wanted or not
New model new tool inventory,
Kerching that's xxxx out of bank account,

 

[Norsk]

What percentage of the old British doubles can be honed out and be suitable for steel?

I saw a pre ww1 Purdey sell for £3k in Holts last auction. Best of the best for the price of a nice Italian U/O. Madness.

 

[northwest]

Naturally I have done a bit more research and My machine is a sort of grey colour and I have discovered that the dark red machines were orientated towards the automotive trades and grey machines were more toolshop machines. I know but there is a bit of the "anorak" in all of us!

 

[500e]

Sounds correct, the head I modded was red as the rest of the machine.
Think Thos Hamlins in Bridgewater had a grey horizontal unit, I used to go in there and annoy them on occasion.
Good engineering Co, old school, Still there since 1896 with a Hamlin still owning

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