Making southern rifle butt plate

[B.Barker]

Ok all you guys that forge your own hardware for you southern guns. I got a question. How do you make sure you butt doesn't twist when forging? I forged out what looked like a nice cressent butt today but... When I went to match it up with the heel things went wrong. It looked square at the top but it was out of square further down in the bend. I rocked the the butt on the face of my anvil and it looked purty good. I filed it to my pattern I made befor I put any bends in it to try to make sure things were even but it still got a little distorted. Should I try again or keep this one and use it? Any help is welcomed.
Brian

[caliber45]

Hey, Brian -- I'm in (sorta) the same boat -- trying to make a steel ("iron") buttplate. My first. Same problem -- skewed surface. Nice thing about steel, though, is that is "recycleable" -- meaning you can reheat and reshape till the cows come home -- assuming you don't flatten it too thin eventually. Try 'er again! That's what I'm going to do. -- paulallen

[J.D.]

Just heat it to a bright orange and twist it straight.

God bless

[M Tornichio]

I usually get a twist some where along the line. since I went to copper brazing the two piece butt plates together instead of high temp silver solder, I am able to heat the entire thing up at once to gently get any twist out. I am assuming though that you are talking about a two piece butt plate? but in general I think in all blacksmithing, keeping things straight is part of the challenge. just make sure you don't let it get too out of hand or it can be quite difficult to get to line up later on. generally the fewer heats to get it to shape the better or you risk spending alot of time trying to get everything right. Especially with trigger guards.
Hope this helps.
Marc

[Ken G]

Brain,
How thick is the plate?  I can usually tweek the plate a little one way or the other without heating it.  If it's bad, throw her back in for another heat.   
Cheers,
Ken

[Bill of the 45th]

I threw out my first six into the scrap pile, and have used a couple to work on things like brazing with copper, and riveting.  found out you shouldn't use copper as a rivet if yer coper brazing...Go figure.  Practice practice, practice.  I'm still swearing, er working on my first set trikker, but it's getting there.  May never make it to a gun, but it's worth the practice.  Remember that's all Doctors ever do.

Bill

[Kentucky Jeff]

Where's Ian Pratt when you need him?

[lew wetzel]

getting ready to fire my forge up and glad this topic came up..i have been using a oxy/acetalene torch to forge some things....have lots of practicing to do....

[Levy]

If any of you are interested in purchasing forged hardware instead of making it yourself (like me), then Mark Tornichio does some very excellent and clean work.  I purchased a buttplate at the CLA Show and ordered a southern triggerguard, which came in yesterday.  I'll be ordering again in the future.

James Levy

[rsells]

I have a form that I made to hammer the back part of the butt plate into so that I get approximately the same curvature each time I make the part.  I spend a lot of time fitting the two parts together to get the final fit I am looking for.  I made a dummy stock butt cut with the pattern I will use to cut my stock blank, and use the dummy to assemble the plate.  I work with the two parts of the butt plate until I can push them against  the dummy butt stock and have a reasonable fit.  I drill the two parts for the screws that will be used to mount it to the stock blank.  Next, I mount the two parts of the butt plate to the dummy butt using the mounting screws and small finishing nails along the sides of the parts to position the two parts correctly.  I drill and a hole through the two parts of the butt plate next to the heal of the butt plate assembly, and install a small pin and hammer the ends of the pin to swedge the two parts tight against each other.  I then remove  the butt plate assembly from the dummy butt.  I place the butt plate assembly in a vice or a fixture to hold it while the two parts are brazed together at the joint at the heal.  The process of making the butt plate is a bit slow, but insures the relationship of the parts are correct, and saves time when it is inlet into the stock blank. 
                                                                      Roger Sells

[rich pierce]

Genius, or else a technique born of previous failures.  You don't have to tell us which it is, Roger!

[P.Bigham]

 B.Barker  You said the Butt Plate turned out well but maybe just a little twist. If you are Inletting It into a Blank I dont see that It would be a problem but if you are trying to Inlet it to a pre carved stock I could see that It may take a little straightening. I doubt many orinignals were perfectly staight. I would rather a Rifle have that one of kind look as opposed to the machine made look. Just my ramblins.

[B.Barker]

Thanks for all the replys. I like the challenge of making all the hardware myself. I like guns that are one of a kind and making your own parts is a way to get that look.
Brian