Lock polishing tools, materials and techniques

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

You can get a Nagura stone from WoodCraft or other places which you can use to re-square your waterstones
http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/nagurastone.aspx

[westerner]

Thanks for the tip and link Tim. I had no idea how to square up a stone. 


             Joe. 

[KNeilson]

To resquare or straighten natural stones, I use a couple of the cheap diamond varieties of the same grit mounted on a magnetic chuck on my bench. Does a great job. The diamond blades meant for a tile cutter will cut when mounted on a grinder, but you must exercise caution and lots of coolant. Beware of the dust produced, you can get Silicosis from this. I cut strange shapes from carborundum stones this way. I used to use only natural stones with a diamond strop for cutting tools, but find myself now using paper backed silicon carbide of grits from 400 for roughing to 2000 for final edged polish. You can glue this stuff to wood backing of just about any shape to acheive what you want...I am sure there are more or other ways to "do it", this works good for me.........  Kerry

[Dean D.]

I have not tried them on locks or steel yet but I love the 3M bristle disc's for polishing silver.  They come in various grits and being flexible they polish lines, grooves or tight corners very well.  Here is a link to Rio Grande's page listing the various grits they offer it in:
http://www.riogrande.com/MemberArea/SearchPage.aspx?page=GRID&free_text|1266456314633=3m%20bristle%20disc

I use several at one time on the same mandrel to get better coverage.  They work fantastic on silver so I would imagine they would work well on steel.  The only drawback to them is they will not tolerate heavy handed use. 

[sonny]

Is there a way to remove from the frizzen face the rough spot where frizzen meets flint before the slide down the face????I have a rough spot an want to remove it but don't know how???.thanks...........sonny

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Sonny, on any flintlock, the frizzen will get chewed out in one place faster than the rest.  If you don't deal with it, it can be hard on flints.  Lay the frizzen face on a 6" grinding wheel, with your thumb on the back for a heat check, and cool it often.  If it's to hot for your thumb, it's too hot for the frizzen too.  Grind oout the rough spot, and you are good to go.  you can do this about three times before you replace the frizzen...that's about 7000 shots. (+ or -)

[Kelhammer]

Kerosene makes a good lube for your polishing stones 

[wmaser]

Sonny: Rather than using a grinding stone, I've found that a belt sander gives a much nicer frizzen face finish. Hold your frizzen face against the roller end and move it up and down to put a nice radius on the face.

[Chris Treichel]

On that point of sharpening up corners of stones... I found that I can resharpen flints with diamond wheels on my dremel so that should also work on other stones.  The diamond wheels are not terribly expensive and I have found that even the ones sold at Harbour Freight (gasp) still do the trick.

[johntulle]

To polish locks and hardware I use these:

small 3 corner file
flat Swiss fine file
needle files
diamond files
diamond knife sharpeners
emery boards

I don't use all these on every part, just what seems to be biting best at a given grit level, if that makes sense.  The diamonds work on the hardened stuff, though it can take a while.  I do reshaping with a small stone wheel in a Dremel tool.  The diamond knife sharpeners will keep flat areas flat and corners sharp.
Emery boards will go all the way to near mirror finish if you want. 

I do all this by hand, so yes, it takes a while.  What else am I doing in front of the TV?

The emery boards come from the local grocery store cosmetic department.  Skip the coarsest ones and get a few each of the finest.  Use wet or dry. clean with soap, water and a toothbrush.

This works for me, hope it helps others.

John

[Rick G.]

I'm glad this came up. I'm working on a rifle kit now, cleaning up the raw castings as I speak. I've been using oiled  100 grit sand paper and some elbow grease. I never thought to use a stone until now. I try to learn something new every day, and this place never lets us down!

[Bob Roller]

Lock polishing isn't all that hard.First thing to do is make sure the plate is straight. Today I finished a Morgan Hawken lock
and started with a new sharp medium cut file and Tap Matic threading fluid to float the small shavings away and then use
medium emory CLOTH also with the threading fluid. Final finish is with 400 cloth and 4/0 polishing paper.
I know nothing about using "stones"and see no benefit to them unless you're sharpening a knife.Crocus cloth can be used as well
for final finish. John Bivins told me that 600 cloth or paper was about like the pristine finish in a "4 pin" English caplock and with the
use of the Tap Matic,it works. The last one I did was a Rigby style and I finished it with 1200 paper and Tap Matic.Looked good,
worked slick and fast.

Bob Roller

 

[Jim Kibler]

Lock polishing involves finishing parts besides the plate, parts that have contour and shape.  Stones come in handy for instances such as this.  Do you have to use stones?  No.  Are they an option and do they work well?  Yes.  These stones are relatively soft, break down as you are using them and cut pretty fast.  In short they do a good job.  Try them.