Need a lockplate to be hardened?

[tecum-tha]

Having that Pedersoli Hatfield flintlock where I won`t be able to fit it to the new rifle style. So I want to make a new lockplate for it.I know that I have to copy all the holes exactly,which I can by using the old lockplate as a drilling template. Will a normal piece of steel do or do I need to have toolsteel which can be hardened. I was reading about case hardening, but Kasenit is really expensive over here (your price times 3!+shipping) Does anyone know the ingredients of that Kasenit stuff?

 

[Roy]

I was thinking we made some up with charred leather, bone meal and charcoal... You need to char the bone meal and leather and mix it with the charcoal. I can't remember any specific mix ratios.

 

[Vaino]

Most locks on the market don't have hardened lock plates. If I were making a new plate, I'd use an oil hardening flat ground tool steel but NOT harden it. Make sure the tool steel you use isn't stainless or one w/ high chromium content unless you will use it "in the white"{Not brown or blue}. Under normal usage, these soft lockplates holdup fine......Fred

 

[paulvallandigham]

Fred is corrrect. Most lockplates are cast, and are not hardened. :thumbsup:

You can make the lockplate of an ordinary steel, and leave it in its natural condition.

My first rifle had a lockplate that had been bent by some idiot installing the lock in the stock at the factory. When I found that I could cut the metal with a file(telling me it had not been hardened), I put the plate in my benchvise, and slowly straightened it by closing the (padded)jaws. When I removed the lockplate from the jaws, it was still bowed a bit, but I opened the jaws to the correct width to span the ends of the lockplate, and then gave the plate a few gentle taps with a large hammer and a piece of scrap wood protecting the surface of the metal. After I removed burrs, and removed a bit of steel here and there to make everything turn fluidly, the lock worked flawlessly.

 

[tecum-tha]

All right, I will do that. I will get to work now.
It is really poor how the lock parts look at that Pedersoli lock. Nothing is polished like at a good quality lock, but if you would like to buy a replacement,they would charge you more than for an US made quality lock. :shake:

 

[mazo kid]

Can you post a picture? It would seem that you could draw-file, polish the lock your self with less work than making a new plate. I have polished all my locks internally and a couple of kit locks on the exterior as well. Emery

 

[Stophel]

I agree, you can make one out of plain mild steel (I have several times). You can leave it be, or you can case harden it if you wish (I always do). Kasenit works quite fine, and is easy to use. Heat it up with an oxy-acetelyne torch, dump some Kasenit on it (it will melt and soak into the steel if you have it hot enough), keep it at heat for several minutes, and quench the plate quickly edgewise in warm water. If done right, it will give you a very satisfying "POP", as the Kasenit comes off the now hard, nicely colored steel (I've never had trouble getting really nice colors with Kasenit). Really you only have to worry about getting the Kasenit around the tumbler hole area, as that is really the only wear spot, but you can do the whole thing....just remember to drill and tap ALL your holes first, including the holes for the screws that hold it to the stock!

Oh, and about bent lockplates.. I got one assembled lock, I don't even remember which one it was, but I noticed that the lockplate was bent quite a bit right in the middle. Well, instead of straightening the lockplate, the MENSA member that assembled the lock bent the mainspring so that it would fit the banana shaped plate! I just fixed it, since I was going to do a good bit of work on it anyway.

 

[Stophel]

Oh, you have a flintlock. Well, you'll have to do something for a bolster. You can forge one over. I did this once, and since I just don't have the equipment to do this sort of thing, it's a lot of work. A bolster can be silver soldered on, or you can use one of the "blank" pans that you can get from Track of the Wolf (be prepared for backorders on this part), which has a full bolster, which can be attached with screws, one at the normal position at the rear, and one just ahead of the pan, but behind where the frizzen screw goes. It gets tight there, but I did one once that way.

I'd sure rather have something solid there, though, since the mainspring bears against it...forging is still the best way to go (draw out the lockplate on your slab of steel, with a long "tab" extending up from the pan area forward, where the bolster on the plate will be. Cut it out, leaving the plate oversize, and forge and fold over your bolster. If you keep it clean before you close it up, you can fill the seam with silver solder, though it will be plenty strong as-is...maybe that made sense...)

 

[J.D.]

Hmmmm, instead of making a new lock plate, can you reshape the old one? There seems to be a lot of material that can be removed on the Ped lock I have. Then polish and harden, if need be.

 

[tecum-tha]

New lock plate is already done. I have it made a little oversize and will grind it down a little more.Everything else will be the same on the new lockplate,unless the stupid HATFIELD engraving. I made the new lockplate because I could not get the second lockplate screw on the lockplate anymore. Original lock has a wood screw hole there which is countersunk from the outside very close to the edge of the lockplate. No way to make the hole bigger and cut threads through for second bolt. I know that I could use Kasenit, but this stuff is $45 a can here,instead of the 12.95in the US. I will go without hardening and will be fine. Pictures of the new lockplate will be posted on the other thread. :thumbsup:

 

[tecum-tha]

Polishing the lock was not the point of the thread, I will polish the lock anyways. No problem on that. :grin:

 

[tecum-tha]

The interior of that lock works a little different. Tere was no need to do anything else than copy the lockplate. The pan with the bolster is bolted on and secred with srews. Not trditional,but that is what I have and will use.

 

[Stophel]

Sehr gut. :wink: