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frizzen face

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I still can't get my flint pistol to spark reliably and wonder if I need to introduce casenite or some other carbon source into it to make the flint strike produce sparks.
I hardened it in my heat treating furnace and drew the temper making it much harder than it came but the flint still cuts a horizontal groove in the frizzen face so I'm thinking it just isn't hare enough yet.
Any ideas as how to remedy this without having to send it back? MD
 
Take a single edge razor blade and break off the handling crimp. Glue the blade to the face of the frizzen with half hour epoxy clamped in place and let it sit overnight. The repair is practically invisible and will throw a shower of sparks. I did this with one of my longrifles two years ago and it's still sparking.
 
horizontal groove
With flintlocking there are many frustrating factors that can give problems.
With what you describe a couple common factors could be: frizzen spring way too strong; bad flint placement; cheap lock with terrible geometery.
Check the frizzen spring and any rubbing that might impede the frizzen opening easily.
Try flint bevel up/bevel down to change point of impact on the frizzen face.
Your frizzen may be hopeless and facing with other steel might be the only solution. But this isn't as easy as some describe. The face must be ground down before another thickness is added. Don't take this step before exhausting all others.
Tell us what make the lock is.
 
What is the angle of impact of the flint on the face of the frizzen? In the small locks you see used on pistols, this angle is very critical. You want the flint to strike the frizzen 60-66% of the distance UP from the heel of the frizzen, and at a 60 degree angle to the face. If the frizzen spring, and the cam on the bottom of the frizzen that contacts the top arm of that spring are adjusted( tuned) correctly, the frizzen should pop open and up and away from the flash pan when the flint has scraped its way down the middle third of the frizzen face. This movement allows the parks to be thrown down into the pan.

Generally, when you get gouges on the frizzen, the flint is striking the face at too "square" an angle.

Use a protractor. The Baseline runs along the bottom of the flint as its held in the jaws. The centerpoint is obviously at the Point of Impact of the edge of the flint to the face of the frizzen. The tangent line is from that centerpoint up to the top rear point of the frizzen. The frizzen should have a 10 degree curve to the rear of the action- ie. the face must be slightly curved- not straight.

If the frizzen is not throwing sparks, after hardening and tempering, you should suspect that there was not enough carbon in the steel when it came from the factory- OR-- your choice of flint wrap needs to be changed. If you are using leather, please use thin leather, like a piece from an old wallet, or a woman's purse. The tongue on an old pair of boots usually is very thin, but tough, too. Thick, soft, tanned leather tends to act as a shock absorber, and creates weak sparks and fewer sparks.

You have not told us much about this lock you are using, nor any reason why you simply didn't send it back to the manufacturer to fix. I suspect this is some lock you picked up cheap, and got what you paid for. Its probably made overseas. It not only will have design problems, but it will also be made from less than desirable steels. There are things that can be done to improve such locks, but we need to know what make it is. :hmm: :surrender: :thumbsup:
 
The more I thought about it the more I did not want to give the maker a bad name as all the other pistols of this brand I have seen work fabulously from the get go.
I am new to flint ignition and therefore ignorant of how to make them work correctly so figure it needs a simple adjustment of some kind.
Being an experienced gun mechanic I would rather just learn how to remedy the situation myself if possible and pass on what I learn to others without causing more aggravation to the maker than I already have.
Besides, he's closed up shop for the winter and won't be back till spring time and I would like to get shooting it. MD
 
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