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Tried to Make Sparks

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Yes. My friend, Don Latter first showed me this using an Amber flint he bought at Friendship, and wanted to try out. He was keeping count on how many strikes he got from it, because it cost him about 4 times what he paid for good English flints. He used a rawhide leather wrap, that he had dried in his vice after wetting it, so it was absolutely compressed as much as possible, and wrapped the flint with it. He mounted it in the cock, tightened down the cockscrew, and made five strikes and then tightened the cock again. Then we turned out the lights, waited 10 minutes for our pupils to dialate, and then held the gun up so we could bo look at the sparks from the side of the gun. He tripped the trigger and we got 5-7 sparks that were orange in color, and died after bouncing one time in the empty pan. Then we wrapped the same amber flint with lead, checked the edge with a magnifying glass for any steel chips that might interfere with ignition, mounted the flint again, and turned out the lights again for another 10 minutes. This time, the same flint gave us dozens of sparks- more like a shower, that were white hot, and bounced twice in the pan before dying.
I have since tested my Cochran lock on my .50 cal. rifle with English flints, doing the same testing procedure. Again, the sparks are white hot, and bounce twice before going out.

Swampman: The edge of the flint is knapped with each strike, and I don't have to knapp the flint separately. I got that idea from Don, and we both studied an article published in the Dixie Black Powder Annual magazine more than 20 years ago, written by Buzz Fawcett, about tuning flintlocks. He in turn had studied with a gun maker in Minnesota, who showed him how to tune a lock. He also mentioned the benefit of not having to knapp the flint when the geometry is correct. I still have my copy of the article, but can't tell you the year. I called Dixie to see if they could help me, and they don't have back editions, either. I called Buzz, and he didn't even have a copy of the article. I sent him a copy of mine.

That is a scientific as I can get without laboratory equipment available to me. Now that I have told you how to test this, try it please.

I am not arguing with Swampman about what he does. I don't like what he insists on telling the rest of us is correct, when I know better. I still like his advice, and I bet we would be just fine together on the range or in the field. I wrote this to give all of you the option of deciding what works best for you. After over 1000 strikes, my cock would either have broken down by now, or using a lead wrap is not going to break it, period. I do suspect that some of the materials sold to us are not well made, and castings can run the range from very good to simply awful!

hen it comes to heat treating, we still have people in the industry who thing that hardening and tempering are the same thing. If a frizzen or cock is hardened, and not tempered, you are going to have problems. Same with springs. And I did learn that lesson the hard way! If you have never broken a file by dropping it accidentally on a cement floor, you have not worked in a shop very long. Look at the broken end of the file. You can see the crystalline structure with the naked eye. If a cock were to break because it was hardened but not tempered, the break would appear the same as the end of that file. That's when you call the seller, or manufacturer and demand that they make good on it. 12 percent of an ounce more weight is not going to break a properly hardened and tempered cock! And it does not slow down the fall of the cock, as I have already explained, no matter what Swampman wants to believe! We are talking about steel here, gentlemen, not plastic. That extra weight keeps the flint from bouncing on the face of the frizzen, and helps to drive the edge of the flint into the frizzen and scrape- not gouge- of bits of steel to send into the pan.
 
Dave: Thanks for the offer. I was planning to put any wasp's nest I found in a bucket of water for a couple of days to drown the wasps! If you find any, let me know. I am still interested. You can contact me directly, at "[url] paulvall2insightbb.com[/url]
Thanks again. Paul Vallahdigham
 
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"And it does not slow down the fall of the cock, as I have already explained,"

The laws of physics have been suspeneded?

The lead transfers a lot more stress to the parts because it doesn't absorb any shock. It's heavy, and it's very hard on the cast metal parts. I'm not the only person that knows this. I've seen it in the manuals of blackpowder fiearms before.
 
You told me to test it and I did. More bouncing sparks in the pan is good. That is what happened. If the lead I am using weighs more than 30 grains I would be supprized. Convinced me!
 
Swampman said:
"And it does not slow down the fall of the cock, as I have already explained,"

The laws of physics have been suspeneded?

The lead transfers a lot more stress to the parts because it doesn't absorb any shock. . . .
SW, I have to disagree. I'd say that Lead absorbs a tremendous amount of shock, imagine a Newton's cradle with Lead balls as compared to the steel bearings. . . :hmm:
 
Skagun said:
Swampman said:
"And it does not slow down the fall of the cock, as I have already explained,"

The laws of physics have been suspeneded?

The lead transfers a lot more stress to the parts because it doesn't absorb any shock. . . .
SW, I have to disagree. I'd say that Lead absorbs a tremendous amount of shock, imagine a Newton's cradle with Lead balls as compared to the steel bearings. . . :hmm:
You've got it right...
:thumbsup:
 
A steel chisel transfers more energy than a screwdriver used for a chisel. Lead transfers a lot more shock and destructive energy than a piece of deer hide. Trash your locks, I don't care. I warned you.
 
What you seem unwilling to listen to is the fact that the lead I am using is less than 15 grains heavier than the piece of leather I was using. It is cutting straight down the frizzen with no washboard effect at all now. The sparks mostly drop in the pan and some of them are the really hot bouncing ones. It did not do that with leather. We listened to what you said. I had heard it before from several places. Testing does not seem to support your side. Maybe if I was using a lot more lead, it would be hard on the lock, but I don't think it is with what I am using now. Right now it just works much better than it was.
 
A good friend of mine has been shooting his T\C for 20 + years with his flint held in by lead and he has not had one problem with it. I would bet not all pieces of flint weigh the same. I would also bet not all cocks, jaws and screws weigh the same. A 15 grain differance is not much and as I mentioned there could be that much in the make up of the locks. I have also used lead on my Traditions and had not problems. I use either lead or leather depending on the thickness of the flint.

Frank
 

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