My Frizzen Adventure

[fabil12]

My .25 cal flintlock almost became a .25 cal percussion rifle.
I lost the frizzen while I was working on it. Was trying to surface harden it and inadvertently picked it up while it was hot and flipped it somewhere in the shop. No further discussion of this aspect of the story.
Anyway I decided to make a better one myself.
I forged one out of pitchfork steel.
Rough finished it today and hardened it in water.
Decided not to temper it and just see how it worked.
Glorious sparks with some French amber that wouldn't work with the original.
Right now I feel like John Moses Browning.

 

[eggwelder]

i certainly would like to see that frizzen.

 

[M. De Land]

You better draw the temper or you'll be throwing another one across the shop! :rotf:
I well know the feeling as a small spring or plunger takes off across the shop and lands squarely in the nether to be found years later when it has been replaced.

 

[coloradoclyde]

A .25 ? I'm staring to drool......
Pitchfork tine?....Who knew :idunno:

I loss stuff all the time to my wire brush wheel....I bet the neighbors can hear me cuss. :haha:

Would sure love to see some pictures.

 

[fabil12]

I used mainly the tang part of the pitchfork although I did weld some tine here and there.
Tough stuff.
Had to drill it with cobalt.
Might be similar to 1095
Read you can temper in an oven for an hour at 300f
I'm afraid to spoil it

 

[M. De Land]

If it cracks it'll also be ruined and 300 degree F. for and hour won't change anything but the brittleness.

 

[armymedic.2]

I really really would like to see a picture of a forge made frizzen. Sounds awesome. And i second putting it in the oven for a bit

 

[M. De Land]

I'd like to see it also but have an idea of how I will do it when the time comes after watching Gussler forge one when he worked at Colonial Williamsburg as a young man.

 

[fabil12]

 

[Crewdawg445]

I loss stuff all the time to my wire brush wheel....I bet the neighbors can hear me cuss. :haha:

Oh yes, absolutely true!

Also... hotoSmile:

 

[fabil12]

http://s1382.photobucket.com/user/fabil12/media/DSCN0292_zpszgxacatz.jpg.html
http://s1382.photobucket.com/user/fabil12/media/DSCN0293_zps4sjronee.jpg.html

 

[larry wv]

Thanks for the pictures. :thumbsup:

Larry

 

[fabil12]

LRB LRB is offline
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1095 makes about the best strikers there are, but the steel has to be very hard. You don't say what your process is, but a striker needs to be as close to full hard as it can be, then tempered at no more than 300°. Many strikers are not tempered at all in the area of the action, and only tempered in the grip portion. That is how mine are. I quench my strikers in warm brine, and yes, they are subject to break if dropped on a hard surface.
When grinding steel, you are ripping particles loose from the body of the steel at a high rate of continuous speed and the particles are burning from the friction involved. Striking a flint to hard steel is the same principle, but at a much reduced rate and amount.

 

[Crewdawg445]

Oh my! This is rich, love it! Thanks for sharing. :thumbsup:

 

[LRB]

I'm not sure what my above statement is being presented to compare with, but a 1095 striker and a 1095 frizzen require different tempers. A fully hardened striker may last through a great number of years of use, but a frizzen fully hardened and not tempered could break first try. There is a lot more force involved with a cock mounted flint striking the frizzen than a hand held flint striking a fire steel. Many times more force. A hardened 1095 frizzen should be tempered at no less than 375°, and the tail and pivot area even more. That is per instruction from Jim Chambers himself, for his lock kits.

 

[fabil12]

Another quote from the blade forum;

As I said, in my experience, 300° temper is about the limit for decent sparks. Full hard is better, easier to get good sparks. Flint is much harder than hard steel. Things change a bit in the case of a flintlock rifle. Then the flint is driven with much more force, and much faster than by hand power. The frizzen, steel strike plate, needs a wee bit more temper. 375° is the standard recommended temper if the frizzen is 1095, but will still work OK at tempers upwards of 425°, just not as well. Full hard also works well here, but there is a risk of breaking the frizzen, and only the strike recieveing area should be that hard, or it will break. Sooner or later.

 

[fabil12]

I'm not too worried about breaking my frizzen.
Made it almost 3/16" thick
Rough forged to shape and then welded a piece of tine to the back.
Be much more worried about a cast steel frizzen breaking.
Most I've seen are fairly thin.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Nice job but that screw has to go. :barf:

 

[M. De Land]

I love it, thanks for the great pictures!
The rough look is just like an old timey black smith repair.
I also like the radius at the bottom of the frizzen. I feel this radius helps lesson the spark shower redirect as the heel kicks up.

 

[MSW]

way cool!