new frizzen

Hi all. I ordered a new frizzen for my flinter. It came yesterday and I noticed that the face on it is a little rough. Do I need to polish it before use,and if so,what do I use? My first flinter and I ordered it for a spare. Thanks.

I don't think you would need to polish it unless it is so rough the flint catches on it. Also, if polished too much you may work through surface hardening.

The flint will "polish" it. I wouldn't polish it at all for the reason above.

When you say a new frizzen, is this for a factory gun, or a frizzen for a premium lock? A factory one will probably be good to go. A custom lock one will likely need to be tuned, softened, hardened, and tempered.

When I got a spare frizzen for my Chambers Late Ketland it didn't even have the hole drilled for the pivot pin. And of course, it came as simple soft cast steel. It needed lots of tuning and tinkering to fit the pan nice and tightly after I drilled the hole.

Its for a factory gun I built from a kit (traditions) and I got the new frizzen for a spare in case I wear out the original.

Are all the surfaces equally rough as the face of the frizzen?

Have you tried to run a file across the face of the frizzen? A properly hardened frizzen will be hard enough that the file will simply skate across the face of the frizzen and not cut any metal. If it is soft, then the file will take some metal off.

If the frizzen is hardened, then leave it alone.

If it is soft, then polish the face of the frizzen, fit it to your lock and have it properly heat treated. It will have to be hardened and then tempered.

harleypunk said:

Its for a factory gun I built from a kit (traditions) and I got the new frizzen for a spare in case I wear out the original.

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Unless you are shooting thousands/tens of thousands per year for several years/decades, it is very unlikely you will wear out a frizzen...
Good to have a spare for a production gun, as if it is improperly hardened (and some are), a flint can chew-up a soft frizzen in short order.

Yep. I heard stories about soft frizzens on Traditions locks.Thats why I got a spare.

It will take a long time to go through so much metal on the frizzen that it's too thin. A properly hardened and tempered frizzen will throw off yellowish orange sparks. To soft; big fat red ones. Too hard; itsy bitsy white ones.

As important as the proper hardness of the frizzen is, is where they are falling in the pan. A properly tuned flint-cock-frizzen orientation will make the biggest bunch of them land right in the middle of the pan. You can adjust that quite a bit with your flint orientation; bevel up, bevel down, length of flint, shimming, etc.

My first TC frizzen, using the cut flints sold to me by the "unknowledgable" store personel scraped through the case hardening before the second range session was over. POS in capital letters is being kind. The replacement they send was likewise shot within 50 or 60 shots. I half soled it with a piece of spring from a wind up clock. Switched to English flints and it has been as reliable as can be for almost 45 years. My first CVA flint lock had the cheap lock. for 46 years of shooting never had a problem with the frizzen.

Thanks for all the info everyone. My first flintlock after shooting caplocks for the last 40+ years.I enjoy the tinkering with flint position,etc.,and never had so much fun with bp arms in my life. :grin:

Great stuff! You guys just beat me to the punch. I was going to start a thread this weekend kinda sorta on just this point.
I was on TOTW the last few days looking at Durs Egg locks. They sell the complete locks, and the replacement frizzens. They say the frizzens must be tempered after fitting, but no such words about the complete locks. Do the complete locks come tempered?
I would call and ask but I have no faith in the person that answers the question REALY knows.
Don't take that wrong. I love the company. Just have little faith these days that the person on the phone with most companies knows for a fact the condition of the parts they sell. Their job to keep the orders correct, not be a gunsmith.
So, tempered in the complete lock or not?

If you buy a finished Durs Egg lock, it will be totally assembled with the springs and frizzen properly hardened and tempered.

The reason a replacement frizzen is left soft is because one must fit it into its proper place by careful filing and then assemble the frizzen with the lock and drill the hole for the screw thru it.

The location of the hole varies depending on the individual lock the frizzen is being fitted to so the existing hole in the lockplate must serve as a guide for the new frizzen hole.

Once the hole is drilled, the frizzen must be hardened and then tempered.

The one I got is a Traditions replacement frizzen from totw.

Makes sense of it all. Thank you.

Howdy
I have a question? I make Frizzen covers, and was wondering, does anyone know of a chart with frizzen sizes on it? I want to make sure that my covers will fit. I've been using my long rifle frizzen to test fit, so far, so good. I know there are shorter, wider frizzens out there. My frizzen is a standard tall style. It measures 1-7/8" tall, and 5/8" wide at the base, very similar to a Traditions frizzen. I'm not certain about the other sizes, like Musket frizzens? Can anyone tell me some sizes or where to find a chart? Thank you.
Two Feathers

harleypunk said:

Its for a factory gun I built from a kit (traditions) and I got the new frizzen for a spare in case I wear out the original.

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I went through three frizzens on mine. When the last one was done for, a friend half-soled it with a piece of a bandsaw blade. That was the last one I needed.
Regards,
Pletch

I bought a Chambers Siler lock kit to try before I started building my squirrel rifle. Got it all put together fine. I couldn't get the frizzen hardened to save my life. First tried a map gas torch, then used a friends acetylene torch. Did everything by the book, quenched in oil everything. Lock worked fine flint was sharp and positioned properly but it would not spark at all. Ended up tossing the thing in the spare parts box and bought a fully assembled lock. Lesson learned I'll leave those kinds of things to those who know what theyre doing. Not worth the aggravation. I did learn how to disassemble a lock in my sleep though.

I usually keep two frizzes per gun, I heat them until red hot and cook carbon powder into it then temper down. I do this for each 30 shots fired, its probably overkill but my guns always fire, no miss fires. As far as needing to replace a frizzen completely .... I agree with the above, you should never need to replace one, even most original muskets still spark.

FlinterNick said:

I usually keep two frizzes per gun, I heat them until red hot and cook carbon powder into it then temper down. I do this for each 30 shots fired, its probably overkill but my guns always fire, no miss fires. As far as needing to replace a frizzen completely .... I agree with the above, you should never need to replace one, even most original muskets still spark.

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Let me get this straight........ You carburize/harden/temper the frizzen every 30 shots??!! I must be misunderstanding what you wrote.