AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Gun Building => Topic started by: yip on August 14, 2025, 01:48:49 AM
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LOOKING FOR SPRING STOCK FOR THROWING A PATCH BOX OPEN
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Lumber Bunk banding has worked well for me a couple of times. Bob
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I once made a patchbox lid release spring from a hacksaw blade.
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Second the hacksaw blade. Have used it for kicker spring and works well.
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Of course you can order one, but you know that. Dixie has annealed spring stock of various thicknesses, as well.
I've cut steel for patch box springs out of old kitchen knives that I picked up from the thrift store.
As others have said, a lot of springs can be made out of saw blades, both hacksaw and regular handsaws. There's enough steel in a single handsaw from the thrift store or flea market to make all the scrapers and thin, flat springs a guy could ever want.
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I use cut nails for patchbox springs. Get em everywhere.
Heat them up bright red/orange and flatten them on an anvil or other hard surface. They will then be easy to file. To put a bend in them heat them up a bit and the metal can be manipulated quite easily. Once you have your desired shape, heat, quench and temper
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WHAT IS THE PROPER WAY TO HEAT AND TEMPER, I'M A LITTLE STUPED :) :) :)
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Metal leaf rake teeth are the easiest to work, one busted rake will give you a lifetime supply.
Kevin
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WHAT IS THE PROPER WAY TO HEAT AND TEMPER, I'M A LITTLE STUPED :) :) :)
That subject has been discussed ad nauseam, a quick search will provide the answer(s)
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Yip, as 45-110 says, there are other threads on this if you want to read more about it. But here are a few pointers to briefly answer your questions.
(1) If you are gonna make a spring, then it's good to taper the spring steel in both it's length and thickness, as having that kind of taper helps the spring function without breaking. So, make it a little more narrow toward the free end. Leave enough "meat" on the wide end to put in a screw or however you plan to mount it, and then come out away from that before you start the taper. And mount it in such a way that the part that has the screw hole in it won't be bending at all, or it will break there.
(2) In forging a small piece of spring steel using a torch, just go to a red heat. Use multiple heats if necessary. Also just go to a red heat when hardening. To harden, just go to the red heat and then quench. Oil is fine for this. To temper, first clean the colored scale off with sandpaper and then heat it again slowly, going to blue. If using a torch, you can quench it again to stop it at that point. That's just to cool it quickly lest you accidentally get it too hot.
If tempering on the eye of the stove, I just slowly raise the heat while watching the color build over 10 minutes or so, and then just take it off when it reaches the color I want.
(3) If using a handsaw blade, if you don't need to bend it or put a curl into the end, then you don't need to heat or temper it at all. It's already soft enough to cut with a hacksaw and files, but hardened enough to work as a spring. If you want to put a curl in it, you will need to heat it to bend it, and then harden and temper it.
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THANKS GUYS, YOUR THE BEST!
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Many things can be used. Piece of steel banding material, old bedspring heated & flattened. about any type of flat spring used to hold a brush in a motor, flattened leaf rake tine, flattened pitchfork tine, trimmed down hacksaw blade. I generally use flat springs from DC motors as I have it avail & it is already flat & springs, or piece of trimmed banding material. Drill it with a carbide drill bit.