bad frizzen

[Michigan Flinter]

  I have a frizzen that won't spark two of my friends tried no luck sent it to a pro with the same results.I want to find someone to put a new face on it. I picked it up at Lapper Mich. show it goes on a 70 cal. Yager  style rifle on the inside of the lock plate is  R. Gale 8201.If someone can help me out I sure will appreciate it.

[Stophel]

What lock is it?  A picture would let us identify it.

How hard is the frizzen?  If the frizzen surface won't file (a good file skates across the surface), then it's plenty hard, and your problem lies elsewhere.

[Hungry Horse]

If the frizzen is carbon steel, and whoever tried hardening it, didn’t temper it afterwards, it might be too hard. If its not carbon steel, you will have to carberize it with a hardening compound, or half sole it.

 Hungry Horse

[Michigan Flinter]

 it is very hard getting a few white sparks  I think a half sole is what it needs ,but I am far from an expert  I have no way of posting a picture .

[TonyM]

White sparks---way too hard
Bake it your kitchen over for an hour at 450 degrees
Sizzling orange is what you're after

[G_T]

My kitchen oven it ends up being 350 degrees, protected by a couple layers of foil to keep it from being overheated by radiant heat from the elements. Oven temps are not accurate. Best to creep up on it vs go too far IMHO.

Gerald

[Hungry Horse]

If its that hard you will need to anneal it before you try to half sole it. If it will harden that hard IMO half soling it would be a giant step backwards. Just put it in the oven as mentioned. An oven that won’t get above 350 degrees is either broken, or is a toy oven.

  Hungry Horse

[TonyM]

Should have said that orange sizzling sparks are what you're looking for.
I just lay mine on a steel pie plate. Preheat the oven before you put the frizzen in it.
Tony

[45-110]

R. Gale was (Ron Gobieskies spell??) trade mark for his locks. Old Muzzle Blasts (1980's) show his location at the time as Warren Mich. I built several of his lock kits at the time and found the parts to be hard from the get go, and needed annealing to drill and tap. Last time I heard from Ron he was Living in Armada Mich. I am sure your frizzen needs a proper heat treat to function correctly.
kw

[TommyG]

I use a hot plate with an iron skillet filled with sand to temper.  Use a digital thermometer to monitor the temp.  One will need to "babysit" the controls and sneak up on the target temp.  I found that ovens, even when monitoring with a thermometer, just don't seem to cycle in the target temp range.  This has worked well for me with frizzens, triggers and tools.

[Michigan Flinter]

 Thanks everyone for all your help will follow through with your info.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I bought a used toaster oven at a thrift store...in good shape, for $5.  Using an oven thermometer, I found a spot on the dial that was 375 deg. F. and made a mark there so I can set it properly, and expect the correct temperature.  I soak a frizzen for an hour at 375 deg F and have had excellent results...thank you Jerry Huddleston.

[G_T]

Hungry Horse, what I meant was my oven's thermometer was reading low about 50 degrees. I drew a frizzen back too far trusting the oven the first time. I now check temp with a good IR probe.

Gerald

[Jim Kibler]

I wouldn't trust an IR probe.  A cheap thermocouple and measuring device is a much better choice.  The IR probes are cheap and easy to use, but there are a lot of factors that can effect the results you get.

[jerrywh]

I agree with Jim Kibler.   I wouldn't trust a ir pyrometer,  There are some things they just don't work on well.  In all the years I only had one frizzen I couldn't get to spark well.  I discovered it was cast out of a alloy that had a lot of chrome in it.  It sparked but not very good.