[THE GITS]

Time now to fit the track. Here due to using the recessed track the use of a small ball end cutter will be avoided. The use of such a small cutter extended out of the router collet would most likely result in a broken cutter and a ruined gun. As this project is aimed at being repeatable by an average woodworker we must avoid this and use a ready built derlin track.

We must first find where we shall place out trigger, assemble the track, shaft and trigger and place it on the blank. Allow room for a handle and a loading pad at the butt end and make sure there is plenty of room for the muzzle at the other. Mark the position of the trigger mechanism accurately with a marking knife. The top of the dovetail shaped track measured 11mm so I chose a 10mm cutter to remove as much waste from the track slot before we cut the dovetail.

Earlier I mentioned using pre machined pieces to stop the router falling off the end of the blank. Because our blank is much longer than we need I did not bother with these and put up with the inevitable messy fall off as can be seen in one of the photographs. Having extra length gives us space to set up the cutter/guide fence to the exact centre line of the gun. Using the track itself set the depth gauge of the router. Now using 2mm cuts remove the wast from the front of the blank all the way back to the trigger position of the gun. We are left with a square sided groove running down the centre of the gun. It is at this stage were there is so little teak between the track and the purple heart that we see how good our previous work has been. In this case it was perfect and I was very proud.