Flashpan Grinder HDTDT

[Daryl]

Here is how the Germany Gunsmith do it.

Runar

Excellent photos, tks. Pushing the Ctrl key and tapping the + key really bring the second set of pictures up. Tap the - key to reduce the size to normal.

[James Wilson Everett]

Guys,

It would be very interesting to me if some of the great craftsmen out there could share the tooling and process you guys use to cut the flintlock flashpan hollow.  Most especially those of us who perform this task in the 18th c manner, that is without Bridgeport milling machines and carbide cutters.  In my experience, this is one of the more challenging jobs in building a gun, and on one occasion one of the most painful - ouch! that was a mistake!  I see the reprints of the rather sophisticated machine tool from Germany, but does anyone actually use one of these?

Jim Everett

[Chris Treichel]

Neat article from that German Book.  May I ask what book this is from?  The book talks about a device pattern hand drilling machine and says that for mass production it was realiezed early on in the 19th century that to get everything lined up right they needed to develop this tool that used a pattern "Schablone" to drill all the holes in the right place.  At the bottom of the page are depictions of a cock and breechplug and the "lehre" or go / no go gagues for both. 

Let me know if you need anything translated from German. 

[Hudnut]

I have a small, original, never final finished, never used flintlock.  In the pan, you can see marks from a chisel, which was used to produce the final contour.
Doesn't mean that the entire basin was cut that way, though.

[Jim Kibler]

I think it's important in answering this questions to make a distinction between the typical parallel sided Germanic pan cavity and the somewhat teardrop English style.  With the Germanic style, a bur / rotary file can be used to for the cavity with a drill or brace.  I believe Wallace shows this process is shown in the "Gunsmith of Williamsburg" film.  An English style pan can be rough chiseled to shape, with a good sized rounded chisel, followed up with riffler files and then stones.

[mudcat dale]

Let's not fool ourselves.  It's nothing more than a half cherry which could be used in any operation to form a concavity of that particular size and shape.  Just because it was in a collection doesn't necessarily mean it's 18th century, or even a gun tool.  It might easily have been used in another trade.

Without looking it up, I seem to recall a similar tool shown in Harrison & Stelle's Gunsmith's Manual, but don't remember its purpose.

I was looking at this book last night and saw the above referenced tool.  They called it a rose head and were showing it for use in crowning muzzles.  Very similar to the tool the original poster pictured.

Dale