Lock pan question for the Dogs, Ken, and Keith

[Bill of the 45th]

Keith , Ken, how do you get the pan polished mirror bright?  Do you use Flitz, or just polishing compound, and the dreaded Dremel, what's the secret.  Got my left handed Durs Egg apart to inlet, and would like to polish it up, as I reassemble.  The fouling just flakes out of the pan, and no sticking, it's almost like it is plated, or tinned..
Thanks

Bill

P.S. Keith, I shot a 1" group offhand tonight with the fifty, the best i ever shot, and no wiping, and the second, and third group were under 2", got a klatch on the 25th shot, the flint loosened up, she likes 60 grains of FFFG.

[Ken G]

Hey Bill.  I'm not sure how Keith and I both missed this post but it looks like neither of us answered........for a month.   
I use my antique pre-1840 Dremel for polishing the pan on my locks.  I also use some of the red polishing compound on the buffing wheel.  Sure makes pan clean up easier.
Cheers,
Ken

[Jim Kibler]

I'm not a dog, Ken or Keith, but can offer a suggestion.  I use stones that break down very fast and conform to the shape of the pan.  To be honest I'm not sure what they are called.  I got them from my father who used them as a tool and die maker.  They work pretty well.

[Bill of the 45th]

Thanks, Jim, and Ken.  I was thinking it was something like that.  Was shooting last night, with high humidity, and it was still easy to keep the pan clean.  With low humidity, it's as easy as one swipe of the brush, and it shines.  I never use the dreaded Dremel, but may have just found a use for it, that won't screw up something.  With your forty, Keith's fifty, and Bookies thirtyseven, I hit 40 of 40 clay targets out to 75 yards off hand last night, and I had no fowling problems or soup in the pan with the high humidity.  Yeah, I'm bragging, as it's the best I've ever shot.

Bill

[Birddog6]

Ken,  your dremel is newer than mine. Mine is pre-1820 I think......     I don't know how I missed this post either, as I check the site 3-4 times a day & sometimes more.

Anyway, I use a 1/4" sanding drum on a dremel to get the lumps & bumps out, Then I use a cone chapped felt tip with red buffing compound in it  & dremel on hogh & I polish it with that to a mirror finish.

Sounds like the rifle is a shooter,  Bill !  That is  GREAT !!    Next time I miss one, just email me.  

Keith  Lisle

Note:  My dremel is not a standard dremel. Mine has a 3' flex cable on it & a handle about the size of your index finger.  So it is allot easier to control than trying to hold a motor-dremel.   Now if WILL jump out of the pan & score things up with that sanding drum on it if you are not careful. 

[G-Man]

Jim - are the stones you are referring to the same types discussed in the "Bevel Brothers" article on polishing locks in this month's Muzzle Blasts?  That article discusses water stones from Congress Tools, which come in variety of shapes and sizes and break down as you use them.
 
www.congresstools.com

[flehto]

I was lucky to have retained many  of the softer, self cleaning Gesswein stones from my time on the bench....they work excellently w/ mineral spirits. Too bad they're slowly being used up and very expensive to replace.....Fred

[Mike T]

I don't know if anyone has already covered this, but you may want to try this if you have a milling machine.  I like to mount the lock plate in my mill vise, and run a ball mill down the pan just to clean it up.  On some narrow pans like the Silers, I widen the pan slightly.  This makes it easier to polish with stones, trues up the casting and in the case of widening , gives the sparks  a larger area to strike the powder. Of course on some locks you cannot do this because of the shape of the pan or if the frizzen has a lip to seal the pan when closed.

[Jim Kibler]

Jim - are the stones you are referring to the same types discussed in the "Bevel Brothers" article on polishing locks in this month's Muzzle Blasts?  That article discusses water stones from Congress Tools, which come in variety of shapes and sizes and break down as you use them.
 
www.congresstools.com

I'm not sure what stones the Bevel Brothers were refering to, but these stones I mentioned are softer than anything I've personally used from Congress.  They seem to break down VERY fast and work best without any lubricant.  The ones I've used are relatively coarse in grit and require a little follow up with some finer stones which I got from Congress.  With a little effort any soft stone should work.  Just start with a fairly coarse grit to grind off the casting imperfections.

[Acer Saccharum]

There is a Gesswein stone called 'Moldmaker' and they are gray, and fairly soft. They must be used with oil. Then there is 'ultra soft' stones, which are white. Both of these stones conform in a few strokes to the surfaces, like a pan, or the outside of a round plate.

I use the moldmaker in 220, and the ultra soft in a 320 and 600.

Finish up the pan with the dreaded dremel with Cratex rubberized abrasive points.


Stones are needed to get the lumps and bumps out. Without stoning, the dremel just polishes the lumps and bumps, they never go away.

[chuck c.]

I too use the dreaded dremel tool with the felt cone and red polishing compound. I'm lazy so I don't use the sanding drum, I just polish the little bumps and it cleans up real easy after firing. Thanks to the Gulf of Mexico, now known as the Gulf of Tar Balls, I live in constant high humidity. When I shoot at a deer there's so much smoke you don't know what the results were until you go look. The flex cable is real handy and the tool also works well for making the concave area in front of the rear sight notch. Other than those two applications I've found that I can mess up more than I can fix with that tool.

[Ken G]

Here's the little sanding cones I use for the first pass.  I picked them up at a flea market. Then I use the the blunt ended buffing wheel with red polishing compound with my dremel.  I use the same red compound that goes on my strop pad.


http://www.kvwoodcarvingsupplies.com/sandpaper/Sanding%20product%20sanding%20cones.jpg