Sitting Fox Stamping?

[Panzerschwein]

Does anyone know who could add the famous “sitting fox inside a circle” stamp to the lock plate and barrel of my new northwest trade gun?

I see this stamp is available from Track:

https://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartDetail.aspx/1045/1/STAMP-FC

I am asking because it is very pretty and the red fox is also my spirit animal. Would this be something I could do myself? The lock is already finished in a brushed patina look. Would it need to be refinished or touched up with cold blue after stamping? Thank you!

[rich pierce]

Stamping requires practice. It’s easy to get multiple hammer blows off just a bit. The bigger the stamp, the more challenging. If you do it yourself, practice on mild steel plate. Sometimes necessary to lean it, get an edge established, then straighten it up.

[Hungry Horse]

Green River Forge used the sitting fox on their tradeguns. I have two old Lott lock that they removed the Lott signature and added the sitting fox. One is acid etched, and the other is engraved. Stamping a lock plate is tricky at best.
 As the red fox being your spirit animal, you do realize the red fox is an introduced species to America not native.

Hungry Horse

[bluenoser]

I recently put the sitting fox stamp on the rust blued Davis lock on a NW trade gun I built.  It was an after-thought of the owner and I cautioned him that there might be some damage to the finish.  Aside from letter stamps, it was my first stamping experience and I learned two things:
First - practice and then practice some more before tackling the parts.  I tried multiple hits on 1075, including straight-on and angling into it and found it impossible to completely avoid some misalignment.  For me, a single strike was the answer and the required weight of the hammer was surprising.  I started with a good swing on a 12 ounce hammer and didn't get consistently good results until I had graduated to a hammer weighing about 2 pounds.  You also need the part sitting on  good solid surface having some mass.  I used a small anvil.  In my experience, a bouncy work bench won't cut it.

Second - there was very little damage to the finish and what damage there was was limited to the bottom of the imprint.

Being the cautious type, I declined to stamp the barrel.

Thanks HH, I was unaware the red fox is an introduced species.

[MeliusCreekTrapper]

Green River Forge used the sitting fox on their tradeguns. I have two old Lott lock that they removed the Lott signature and added the sitting fox. One is acid etched, and the other is engraved. Stamping a lock plate is tricky at best.
 As the red fox being your spirit animal, you do realize the red fox is an introduced species to America not native.

Hungry Horse

Not to sidetrack the discussion, but the red fox IS native to the North American continent. There were some introduced from Europe, but recent studies have found no genetic trace of the introduced foxes in current US fox populations.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/40806

[Mike Brooks]

I use a 4lb hammer, no messin around, get er done. And yes, all the red foxes here in Iowa are native. They have the typical Iowan accent when speaking.

[Panzerschwein]

Thanks, gang. The lock is flat faced, an L&R trade gun lock.

I think it would be best to send it to someone more experienced. Perhaps along with the stamp itself. What would be a fair price to pay for the work?

[smylee grouch]

Yes, Red Fox had a special accent. 

[JTR]

Yes, Red Fox had a special accent. 

That he did! :-)

[Frozen Run]

Don't you need a mandrel to stamp a barrel, lest you risk dimpling the bore?

[Panzerschwein]

Good catch, Frozen Run.

I’m thinking just stamping the lock place will suffice.

I’m thinking I might be able to do this job myself. I am a bit nervous though. Here’s an original:



Either way I’m going to order the stamp to have it ready, plus a bottle of aqua fortis to stain some spare ramrods and maybe a tomahawk handle or two.

[Panzerschwein]

Green River Forge used the sitting fox on their tradeguns. I have two old Lott lock that they removed the Lott signature and added the sitting fox. One is acid etched, and the other is engraved. Stamping a lock plate is tricky at best.
 As the red fox being your spirit animal, you do realize the red fox is an introduced species to America not native.

Hungry Horse

Hungry, I actually realized this whilst living in Germany. I was walking on a path one night and a small red fox appeared and gently sat. We locked eyes and I felt a spiritual calm very difficult to describe.

Anyway, here is my lock plate that I plan to add the sitting fox symbol to:



As you can see it’s quite flat. I’m hoping I can accomplish it properly. I’ll use the huge bench vise at work as an anvil and will practice on scrap mild steel.

[Hudnut]

Here are photos of a lock with cast in tombstone fox, an unmarked lock, and one stamped with a circle fox and Barnett.
The circle fox and the name were stamped using a press.  I found it just about impossible to get a usable impression hand striking with a hammer.  The plates were mild steel.  Be very careful stamping something like a lightweight trade gun barrel.  A dimpled bore could result.  NorthStar barrels were stamped over the breech plug.  Good idea - the barrel wall is well supported.

[Mike Brooks]

If you stamp a barrel over the breech plug threads you knock it out of round. With the plug in or out it doesn't matter. Look at originals, they are done just ahead of the plug.

[Panzerschwein]

Here are photos of a lock with cast in tombstone fox, an unmarked lock, and one stamped with a circle fox and Barnett.
The circle fox and the name were stamped using a press.  I found it just about impossible to get a usable impression hand striking with a hammer.  The plates were mild steel.  Be very careful stamping something like a lightweight trade gun barrel.  A dimpled bore could result.  NorthStar barrels were stamped over the breech plug.  Good idea - the barrel wall is well supported.

Thank you. Do you mean something like a hydraulic press? We have one of those at work…

I’m going to leave the barrel as is and just tackle the lock.

[davec2]

I do a lot of stamping but there are circumstances when I know the hammer method does not work well for me.....so I built this.....

https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=1138.msg11556#msg11556