HINGES ON P/B

[yip]

  IS THERE ANYWAY TO CLOSE THE GAPS ON P/B HINGE? ACCORDING TO PETER ALEXANDER IT CAN BE DONE TO A EXTENT, IS THIS TRUE?

[flehto]

One way to do it is to use high temp silver solder that duplicates the brass color....afterwards, run a drill through the holes to eliminate the solder. .....Fred

[J. Talbert]

Are you trying to make a PB without gaps or are you trying to close gaps on an already made PB?

Unfortunately, gaps in the hinges are present on nearly all of the ready made PBS that I’ve ever seen . Likely the result of the manner in which they’re stamped out… a definite eyesore.
There’s no good way that I’m aware of to close these gaps, at least not to my satisfaction and subsequently I don’t use  any of these ready made boxes.

There has been much discussion in the past on making a good, functional, gap free, curved PB hinge.
Here’s a link to Gary Brumfield’s method, which I have successfully used and will continue to use in the future, unless someone can show me a better method.

http://www.flintriflesmith.com/ToolsandTechniques/making_a_curved_box_hinge.htm

(Thanks again Gary! )

Good luck,
Jeff’s

[yip]

  bucks county b/ps are a real pain, ive done other b/p in th past but these ones are a real pain

[Gary Tucker]

I’ve had pretty good success peening the gaps out of brass hinges. Lay it on a good hard surface and be sure the pin is nice and hard.  Gently peen the gaps with a light touch and they can really be improved.  After peening the surface will need to be smoothed out again.

[M. E. Pering]

Yip, If the gaps are not too wide, you may have success with gently peening, as Gary Tucker suggested.  Make sure you anneal the brass first, since the bending into a hinge assures they are now work-hardened.  Also keep in mind you want to do this very gently, with many hammer blows rather than just a few heavy ones.

[elkhorne]

Bill Raby has demonstrated on several of his build videos how to very lightly peen metal to move it into slight gaps or cracks. He uses a very small punch I believe he said he made out of a concrete nail and shaped in a tiny rectangular shape. I remember him closing a breach to barrel line on the 4 bore build and he used the technique to move metal to fill small gaps in his Haines build in the patchbox videos. Good luck.
elkhorne

[Dan Fruth]

The process is called staking. The best way is to use a 1/8 to 3/16 dia steel punch and grind a mild radius on the end, then highly polish. put the hinge together and lay on a steel plate and place the punch on the metal you want to move and start tapping the punch. You can move soft brass as well as steel. We did this in the tool and die world all the time.

[flehto]

The easiest way to make knuckle fits w/o gaps is to make an accurate layout......the recess for the knuckle should be the same lines as the width  of the knuckle......then very little has to be removed for a slip fit.....Fred 

[Dphariss]

If the hinge needs to be bent to conform to the stock bend the hinge parts to contour before the knuckles are cut. Use a fine cut file with safe edges to final fit. And then pean if needed.

[davec2]

I don't like gaps in the hinge but was never good enough to peen / stake the hinge into submission.  Here is an old post of how I do the hinges now....no gaps....

My personal take is that the guys who built these things 200 years ago were....a) very clever.....and b) made their guns the best way they knew how.  I try to do the same while keeping within the framework of building an 18th century rifle.  As for patch box hinges, I have bent them, but only at the edges....I always keep the center / working part of the hinge straight.  The following has become my favorite way to do this after seeing a photo of an original with a separate riveted on hinge.

I make the hinge (as wide as the patch box door) from two pieces of 1/16 inch thick brass plate and two lengths of 3/16 inch (or even smaller) diameter brass rod, each the full width of the hinge.  I put both pieces of brass rod in the lathe in turn and drill a 1/16 inch hole through them lengthwise for the hinge pin.  I then silver solder the two rods to the two pieces of brass plate.  Then I cut away alternate pieces of the brass rod to form the hinge knuckles.  All of these parts are nice and straight, so this work is easy to do.

Independently, I bend both the patch box finial and the door to match the contour of the stock as closely as I can.  Now, I file the plates on the hinge sides to match the contour of the underside of the door and the finial.  The hinge looks like this at that point......





At this point, the hinge halves can either be soldered to the door and the finial or they can be riveted.  Both are traditional methods.  Now I have a door and a finial that are curved to the stock but a perfectly straight hinge.  However, it looks like its curved somewhat because the surrounding brass is.  If you want the hinge to look even more like it is curved, file off a little of the brass hinge knuckles on both ends.  Here it is just before assembly......



And here is the finished patch box......