Wear plate for Hawken

[prairieofthedog]

I have a Fullstock Hawken that has developed a small crack from the rear thimble to the front of the trigger bar.It's not going to cause any problems but I don't like looking at it LOL.I want to make a wear plate to cover it up.What would be a appropriate metal to use steel, copper, brass?I will attach the wear plate with small nails and want the plate to be thin enough to conform to the stock well.What would be a good thickness for the plate?Thanks.

[Dphariss]

Sheet iron would be perfect in modern terms 1010 coiled shim stock is a close match.
 6"wide x 100" long roll
 http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/NNSRIT2?PMPXNO=1647274&PMTERM=00050252
This is .025" thick.
This is supposed to be 1010 alloy and is virtually "iron" for our purposes.
Should be easy to form and is a good thickness for your use.

Dan

[rsells]

I would use something like Accura Glass liquid to repair the crack, and then inlet a wear plate like on the Modena rifle made of Iron.  I am making the assumption that your Hawken is iron mounted.
                                                                                  Roger Sells

[bgf]

For the original poster, the 22g (~0.029") cold rolled mild steel sheet at Tractor Supply or Lowes might also work for what you want to do.  It is sold in 24"x8" sheets for about $10 -- there is a smaller sheet for less, also.

Just curious -- what is the date for sheet iron being widely available?  Brass and copper seem to have been pretty common and often used for repairs.  I've actually got a horse in the race as I may want to add a fake repair to my current project.  It is iron mounted, but I was thinking that brass sheet nailed on the surface would have been a fairly common method for a later repair, up almost until the 20th century in some cases.  I assume that the Modena Hawken's wear plate was made and inlet at the time the rifle was made?

[prairieofthedog]

rsells,yes my Hawken is Iron mounted,and I will probably use steel to make the wear plate.I don't think I will try to repair the crack cause it just runs down the center of the ramrod chanel.I will probably just nail the wear plate on and not inlet it,so it looks like a field repair.To the last poster, I was thinking using brass or copper for the plate because they could have cut up a old copper or brass kettle or bucket.They could have done this in the field or at a fort in down time.But I guess if they had access to barrel hoops they could do the repair in iron too.Some think Modena's rifle may have had a for-end crack and the wear plate added to fix it.But Baird says in his book that he could not see any evidence of damage looking at the original rifle.

[bgf]

Good point about the barrel hoops, but all the (obvious) repairs I can remember seeing were with brass or copper sheet (if metal at all and not wire, rawhide, etc.), some done quite skillfully, others much less so. They sure never seemed to lack nails!  Maybe someone has an example of a field repair done with iron. 

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Does anyone know for certain, if the plate on the Modena Hawken is inlet flush with the wood, or is it simply overlaid?

[Chuck Burrows]

FWIW - Here's a Sam Hawken fullstock with a brass repaired wrist so IMO brass would not be "wrong" even on an iron mounted gun

[smylee grouch]

I have had the Modena rifle in my hands and dont recall if the plate was inlet flush or not but in Jim Gordons book it almost looks as though its somewhat inlet. I will posibly be going through Mr. Gordons museum in a couple of weeks and maybe find out for sure.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Thanks Smylee...pls. keep me in mind when you check out the rifle.

[Chuck Burrows]

Does anyone know for certain, if the plate on the Modena Hawken is inlet flush with the wood, or is it simply overlaid?

Taylor - It is definitely inletted - I got to handle it and take measurements back in 1974 when it was still in Colorado. Unfortunately during one of my moves all the info was lost.
BTW while the replaced barrel is marked S Hawken the original gun is most likely a Campbell-Hoffman built gun (Don Stith and several other Hawken experts agree) and IMO it is an early 1840's built gun that Medina most likely bought while in St Louis during that period - IIRC he went to St Louis in 1842 or 3 with Kit Carson.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Thanks Chuck.  I suspected the same, considering the workmanship on the rest of the rifle, and the Hawken's reputation.  The rest of the history info is very interesting.