Mild steel Patch Box

[Kevin Houlihan]

 I tried making a patch box hinge out of .032" mild steel.  It was pretty easy to work and came out OK for a first try. I think though that .032" is too thin for a patch box door or finial as it's sort of flimsy.  I tried to make a hinge out of .065" mild steel and it was much more difficult to work.  I've read the threads on annealing and making patch boxes, but I'm still a little confused.  Can mild steel be annealed or made to work any easier for forming the hinge barrel?  I could make the hinge out of the thinner materiel and rivet the thicker door and finial to it, but I'd rather the hinge halves were part of the door and finial.
Thanks,
Kevin

[bgf]

Annealing does little to nothing with mild steel, although it won't hurt anything either. 

You can try thinning the metal before forming the hinge barrel.  Worst case, you can apply a hinge of thin sheet if you can't get a good one in the thicker metal.  Make the applied hinge round or diamond shape and it looks pretty good !

[Acer Saccharum]

Braze separate hinges to the door and finial is one possibility. This could be done in a decorative fashion, if the hinge tabs were given a shape. The tabs can be under the door and finial, or on top, if you want them to be seen.

Steel can be annealed if brought to a red heat and cooled very slowly. Most sheet steel is low carbon, which won't ever harden unless case hardened. Stress related hardening can be annealed out.

If you can hammer a scrap out without cracking, then your alloy is a good one. Then try making a sharp bend. If it can do that without cracking, you're all set.

[Larry Luck]

I've made a couple prototype patchboxes out of mild steel and used the 1/16 or .065 thickness without problem forming the hinge.

I form the hinge around a piece of 1/16 music wire, and use a cold chisel that I have ground flat to assist in forming the barrel of the hinge return.

I start by bending the return to a 90 degree position then place the music wire in place and flatten.  Finally, I use the modified cold chisel to finish things up.  Here are s couple old photos of a prototype for a captured lid box.

 



The stock is from Ace Hardware and never annealed.

Good luck with your project and post photos as it comes along.

Larry Luck

[Mark Elliott]

I make patch boxes out of 1/16" (16 ga) weldable steel that I get at Lowes.   I make them exactly the same way as I do with brass.   I believe there is a tutorial here somewhere where I show how I form the hinge.

[Acer Saccharum]

Mark, I made a block like you have, and a tutorial to go with it.

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=22371.0

[Mark Elliott]

I copied that block from the CW gunshop.

[bgf]

I copied that block from the CW gunshop.

I like the way Gary B. shows on his page, and no block needed.  Did the block happen at CW after him?