AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Gun Building => Topic started by: frenchymanny on February 19, 2019, 01:52:51 AM
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Hello everyone,
I am new to the forum and the hobby, but not totally a newbee, from Quebec.
I try to locate a couple of real silver hunters stars. I do not like the german silver, any help would be appreciated.
Hampshirecountylongrifles sent me here :)
Thanks everyone
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I cut mine from pre '64 coins. You can also buy sterling silver sheet and cut your own. I'm unaware of any that are precut in real silver.
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Thank you Mike!
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I just ordered some sterling sheet from Rio Grande the other day. 6" x 1.5" x.040 thick costs around $42. The part where I get confused is the dead soft, half hard and so on. I ordered dead soft figuring it will probably work harden. Maybe some of our other members could shed some light on this.
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TommyG... Yes, it will work harden quite quickly. Make sure you anneal frequently. Mike mentioned working with coin silver, and I do the same. Those always have to be annealed first, since the dies work harden them when they are stamped at the mint. Also, fine silver is much easier to work than coin silver, since it is much softer. I never use nickel silver, and all front sites I have ever made are .900 coin silver. This gives them the toughness to resist bending, and show nice and bright when drawing a bead.
Frenchymanny... Mike is right... You are unlikely to find any on the market for silver stars, because there is no market for them. You will have to fabricate your own from sheet silver. Not sure when Canada stopped minting coins in silver, but here in the USA 1964 was our last year for coins in circulation to be minted in .900 silver.
Matt
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Maybe one of you builders can make him a couple.
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A silver pre 64 quarter makes a nice oval disk on the wrist. I pounded mine flat on the concrete floor with a hammer. Then filed it in the vice. A franklin half dollar would probably make a Star. There’s some Ike dollars in coin silver too if you need more. If you want pure silver, a 1 0z Silver Eagle or Canadian Maple Leaf should work. Silver bars come in all different ounces.
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Thank you everyone!
Frenchymanny
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Frenchymanny, if you want to lay out and cut your own, for a standard 5-point star, the points are 72 deg apart. For a six-point star, 60 deg apart. A protractor will help you lay things out. Do it on paper first, then cut it out, stick it on your metal, and you have your design however large or small you might want. Silver cuts and files easily.
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I make the cheek stars from .06 thick sterling silver sheet and it's dead soft. Seeing these stars are formed in the "valley" of the cheek, being dead soft forms easily and the .06 thickness ensures they don't get too thin when filing smooth. I've never had to anneal these stars.
A center screw holds the star in place and the .06 thickness helps it to lay flat . If thinner stock is used, the star "points" could be pinned as on some Lehighs......Fred
(https://i.ibb.co/qdJqB3X/P1010003.jpg) (https://ibb.co/MsBwnxW)
(https://i.ibb.co/cYDK1qQ/P1010001.jpg) (https://ibb.co/sWyp27q)
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Flehto this is superb!