Late Ketland Frizzen Question

[Cory Joe Stewart]

Folks,

I am working with a Late Ketland lock from Chambers.  The frizzen has trouble flying all the way foward and exposing the priming powder to the spark.  I have played around with the size of the flintwith no luck.  Any suggestions as to what to do??

Coryjoe

[T*O*F]

1.  Does it work OK off the gun?
2.  If so, it is probably dragging against the barrel when in the gun.
3.  File offending area smooth for clearance.

[Cory Joe Stewart]

Works the same in or out.

Coryjoe

[hammer]

Coryjoe, hard to understand at a distance.   Could be a few things.   
If you set the flint forward (or backwards) in the jaws so that, by lowering the cock and lifting the frizzen, the edge of the flint can just touch the bottom edge of the frizzen/pan cover, does the frizzen then spring forward?   (That is with the flint bevel up.)  If not, then it isn't the flint position that is causing the problem and I would recommend contacting Chambers before playing around with the toe or feather spring. 

Good luck,

[Meteorman]

CJ:  some of my ideas:

1) call Jim and ask.
1a) make sure its not binding somewhere. - you said you did that.
2) turn the flint over.
3) did you brown the lock?  you sure the joint and frizzen screw are lubricated and not corroded?
4) you're positive it's not bounce-back? 
5) polish the frizzen foot
6) last resort: messing with foot geometry and/or frizzen spring  - I'm no help with that, and seems like that's rarely needed with a Chambers lock.
/m

[Cory Joe Stewart]

Turning the flin over seems to work.  Thanks everyone.  I will let you know if that seems to fix it.

Coryjoe

[Vomitus]

  Jim says to have the bevel up,never down. This wonderful lock generates it's speed in the last 1/2 inch or so and contacts the frizzen half way down.Flint size is 5/8ths by 3/4 inch. Mine bounced back and broke flints(bevel down) or bounced back and  "pinched" the flint leaving the frizzen partially open.Once I changed to the right size flint and bevel up,all worked good. Good luck with yours. When stuck, best to call Jim.

[bgf]

I think it might be normal.  I noticed my Late Ketland doing the same thing last week.  I had been shooting the old Durs Egg (which likes bevel down) recently and had put a flint into the Late Ketland bevel down without thinking.  It still sparked fine -- took most of a match to notice/figure out the cause, but the frizzen was stopping short of fully opening.  I really like the Chambers Late Ketland lock !

[Bob Roller]

Polish the frizzen foot? It has a roller on the spring
so that wouldn't help with this particular lock.
I have made up 4 or 5 of these late Ketlands and
I really like it. I do however use an English style mechanism with the
mainspring (forged)connected with a link or stirrup as some call it.
I preload the mainspring a bit more and no problems are reported.

Bob Roller

[Meteorman]

You're of course right Bob.
Thats what i get for offering generic advice without checking specifics of question.
/mm

[54ball]

I am working with a Late Ketland lock from Chambers.  The frizzen has trouble flying all the way foward and exposing the priming powder to the spark.

 Try this first it will not hurt a thing.

If this is a new lock, they work better when they are broken in and have some use; the frizzen face even though the correct hardness may still need to work harden a bit. Sometimes when new, the face of the frizzen is a little rough catching the flint. Mine at times tended to catch the flint at the chatter marks and would not open fully at times.

 I simply polished the face of the frizzen with some very fine emory. This provided a slick surface for the flint to slide easily but still provided good spark.

 This lock, mine at least, tended to be real sensitive to flint length. Too short and it would not fully open, too long and it would not fully open. Most of the time it did not open was due to the flint being too short. Simply moving moving the flint forward in the jaws just a little solved the problem.

 In my experience bevel up or bevel down tended to depend more on the overall shape of the flint and how it ends up in the jaws tightened up.

 If no luck with simple adjustments and polishing, you may want to pull the frizzen spring and make sure she has no binding at the frizzen pivot screw. If it does have a little drag when you manually flip the frizzen with your finger, you may need to remove the pivot screw and polish that area just a little.

[Bob Roller]

Every flintlock I make gets the frizzen polished with emory cloth and leaves my shop with a flint in place
so it can be tested by the owner right out of the box.
Removing the frizzen spring and testing for drag by rocking the frizzen back and forth is a good idea.
Also,a lock that works perfectly while held in the hand will be different when mounted on the gun with the
cross screws tightened. I once read where someone wrote that "A flintlock is a fractuous thing",whatever
that means.

Bob Roller

[PPatch]

Here you go Rob...

--------------

frac·tious  (frkshs)
adj.
1. Inclined to make trouble; unruly.
2. Having a peevish nature; cranky.

--------------

Sounds about right sometimes, huh? 

dp

[Don Getz]

Wow, that was a new word to me too.   Who said you were too old to learn something, I think I am that way too.  About that
late ketland, I really like that lock for several reasons, and have never had the problems that he is having.  It is a fast lock, and I especially like the big pan, it gives a larger area to catch a spark..........Don

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

What you are thinking is the frizzen failing to open may in  fact be the frizzen rebounding and resting against the flint.  Try this for giggles...place a piece of masking tape on the top of your flint, allowing the edge to be exposed.  Put some transfer colour like inletting black or lip stick on the underside of the pan cover of the frizzen.  Snap the lock, and then check the top of the flint's masking tape.  You may see a mark on the tape where the frizzen has fully opened, but then bounced back.  My own lock did this until I lightened up the powerful mainspring a bit.  The lock still produces a shower of good sparks, but without the boounce-back.