CVA Lock to polish or not?

[huntman58]

Okay I have a CVA lock that is color case harden. I will be tuning and polishing the inside of the lock. on the out side of it I am thinking of also polishing it after removing the color so that I can brown it to match the barrel. is there any thing I need to know that I should watch out for ? Will it harm the Harding of the lock? I know it is not harden very deep. Should I just leave it alone and work the guts only? what’s ya all think? Ya I be picking the minds of the master again. Down the line I do plan to get a land r lock to replace it with in flint I do know the vent is 10 x 15 I believe but that’s a few months down the line. O ya when it’s done in the white I will post a parts pic and the white pic then later the finished pic to show ya all what ya helped me with.

 

[MSW]

well, Huntman, i've never polished one of those locks, but i agree that a casehardened lock wouldn't look as good as a browned one if the rest of the furniture was also browned. i don't think you'll damage the temper of the steel, and i don't think it really matters all that much- it's the hardness of the frizzen face that gets the whole balloon in the air, after all.

as regards polishing the inside- i've done it with almost all of my rifles, but i don't think it makes all that much difference as regards locktime. but it make me feel better... sorta like cussing politicians.

good luck with your project- show us photos!

msw

 

[J.D.]

IMHO, a lock is not properly finished unless the plate, as well as the internals are polished and hardened.

That said, the color should polish off fairly easily, and depending on how deep the case is on the lock, you may or may not polish through the hardened case. I seriously doubt that you will polish throught the case hardening if you only remove the color, which is usually worn away over time.

A hardened part is much more resistent to oxidation, browning, so a case hardenend lock will not brown as well as the barrel. It may not brown at all using normal techniques.

To be honest, I dunno from experice how well a case hardened part will brown because I have never tried to brown a hardened part, but I do know that hardened parts are higly resistent to oxidation.

It won't hurt to try browning the lock, but don't expect the same results as you would on the barrel.

J.D.

P.S. Make sure to use a hard backing on the sandpaper, or whatever you use to polish the plate, to prevent bevelling the holes. Ya wanna keep the edges of those holes sharp and square.

 

[huntman58]

IMHO, a lock is not properly finished unless the plate, as well as the internals are polished and hardened.

That said, the color should polish off fairly easily, and depending on how deep the case is on the lock, you may or may not polish through the hardened case. I seriously doubt that you will polish throught the case hardening if you only remove the color, which is usually worn away over time.

A hardened part is much more resistent to oxidation, browning, so a case hardenend lock will not brown as well as the barrel. It may not brown at all using normal techniques.

To be honest, I dunno from experice how well a case hardened part will brown because I have never tried to brown a hardened part, but I do know that hardened parts are higly resistent to oxidation.

It won't hurt to try browning the lock, but don't expect the same results as you would on the barrel.

J.D.

P.S. Make sure to use a hard backing on the sandpaper, or whatever you use to polish the plate, to prevent bevelling the holes. Ya wanna keep the edges of those holes sharp and square.

I use stones or a plate of glass with paper so keeping it flat is not a big deal for me. The browning it being that it is hardened is what I was wondering about. may put it all together and try it not browned first being that all the furniture will be brass and only the barrel will be browned and may be the lock so looking PC is not going to happen but look nice ya I hope so far into it for $148.78 total for the whole gun and parts. Maybe a few more for some chems and sand paper but not much as I had most of what I plan to use. Just trying to see what I can do with what I have for the most part and also how cheap can I do it for.

 

[mazo kid]

You might try to brown the INSIDE of the lock after polishing just to see how it takes the browning. If it is OK, then polish the outside and have at it. Emery

 

[huntman58]

Very good Idea. the color case harden and brown the lock. Now no matter what I need to brown it as I made a boo boo and had to trim a part of the lock a bit lower so it is shinny new metal and the rest is not so another job to learn and another mistake not to repeat LOLBut I made a mistake I do not mean polish as wow bling but clean off

 

[Kentuckywindage]

You can brown it. I used birchwood casey plum brown and did 4 or 5 coats. Just heat it until it sizzles water.
Or use LMF

The lock came out beautiful.

 

[Steve Blancard]

I just finished a GPR kit, including browning the lock plate and hammer (see photos I posted earlier today). I just polished the case hardened lock plate and hammer with 220, then 320. Then applied LMF browning solution 3 times. It browned just fine.

 

[huntman58]

well I browned it and wow is all I can say looks good and I am a happy camper LOL