cold forging a trigger

[yip]

  okay whats the secret for cold forging a trigger? been trying and turned out two but not what i want. got to make the shoe end wide enough and is not getting there, all i can get is about 1/4" and after clean up not wide enough. whats the secret?
'

[bob in the woods]

1/4 inch sounds OK to me, but careful work with the hammer is required to get things more or less even. I start with a small ball pean hammer and finish with the flat hammer . Watch how you clamp the piece in the vice, as you want it to support the back side . Anyway...that's how I do it.

[David Rase]

You should be able to get a 1/4" wide shoe out of 3/32" wide stock and a 3/8" wide shoe out of a 1/8" thick piece of stock.  Keep a minimal amount of material sticking out of your vise and reclamp it several times as you widen the shoe.  I use a small cross peen hammer, start in the middle and work my way up and down the shoe area paying attention to keep each side even and adjusting my blows as I work the metal.  Patience and light hammer blows gets the job done correctly.  Good luck.
DAvid

[Pukka Bundook]

As Dave says above.

If you aren't getting the width, hit it harder with the cross -peen.  :-)

Best,
R.

[rich pierce]

The challenge is not having it slip in the vise and scar.  I often try to support the blank from below; have the trigger blank sitting on a bar resting on the vise “drawbar” or whatever it is called. Then I can peen it with more force without it slipping b

[flehto]

All the cold forged triggers are made from .100 sheet press stock  and the first thing done is to file a contour for the shoe. Then I use a 3/8 dia hardened rod  which is hit w/ a medium weight hammer. I don't use the ball peen of the hammer at  all.

The 3/8 dia rod is easy to hold over the .100 thickness....peening outboard of this  thickness causes the shoe to curl.

Because the contour of the trigger was filed in, the width of the shoe can be tapered along its length. I stop peening when the upper part of the shoe is approx. 3/8" wide and the lower tip is 3/16". The finished  width of the upper part of the shoe is 5/16" tapering to 5/32" at the tip that gets curled.

A dull red heat is applied to the shoe end to form the curl. ....Fred

[Long John]

Yip

I have made my own triggers for all of my guns, including the doublegun.  Here's how I do it.

First I use 1/8th inch 1018 stock I get at Home Depot.

I start with a piece usually 1/8" by 3/4" and with my ball peen hammer start upsetting the edge of the steel that will eventually become the shoe while resting the whole bar on the top face of the anvil.  When the steel begins to work-harden I heat it up to red in a MAPP gas torch flame and simply continue upsetting the steel.  Many light hits is better than a few heavy hits.  It is surprising how one can get the steel to "flow" with the ball peen hammer.  I peen, heat, peen, heat over and over until I have gotten the shoe wide enough for my likes.  Note that I am still working in a bar of steel - everything else that goes into a trigger gets don AFTER the shoe has been formed.

Once the edge of the steel bar is pushed out wide enough I saw and file off the steel behind the flared-out part to form the lever of the trigger.  Usually I heat the steel to red and bend hot to form the curved trigger lever.  Once the lever is made then and only then do I get to cutting the blade from the rest of the steel bar.  I shape the blade to engage the sear of the lock, drill my pivot hole, etc.  Once the trigger is working right I polish the bearing surfaces and case harden the bearing part of the trigger blade.

It sounds like you are cutting out a rough trigger and then trying to hold that little piece of steel to do your upsetting of the shoe.  I do it backwards.  That's why folks say I'm a backwards kind of guy.

Best Regards,

JMC
John Cholin

[yip]

  guys i got a piece of hot rolled steel from Lowes and sawed a piece roughly 1 1/2x 1 1/2 and placed in my vise and cut the shape of the shoe and start hammering. i can get roughly 1/ 4" shoe and it pretty shaped sides. i forgot is 1/8" thick. an i doing something wrong?  should i anneal?

[elkhorne]

Yip,
Can you put some photos on here so we can see what you are doing and what to problem really might do.
elkhorne

[yip]

 will try Elkhorne, and thanks

[Hungry Horse]

I also start with a larger piece of 1/8th inch hot rolled, and hammer the trigger pad into shape, and then trim it to shape. Don’t over think this, there is a very good demonstration on one of Hershel Houses blacksmithing videos.

  Hungry Horse

[flehto]

I've never experienced the steel I use for cold forging triggers becoming "work hardened" and requiring annealing. The only heat I apply is when curling the trigger......Fred

[Hungry Horse]

If you don’t over think it, and just go to the local welding shop and get some cheap hot rolled mild steel, you can best in it til the cows come home, and it won’t work harden.

  Hungry Horse

[Long John]

Don't take my word for it.

"Cold working AISI 1018 carbon steel will affect the hardness and mechanical properties. Intermediate annealing has to be performed to overcome the alloy’s tendency to work harden"       https://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=9138

   
"Cold Working
 
Cold working 1018 will have a significant affect on hardness and mechanical properties. Intermediate annealing is required to overcome its tendency to work harden."
              http://www.suppliersonline.com/Research/Property/metals/816.asp


"Cold drawing increases tensile and yield strength but decreases ductility. Cold drawing also increases torsional strength, surface hardness and wear resistance. "
              https://www.speedymetals.com/information/Material26.html

Best Regards

JMC
John Cholin

[flehto]

Don't know what kind of steel the press stock is made of, but have never annealed this steel while cold forging a  trigger.

Shown below are some pics of the trigger for my present build. The steel thickness is .100 and the finished shoe width is 5/16".  This trigger was made as described in my previous post using a hardened rod hit w/ a hammer. The rod can easily be held horizontally over the .100 thickness and is handy when peening the curve on the upper part of the shoe.  The reason for the "blue" color is that my Mapp Gas torch nozzle is too wide....all I'm trying to heat is the shoe curl. The trigger hasn't yet been timed w/ the lock.....Fred

[yip]

 hey  made one Fred; i had to try three they didn't come out what i wanted, so on my third try i made the one i wanted. THANKS for the help..........yip

[Tim Crosby]

 See if this help:

    http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=24661.msg236018#msg236018

  The heat only speeds things up a bit.

   Tim C.

[yip]

 thanks Tim i think i got the idea, make one i like