Reid makes extensive use of surgical tubing when repairing split or cracked stocks. Surgical tubing can exert a lot of pressure without damaging the exterior of the stock.

When most folks think of gunsmithing tools, they often have images of expensive lathes, mills, buffers, and all sorts of high-priced specialty reamers and handtools. And, yes, there is an element of truth in that. Some gunsmiths do have a heck of a lot invested in top-of-the-line machines and handtools. For most of us, however, those high-ticket items are seldom used on a day-to-day basis.

This fact came home to me not too long ago as I was working at my bench repairing a split stock. I was using a piece of surgical tubing to bind the stock as the epoxy set up. I thought how handy surgical tubing was and how often I used it. I also was darn thankful it was so inexpensive. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that there were a number of tools I used frequently that cost very darn little. I thought you might like to know about some of these tools. You just might want to add them to your shop.

Surgical Tubing
Surgical tubing is useful for a lot more than surgery! I honestly don't know or remember where I first saw a gunsmith using it. It was probably being used to hold a stock together while a split was being repaired. That's certainly the way I most often use it.

Unlike a standard wood or metal clamp, surgical tubing will conform to the curved surfaces you so often encounter in a stock. This allows you to get good grip on the stock, and it also allows you to apply a lot of pressure with virtually no danger of damaging the exterior of the stock.

I've also used surgical tubing to hold forend tips in place as well as buttplates and recoil pads that I chose to attach with an epoxy rather than screws. The tubing comes in handy from time to time when holding a barreled action in the stock while glass bedding. I must admit I generally use the guard screws, but on occasion I have used surgical tubing to hold everything together while the bedding sets up.

Parallel Jaw Pliers
When working on a firearm you will often have to pull a pin, screw, or some other part out of the mechanism. Parallel jaw pliers are the first tool I reach for when I need to do this. Parallel jaw pliers are different from normal pliers in that the inside surfaces of the jaws are always parallel with one another.

On regular pliers the jaws are only parallel when they are closed. Whenever you're holding an item such as a pin that's aligned with the length of the jaws, only a small portion of the jaws will actually be in contact with the body of the pin. This can lead to dents or dings that should be avoided.

Parallel jaw pliers allow you to hold a pin from any angle, sideways or straight on, yet you will always have full contact with the body of the pin. In addition, you can get parallel jaw pliers that have serrated or smooth jaws. The serrated jaws are handy for rough work where you don't have to worry about damaging or scarring the part. I tend to use parallel jaw pliers that have smooth, nonserrated jaws so there's no worry about pliers marks on a part.