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I just finished the second addition in a series on spark generation by Fred Stutzenburger entitled " Steel Flint and Fire". He and Larry Pletcher are two of my favorite article authors as I have confidence I'm getting the real skinny on how this stuff works,. In the latest article Fred was hardening frizzens by infusing Kasnite and Brownells surface hardener. They found that hardening the frizzens did almost nothing to increase the spark production from the two locks tested but what did make a difference was increasing (bending) the down angle of the cock a few degrees. This increased rake angle of course makes the flint strike the frizzen a bit lower and at more of a shear angle.
I found this very same thing in my own search to increase spark production on a very high end match pistol I have. From the day I received the new gun it would not spark well so I sent it back to the maker and when it came back it was very little improved so taking matters into my own hands I did a few things in the lock works and finally resolved to heat bend the cock forward several degrees , re-harden and that did the trick.
I do not recommend bending a cock arm cold as most have some degree of hardness treated into them and can crack if bent cold.
I'm anxiously awaiting next months issue with the third and I think final addition to this very interesting series.
I do a fair amount of spring and parts making using various steels like 1095 for flat spring production and more exotic alloys such as O-1 and A-2 for gun parts like sears triggers and lifts. Each have their own specific heat treat protocols for hardening and drawing temper which can only be done with any degree of precision and consistency in a good pyrometer-ed heat treat oven. I know I know , good springs are made by eye sight alone and I still do this as well but technically it is not very precise and it won't work with the exotics worth a hoot in my opinion.
In this article I picked up a good tip for using Kasnite I had not seen before and that was wrapping them in stainless tool wrap rather than doing it on an open flame as the instructions on the Kasnite can show. I always use tool wrap for O-1 and A-2 but never thought to do so when infusing carbon with powder hardener.
I found this very same thing in my own search to increase spark production on a very high end match pistol I have. From the day I received the new gun it would not spark well so I sent it back to the maker and when it came back it was very little improved so taking matters into my own hands I did a few things in the lock works and finally resolved to heat bend the cock forward several degrees , re-harden and that did the trick.
I do not recommend bending a cock arm cold as most have some degree of hardness treated into them and can crack if bent cold.
I'm anxiously awaiting next months issue with the third and I think final addition to this very interesting series.
I do a fair amount of spring and parts making using various steels like 1095 for flat spring production and more exotic alloys such as O-1 and A-2 for gun parts like sears triggers and lifts. Each have their own specific heat treat protocols for hardening and drawing temper which can only be done with any degree of precision and consistency in a good pyrometer-ed heat treat oven. I know I know , good springs are made by eye sight alone and I still do this as well but technically it is not very precise and it won't work with the exotics worth a hoot in my opinion.
In this article I picked up a good tip for using Kasnite I had not seen before and that was wrapping them in stainless tool wrap rather than doing it on an open flame as the instructions on the Kasnite can show. I always use tool wrap for O-1 and A-2 but never thought to do so when infusing carbon with powder hardener.
