So I finally talked to a guy whom I could use his drill press to do my bolt jeweling job with. I spent a couple hours today figuring out what exactly it entails and have a somewhat strange situation.

First, the swirls don't come out as even circles- they are pretty much ovals with the longer sides flat.

Second, the centers don't get polished; they remain untouched by the brush. After awhile, the center bristles skewed away from the center and didn't touched the center. What can I do to fix this?

By the way, I did not practice on the bolt itself- I had a 1/2" stainless steel rod...

Now, I am unsure whether or not one method I did has something to do with this. To hold the bristles together I took 1/4" flexible tubing and slipped 1/2" over the brush and brush head, leaving probably 1/8" or less exposed. I had RPMs running at about 3000 because I found that they left a cleaner and brighter swirl, and pressed the brush onto the rod for about 10 seconds. I used 180 grit silicon carbide abrasive.

Any ideas on what is going on? I'm fine if the pattern is a little funky because it doesn't look too bad (i don't think photos would show up very well) but if you have any ideas on what I am doing wrong or am not doing right, I'd appreciate it.

So I finally talked to a guy whom I could use his drill press to do my bolt jeweling job with. I spent a couple hours today figuring out what exactly it entails and have a somewhat strange situation.

First, the swirls don't come out as even circles- they are pretty much ovals with the longer sides flat.

Second, the centers don't get polished; they remain untouched by the brush. After awhile, the center bristles skewed away from the center and didn't touched the center. What can I do to fix this?

By the way, I did not practice on the bolt itself- I had a 1/2" stainless steel rod...

Now, I am unsure whether or not one method I did has something to do with this. To hold the bristles together I took 1/4" flexible tubing and slipped 1/2" over the brush and brush head, leaving probably 1/8" or less exposed. I had RPMs running at about 3000 because I found that they left a cleaner and brighter swirl, and pressed the brush onto the rod for about 10 seconds. I used 180 grit silicon carbide abrasive.

Any ideas on what is going on? I'm fine if the pattern is a little funky because it doesn't look too bad (i don't think photos would show up very well) but if you have any ideas on what I am doing wrong or am not doing right, I'd appreciate it.

A bolt from a rifle is quite a bit larger than a 1/2 inch rod. I'd suspect the small diameter rod your using is part of the problem. Most times I reccomend folks wanting to start jeweling start out with a flat plate first then move on to angled surfaces. The flat plate lets you learn how to get even swirls.

Just got back from a guy's place where I did the job. I jeweled my rifle's bolt (marlin 980S) and my remington 870's bolt tonight. Both turned out well. I didn't have a problem with the brushes turning the nice swirls into dougnuts until they got worn out, which happened surprisingly early. I also learned that you get alot cleaner and brighter jeweling when the metal is not slathered with abrasive compound. I couldn't jewel all of the rifle's bolt with the simple jig I made (2x4 block with a steel rail nailed on top) because of the bolt handle and also found that attempting to gauge the rotational spacing of the jeweling with a large bolt fixed in the end of the rifle bolt was about worthless. So I ended up eyeballing alot of it with the bolt sliding along the rail. It still looks pretty good for spending about $10 on all of it.

Have to admire someone who can home-shop a job like that! Me- I wouldn't even attempt it.

You will have better results using abrasive rods with a tool holder. You won't have the problem of the brushes flaring. Brownell's sells a couple of different types. If you want precise spacing you need a jig and do it on a Milling Machine. There are jigs that will work with a drill press.

Frank
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Create Beautiful, Accurate Swirls

Narrow sleeve lets you get into tight corners; work around bolt handles and lugs. Sleeve fully supports rod; center screw adjusts amount of projection. Longwearing, non-abrasive rods carry the abrasive but are firm enough to retain their edges, will not need trimming while doing an entire bolt. Three rods are supplied with tool. Use with Brownells Silicon Carbide Abrasive Compound (http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/ProductDetail.aspx?p=1142).

Yeah when I do it again (I have to... it looks way too good not to) I'll try the rods... the brushes worked well when I slipped some special tubing over the brush and heat-shrunk it, but wore out sooner than I thought and were rather messy. I found that they worked like sandpaper... if you used them too long they would just wear out and do things that you don't want them to. As well, those jigs are expensive! I'd rather have a decent pattern for $5 than spend $80 on a jig (and since I have a rimfire rifle it wouldn't have worked). There's a guy that messes with Turk Mausers that shows how to make a good jig for cheap- http://www272.pair.com/stevewag/jb/jb.html

I'll use that system when I have another item to jewel. The shotgun bolt was alot easier because it's much flatter and doesn't have a bolt handle sticking out to complicate things.

Dangit,
I saw a good in depth article on homemade jeweling jig and bolt jeweling. And now I cant find the thing! Only tool you need is a drill press and then the brushes and compound. Even a knucklehead like me could figure it out and do it. I'll keep looking and post it if I find it.

Ekoch! That's the ONE! Thanks.

When jeweling a rounded object, don't position the angle of the jeweling tool staight down and don't press so hard it makes a full circle. Do your jeweling at a slightly off center angle so you only make the "jewels" about 3/4 complete. If that's hard to do, use a smaller diameter tool. A wooden dowel rod works pretty well.

Successive rows would follow on top of the unjeweled portions.