Polishing the Pan

[flyfisher76544]

Well folks, a couple of days and counting. Gonna be back stateside after an extremely long tour.
I have heard about polishing the pan on my flinter to get better ignition and easier clean up. Anyone out there that can give me the details on how to do this? I would appreciate it deeply!!!!

:hatsoff:

 

[redwing]

Use the little rubber polishing tips on your Dremel Tool. I follow up with a polishing wheel and JB Bore cleaner which is very mild. With a well cleaned pan a flinter will work great in wet weather.
Thanks for your service to our nation. Good Luck. :thumbsup:

 

[tecum-tha]

Dremel with a little polishing paste on a little felt disc. That makes it shine in a heartbeat. The main advantage is that less burnt powder residue will remain in the pan, that means less moisture will be drawn into your priming powder. Easier to clean,too.

 

[paulvallandigham]

YOu will probably need to start with sanding discs, going from coarse to finer paper using a dremel tool, if you have it. Your thumb, if you don't. Then go to the rubber disc, and rouge, polishing compounds, and finally toothpaste. You can get a very smooth, mirror-like finish which will prevent crud from sticking, and make wiping the pan as easy as one pass of your thumb( with a cleaning patch) over the pan.

By closing the pores in the pan, any heat generated is going to pass over the steel, and go to that hole in the barrel, rather than heat up the edges of the hole and be used for a NON-igniting function.

I don't think ignition is the primary reason we polish the pan. The primary reason is to make the pan easy to clean so we don't leave residue that sucks water out of the air, and turns our priming powder in to soup!

 

[flyfisher76544]

I really appreciate it folks. Thanks for all the info! :hatsoff:

 

[mazo kid]

Hi Bill, sorry about your long tour of duty, but believe me.....we DO appreciate all you guys are doing. Now as to the pan, I found a fine grind stone (Dremel) the was close to the pan size, ground off the cast roughness and then polished as has been suggested in other posts. Emery

 

[jtmattison]

I'm a bit intrigued by this...

Does anyone have any pictures of the process to share?

HD

 

[tg]

I have always used emery cloth anfine sandpaper to ploish pans and anything n a ML that needs polished.

 

[rabjr]

I use emery then finish up with a felt tip with polishing compound on a dremel.

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

Haha ... I was going to add that Paul V... is a huge advocate of this - but he's already replied!

I've no photos of the process, but its simple enough and as stated. IT does simplify clean up, or keeping it clean during extended sessions, that I'll attest to :thumbsup: !

 

[paulvallandigham]

I learned it from Craig Witte, a gunsmith, and BP gunmaker, who lives here at Fairmount, Illinois. Craig opened my pan and polished it on the Fowler he made for me. Craig has been shooting BP, and is an active participant at the NMLRA shoots, on the primitive side of the creek, since he was a little kid. He has been shooting flintlocks since he was a teenager, if not before. He knows flintlocks. His father, O.E."Curly" Witte, now living in British Columbia, taught him how to build guns, and how to make them work. I can't ever remember Craig having a misfire, or hang-fire, when shooting at the club. He is a fine shot, and a good hunter. That makes him tops in my book.

 

[jtmattison]

Well since I have a Dremmel with polishing wheels and compound I figured I'd go for it. I polished the pans on my GPR and Deerstalker. It only took a few minutes.

What do you think? Does is look o.k.?

HD

 

[rabjr]

Yep, looks good. :thumbsup:

 

[Twowithone]

When you folk,s refer to compound are you saying like rubbing compound for cars or what thanks.

 

[rabjr]

I have one of those dremel kits with a bunch of different accessories and part of it was a dremel polishing kit which has a little container of polish compound for the tips.

 

[Twowithone]

Thank,s swamprat :hatsoff:

 

[musketman]

When you folk,s refer to compound are you saying like rubbing compound for cars or what thanks.

That will work, anything that has abrasives in it will do the trick. However, I think most will recommend something like JB Bore Lapping Compound.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Household pot cleaners, ( Comet Cleanser) and toothpaste will work with either the rubber tips and wheels for the dremel tool, or with the felt discs for that tool. They are usually available at most hardware stores, and in some hobby stores. My Ace Tru-Value Hardware store has a full case of nothing but dremel tool bits, more shapes and styles than come with the normal kit and dremel tool when you buy it. They also carry their polishing compound, but its a bit pricey, IMHO.

Stop by a paint store and ask for either pumice or rottenstone. Rottenstone is usually a fine red powder that is used to polish glass, among other things. My B-I-Law use rottenstone to take the varnish finish he put on some hand make book shelves to a fine mirror finish.

You can mix these compounds in cold cream- a little dab will do-ya-- or just mix them with some toothpaste( or Vasoline, or some gun grease), and then dip your felt wheel into the stuff periodically to work on the pan. The creams are just there to help hold the powders to the wheel, nothing else( altho', as I said before, toothpaste also has a very fine abrasive in it all its own.)

 

[Muskeg Stomper]

Household pot cleaners, ( Comet Cleanser) and toothpaste will work with either the rubber tips and wheels for the dremel tool, or with the felt discs for that tool.

I'd be careful using the Comet Cleanser though. Seems to me that it also contains bleach which will possibly have some unintended consequences on any metal parts it comes in contact with if you aren't real dilligent about cleaning it all up afterwards.

 

[rb8941]

If you want to use a cleanser, use Barkeepers Friend. It's a flner abrasive than Comet Cleanser and it doesn't contain chlorine or other not so good additives. You can get it at any hardwarde store..and most grocery stores, too.