Lock Kit, warped plate

[okawbow]

Should I heat the lock plate to red and take out a slight warp? Will a lost wax casting break if bent cold?

[rich pierce]

It’s a gamble unless the foundry is reliable. I place a bent lock plate on wooden blocks and wallop it with a heavy copper hammer I have had for decades. I just did one a couple weeks ago. TRS.

[Darkhorse]

I cold bend almost anything that needs bending. It's a aquired art. I don't expect to break something like a lockplate.

[okawbow]

I’ll give it a try. Thanks!

[Jim Kibler]

It should be fine to cold bend it.  If you’re concerned about it being hard, test it with a file

[Eric Kettenburg]

Unless it's bent into a pretzel, something long and flat like a lockplate should not need any heating for mild bending one way or the other.  It's best to use little wooden wedges in a big arse vise but the method Rich describes (the viking hammer approach) will work also.  Aaaaargh.

[Bob Roller]

I have straightened many lock plates and so far no broken ones.A few whacks with a machinists hammer usually works or it did for me.
Jim Kibler is right and file check it to see if it is hsrd or not.I do remember getting frizzens that could not be drilled with the best drills
and I used carbide.
Bob Roller

[smart dog]

Hi,
I disagree with everything written here. I've encountered too many cast steel parts that at the very least have a hard exterior that ruins my files unless tempered to 900 degrees and can be brittle.  Play it safe, heat the portion where you want to bend it red hot and then bend. Moreover, by doing that you won't go through the frustration of bending it cold and seeing it bounce right back to where it was after releasing pressure.

dave

[Clint]

I agree with Smart Dog. I have built many locks from casting sets and I heat treat ALL of the parts at 850 - 900 degrees before I even cut the gates off. Very slow cool. Lock parts are small and they can cool very quickly at the foundry which makes them hard to drill and file. Foundries call this cooling "chills" and it doesn't nesessarily affect the whole piece. Warping of thin stuff is common.

[Mike Brooks]

I put the plate on my anvil and give it a big whack with a 4lb hammer. Of course I live a stress free life and don't worry about the small stuff either. There ain't nothin you can't fix with a 4lb hammer.

[Eric Kettenburg]

I have never in my life cracked or broken a lock plate while straightening it out, which is a common requirement for cast parts made from old locks.  Now other parts of the lock - that's a different story, especially the neck of a cock or a sear arm for example.  In those case cases, I do prefer to heat.  But have never found the need to do so with a lock plate, whether from TRS or one of Chris Hirsch's parts or any of the parts I have from mystery makers.  Again, though, I'm not trying to bend them into a pretzel or straighten out a 90 degree bend - never seen on THAT crooked!

[rich pierce]

No harm in annealing. I gotta get me a furnace someday.

[okawbow]

It was just an inch and a half of the tail that was warped. I tested for hardness; it was soft. Put the bent end in the vise and tapped the plate with a machinist hammer. Easy-peasy, straightened right up.

Thanks all!

[ScottH]

"viking hammer approach"
Love it! 

[Daryl]

I put the plate on my anvil and give it a big whack with a 4lb hammer. Of course I live a stress free life and don't worry about the small stuff either. There ain't nothin you can't fix with a 4lb hammer.

And a 1 1/2" cold chisel.