Lock polishing contest

[Acer Saccharum]

Inspired by Dave Rase, who is in WA, bored out of his mind, this contest is open to all. Any lock, any tools, any kind of finish.

To enter your work, you must be willing to share your techniques and methods, how long it took you,  and your sources of supply for those special abrasives and files, etc.

This is your chance, fellers, to show off your polishing abilities, and to learn how others do their work. So c'mon, belly up to the bar, and start your belt sanders!

Acer

[Acer Saccharum]

This is my entry, the jaeger lock for my current rifle. This is just the plate, and I will add more pics as I finish up the cock and frizzen. This lock will be engraved and casehardened, but this post is just about polishing, so I can save that for another post, on another day.

Germanic jaeger lock, TRS #563






Three days so far, filing, stoning up to 600 grit, then brass brushing with 1200 grit compound
The rim around the plate I cut with a chisel to clean and define the line, and then rifflered it, and then lapped with a brass lap charged with diamond compound.

Great effort was made to keep the corners crisp and sharp, modeling the contours with files and stones to preserve the shape of the castings.

[ironwolf]

  Excellent work on those edges there Lad.  Nice job overall actually.  I was wondering the other day,when you first posted those pics, would you snap some pics of the internals side when you put it back together for us?

  KW

[jerrywh]

Now just inlay it with gold flush and relief flowers, leaves  and scrolls. Polish it again.  Then tell me what it's worth.

[David Rase]

Tom,  Since our last emails early this afternoon I have made 2 hours progress on my frizzen spring.  See, I am inspired already.  I have been using diamond jewelers files and water.  I am ready to switch to stones and oil.  Tried wetting the files with 'Fantastic' spray cleaner, the same stuff David Price showed me he uses to clean rifles but it did not work so well.  It does work great for cleaning rifles.  I thought the soap in the spray would help lubricate the diamond files.  Did not work worth a darn so I had to walk my lazy self across the shop and get a jar of water.  I will post some pics tonight or tomorrow of the lock in the beginning phases.
DMR

[rogero]

looks great! and i wont enter for the simple fact that im a machinist and for the last 2 years thats all ive been doing! polishing hunks of junk so they look like a mirror ,it has lost its appeal to me ...perhaps in the future but the best of luck to you all
Rog

[Acer Saccharum]

Rogero, I, too, polished molds for years. Most hateful job. I would fall asleep while polishing. This, at least will go BANG! when done, make lots of smoke and send a big ball very fast down the line. I can justify that.

Jerry, I don't know what I will do for the engraving yet. I am thinking of a banner in gold, but keep it fairly simple overall. I don't see a lot of roundfaced locks with a lot of decoration in the Steinschloss book. However, I am open to suggestion, and as Cody knows, swayed after persistent undermining of my resolve.

Dave, I am glad you're getting inspired, because your workmanship is great. I am completely honored to be in a contest with you.

KW, here is a link to some internals, in the rough; http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a246/Tom45-70/Jaeger/103_0850.jpg
and album at http://s12.photobucket.com/albums/a246/Tom45-70/Jaeger/?start=80

[famouseagle]

I'm in.  Here's a Chambers Large Siler.  I flattened both sides of the lockplate and polished the surfices with jewelers' files and emory.  The Frizzen was too hard for the files but polished nicely with a bullet shaped stone in a Dremel.  The jeweling was done with a kit I bought from Brownells. 

Sorry for the poor photos.

I did no buffing as it tends to round the edges and leave a sunken area around screw holes.  Some parts were fire blued.

[Eric Kettenburg]

Can we rename this the "I may prefer to extricate every one of my teeth with no anesthesia" contest?  And no, Bill, you may not take me up on that! 

Why?
(insert dramatic pause)
Because I choose not to polish!

[B Shipman]

I'll play. Here's one I just finished for my next rifle. Modified Chambers Golden Age. New hammer and top jaw, modified plate, pan, , frizzen spring, frizzen.  Late Ketland for size comparison. Wanted it as skinny as possible just for the look of it.

Finished to very fine files. 320 then 400 wet or dry paper staying off the edges and that's it. Inside and out.

[Acer Saccharum]

I forgot about polishing the internals.

For your sanity, or what remains of it, it is best to break a gun down in a series of mini projects, ones that  can be completed in a short time period. This way, you have many occasions where you feel a sense of accomplishment.

[rich pierce]

I'll play. Here's one I just finished for my next rifle. Modified Chambers Golden Age. New hammer and top jaw, modified plate, pan, , frizzen spring, frizzen.  Late Ketland for size comparison. Wanted it as skinny as possible just for the look of it.

Finished to very fine files. 320 then 400 wet or dry paper staying off the edges and that's it. Inside and out.

Great looking lock, Bill.  What's the application (your next build)?  Looks lean and clean.

[David Rase]

I'll play. Here's one I just finished for my next rifle. Modified Chambers Golden Age. New hammer and top jaw, modified plate, pan, , frizzen spring, frizzen.  Late Ketland for size comparison. Wanted it as skinny as possible just for the look of it.

And I thought I had my work cut out for me in the lock swap game but Bill, you take the cake this time.  I am building a Tulle and was not satisfied with any of the commercial choices offered so I started with the Davis French fusil lock, threw away the cock, top jaw, top jaw screw, cock screw, frizzen and frizzen spring and replaced the cock and top jaw with one from a Jim Chambers early Ketland lock, bought a Davis early English frizzen spring and made my own cock screw and frizzen spring screw.  Oh yea, I annealed the Davis fusil frizzen  and reshaped it to look more Tulle and less Germantic.
DMR

[B Shipman]

Rich , a George Kreps.

[westbj2]

Noticed the post and was just finishing up a lockplate for an upcoming project.  It is for an Alexander Henry rifle.  This lock has the "stepped" plate and a corresponding bunch of 'crooked' parts.  Shown in the picture is the original plate and mainspring and the new plate.  The plate was cut on an EDM, finished with files, then fine stones impregnated with polishing compound and kerosene as a lube, then polished with compound laden wooden sticks and leather.  Final polish with more leather when internals are fitted.





Jim Westberg

[Ohioan]

I polished the lock on my rifle.  But, I didn't have enough patience.  I didn't clean my files enough so just as soon as I'd get it looking good with one grit, I'd get a chip in a file, and scratch the surface.  I repaired it twice, then gave up.  I got it polished up to 320 wet or dry, but there is a scratch.  Beginners mistakes. 

I was watching a documentary on the Hale Telescope, which at one time had the largest piece of glass in the world.  200in Pyrex.  They polished it for YEARS in a pressurized room.  They polished through varius levels of grit.  The last thing they used to polish was a their thumbs.  Which removed 1millionth of an inch of glass. 

That's some serious polishing

[David Rase]

The last thing they used to polish was their thumbs. 

There you go Tom.  Since I hear you are all thumbs, that might be a good technique for you to use.  Might be a tad bit tough keeping those edges sharp. 
Have a happy new year!

DMR

[Bentflint]

David, sharp edges are a good deterrent when rubbing your thumbs on stuff. I think Tom will stop before he rubs them off.

Bruce Everhart

[Benedict]

Ok, here is my entry.  It is an L&R Dickert.  After taking Jim Chambers' Lock class in Bowling Green, I discovered just how bad all the locks that I used to consider pretty good actually were.  So I started on this one and polished the outside.  On the inside I got lazy and just polished the critical surfaces ie. plate, tumbler toe, main spring toe, etc.  This took over 18 hours of work with files and sandpaper.  All parts are polished to 600 grit paper.  It is amazing how much you notice in pictures that you did not notice on the work itself.  Also there are a few scratches and dust that have collected since I finished polishing.  What do you think?






Bruce

[Acer Saccharum]

Bruce, I think you done good. You certainly got all those nooks and crannies, while keeping everything nice and crisp. One suggestion; I'd make the direction of the 600 grit go with  the length of the plate. It's minor detail, but I find the angled lines distracting.

It is amazing how much you notice in pictures that you did not notice on the work itself.

I find, too, that things look great to me until I post them on the ALR.

Acer

[Acer Saccharum]

I'm trying very hard to ignore the peanut gallery.

[Benedict]

Acer, thank you for the comments.  I was probably a little premature in going to 600 this early in the construction because I think there are a couple of scratches that I will have to take out later.  Then I can get rid of the diagonal scratches.  Also, I expect that the engraving will make the sandpaper scratches less noticable, but maybe not.

Bruce

[Long John]

FFzzzzzzzzz...................plop!

Gulp.............Ahgggg!

OK, Acer I bit!

I was blissfully making ramrod pipes when this thread started.  I switched over to polishing my lock which started life as Chambers Deluxe Golden Age before I decided to reshape a couple if things.  I probably should have just stared with the Gun Maker's Lock instead.  Live and Learn!

I'll post a photo this weekend.

Best Regards,

John Cholin

[timM]

Here is my entry......... a large Siler kit.  I was pretty sure I didn't know when to stop (polishing).  I feel better already!  These parts for my first gun building project. tim

[David Rase]

Here is a photo of the lock I have been working on this week.  It is for my Tulle.  Starting life as a Davis French fusil I replaced the cock with one from a Jim Chambers early Ketland.  I hand made the top jaw, top jaw screw and tumbler screw.  I replaced the frizzen spring with one from a Davis engraved fowling lock.  Reshaped the finial and made a larger frizzen spring screw.  I then took the existing frizzen, tempered it and removed all the Germantic file work off the back side of the frizzen face making the frizzen more Continental in appearance.  I enlarged the powder area in the pan, blued the frizzen cover to the pan and finally hand engraved Tulle on the lock plate.  Currently the lock is filed and rough stoned to shape.  Once stoning is complete I will color case harden the lock and then grey it back with a diluted solution of phosphoric acid.
DMR