Skychief
69 Cal.
If a frizzen's face has a few grooves in it, can a fellow use sandpaper to smooth them out or is this a bad idea (for some reason unknown to me :grin: )?
As always gang, many thanks! :bow:
As always gang, many thanks! :bow:
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Sandpaper a frizzen?
- Thread starter Skychief
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ohio ramrod
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Sand paper will smooth the face. But if the frizzen is only case hardened you could cut through the face and have to reharden it.
paulvallandigham
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You really don't want to use sand paper. Try using Emery cloth, as its designed for polishing metal, where sand paper is designed to smooth wood. If you have access to some emery stones- they come in different configurations, square, rectangle, triangle, round, and diamond-- They can also be used to smooth the frizzen face and remove the gouges. Start with a medium grade, and then work down to a fine. Don't smooth it any finer than " fine", because you do want the flint to be able to cut steel, by scraping steel off the face.
The Angle of Impact should be 60 degrees, where the edge of the flint strikes the frizzen. Use a protractor to see what your lock is doing. Sometimes, people mount their flints in the jaws crooked. Other times, the jaws hold the flint properly, but at the wrong angle. That is when we talk about bending the "goose-neck" of the Cock, to move the jaws to the correct angle of Impact, to maximize the efficiency of the lock. You want the edge of the flint to strike between 50% and 66% of the distance from the base of the frizzen upward, so that the frizzen is kicked open by the flint during its stroke about 1/3 the distance from the bottom of the frizzen.
If you are having problems, send me a PT, and I will help you tune the lock. :thumbsup:
The Angle of Impact should be 60 degrees, where the edge of the flint strikes the frizzen. Use a protractor to see what your lock is doing. Sometimes, people mount their flints in the jaws crooked. Other times, the jaws hold the flint properly, but at the wrong angle. That is when we talk about bending the "goose-neck" of the Cock, to move the jaws to the correct angle of Impact, to maximize the efficiency of the lock. You want the edge of the flint to strike between 50% and 66% of the distance from the base of the frizzen upward, so that the frizzen is kicked open by the flint during its stroke about 1/3 the distance from the bottom of the frizzen.
If you are having problems, send me a PT, and I will help you tune the lock. :thumbsup:
Skychief
69 Cal.
Thanks guys! :thumbsup:
I would leave it alone. IMHO, Those ridges between the grooves will strike more sparks than a smooth surface.
If your gun has a foreign made lock, sanding will remove some of the case hardened surface, leaving you with a thinner case, which will wear through faster.
IMHO, the grooves help more than hurt, so I would leave 'em alone.
God bless
If your gun has a foreign made lock, sanding will remove some of the case hardened surface, leaving you with a thinner case, which will wear through faster.
IMHO, the grooves help more than hurt, so I would leave 'em alone.
God bless
hanshi
Cannon
Never thought of that one before. You've started me scrounging.
54ball
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In my experience I have found that a rough frizzen can cause problems. With gouges in the face if the frizzen, the flint contacts these areas first as it strikes. This causes stress on the flint. The high spots on the frizzen break of bits if the flint causing an uneven surface on the flint also. This begets more grooves so soon you start bashing flints and reliability suffers as metal to flint area is actually reduced. Smoothing the surface restores flint to steel contact across the face of the frizzen and the high spots that break the flint are eliminated.
My frizzen was grooved up real bad on my Gillespie causing it to bash flints, after polishing it is more reliable and flintlife has increased 10 fold.
My frizzen was grooved up real bad on my Gillespie causing it to bash flints, after polishing it is more reliable and flintlife has increased 10 fold.
rich pierce
70 Cal.
Horizontal grooves are bad. Vertical grooves were designed into some frizzens particularly on many miquelet locks.
I don't want to waste time and sandpaper ona frizzen. I grind them on the grinder, without overheating. 20 seconds.
I don't want to waste time and sandpaper ona frizzen. I grind them on the grinder, without overheating. 20 seconds.
does your frizzen have any gouges? Does it spark well? If it only has scratches and sparks well, its doing what it's supposed to do. The flint is constantly shaving off tiny bits of metal to ignitethe powder in the pan.
If your frizzen had gouges, then it needs to be case hardened. To case harden, you need to sand with emery cloth or use a white 6" white grind stone. DO NOT use a gray stone! The face needs to be baby butt smooth. Hold the pivot area of the frizzen with a pair of vise grips which will act as a heat sink. With an oxy-mapp torch, heat the back of the frizzen until it is glowing cherry red for five minutes. do not let it get any hotter than cherry, yellow is too hot. Apply Kasnit with a spoon libraly to the face. continue heating the frizzen for another two minutes and sprinkle Kasnit on again. Heat another two minutes. The frizzen must be non-magnetic at this point. Test it with a magnet. if it is non-magnetic, douse it in room temprature water and stir it around. clean off the excess Kasenit carefully (after it's cool). Polish both sides of the pivot area. Careful!!! Not too much. I use a whet stone of course, medium, and then hard just like you would a knife only hold it flat. Oil the pivot hole and reasemble. If you do not feel comfortable doing this, my friends at
Track of the Wolf performs the service at a reasonable charge.
If your frizzen had gouges, then it needs to be case hardened. To case harden, you need to sand with emery cloth or use a white 6" white grind stone. DO NOT use a gray stone! The face needs to be baby butt smooth. Hold the pivot area of the frizzen with a pair of vise grips which will act as a heat sink. With an oxy-mapp torch, heat the back of the frizzen until it is glowing cherry red for five minutes. do not let it get any hotter than cherry, yellow is too hot. Apply Kasnit with a spoon libraly to the face. continue heating the frizzen for another two minutes and sprinkle Kasnit on again. Heat another two minutes. The frizzen must be non-magnetic at this point. Test it with a magnet. if it is non-magnetic, douse it in room temprature water and stir it around. clean off the excess Kasenit carefully (after it's cool). Polish both sides of the pivot area. Careful!!! Not too much. I use a whet stone of course, medium, and then hard just like you would a knife only hold it flat. Oil the pivot hole and reasemble. If you do not feel comfortable doing this, my friends at
Track of the Wolf performs the service at a reasonable charge.
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