Spring making

[eddillon]

Is there a tutorial about spring making on the forum?  I broke a sear spring tyring to make it work properly on an old Wahkon J&S Hawken lock kit.  I am fortunate enough to have a strip of genuine Swiss federstahl about 1/8" thick and about 7/16" wide.  In its present state it files like butter.

[Mark Elliott]

You will have a lot of filing to do.   I normally make sear springs out of 1/32" 1095, and I can cut them out with aviation snips.     Using 1/32", you just cut out a strip the right width and length.  I use a little paper strip to get the length.   Then it is just a matter of heating the steel strip to red in a torch flame and bending it to shape with a couple of small pliers.    Once you have the shape right,  you heat to bright red,  and quench in oil.    I use either quenching oil or 20W.    Then you have to temper by heating the spring to 650-700F, holding for 30 minutes and allowing to cool on its own.   I use a heat treat furnace for the tempering, but you can use a lead pot set so that the lead just melts.  That should give you about the right temperature.   Just set the spring on top of the molten lead for 15 minutes or so.  Then remove and let air cool.   That is it.   It takes a matter of minutes to make a sear spring like this.

[Mark Elliott]

Ed, 

If you must use the spring steel on hand,  I would suggest that you forge out a section to about 1/32" thick so as to save you filing and save your material.   

Mark

[eddillon]

Thanks for the suggestions.  Don't have any 1095 so I guess I will be filing

[Hungry Horse]

 I have found that the teeth from a spring steel leaf rake work great. Most of them are wide enough to allow for the anchoring tab to be filed out. These can be picked up at yard sales with a tooth or two broke for nearly nothing. You'll have a lifetime supply.

                   Hungry Horse

[Bob Roller]

I have seen a lot of these sheet metal springs but none that look good
no matter how well they work.

Bob Roller

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

There's the artist showing through Bob.

[flehto]

For  sear springs and Pbox catches and lid openers 1095 is used......1/32" thick for the sear spring and .015 for the others. The sheet spring steel has a grain and it runs lengthwise w/ the springs. A MappGas torch heats quickly to a red/slightly orange color and the spring is quenched in motor oil.

For tempering, a 1/4" steel plate is heated from the bottom w/ the torch and the different polished surfaces of the  spring {especially the bend radii}
 are placed on the heated plate  until a blue/gray color is reached....a can of motor oil is used to control the color.

The edges of the springs are rounded and stoned smooth when soft....a little nick on a corner  of an edge can cause the spring to break.  Many probably know all this, but for some it might help a bit....Fred

[James Wilson Everett]

Guys,

For the sear spring I cut & file the blank from 1095 steel that is thick enough to form the screw tab, 1/4 inch thick stock is OK.  I can not remember ever seeing an original flintlock with the sear spring made from bent around thin sheet stock, all that I have examined have the screw tab solid with the hole drilled through.  It really takes but a very little time to cut & file the sear spring blank, just a few minutes.  Leave the spring blank straight until after the screw and pivot tab are completed and properly installed on the lock plate, then later make the bend and trim to length.  I use a heat treat of cherry red, brine quench and temper to 810F for springs made from 1095.  Here is a photo from the tutorial on making a frizzen spring showing the sear spring installed and ready for the bend.  http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=25950.0




Here is a photo of a finished flintlock after the sear spring has been bent, trimmed and heat treated



I have found that trying to install a completely finished sear spring (or frizzen spring) can be a bit like juggling 3 balls!

Jim

[Thom]

Wow. the elite builders have responded to this thread, and here I go. I've only built a hand full of rifles but I have always used Kit Ravensheares method of spring tempering. I rip an aluminum can in half, beat it flat on the bottom and put in my hardened spring with one teaspoon of motor oil. Hit it with a torch, and after a violent explosion of oil and smoke i dump my spring. My springs have always worked well for me. I'm still using the spring steel I bought from Dixie's 20 years ago.

[J.D.]

I am certainly not one of the building elite who have contributed to this great tutorial for making sear springs. However, the only thing left out is cutting the lower leaf, of the spring, to fit as close to the boss surrounding the sear screw as possible, leaving only enough of a gap to allow free movement of the sear.

Allowing the spring to contact the leg of the sear too far from the pivot point will give a hard trigger pull.

Also, I like to heat 1095 to a a dull orange, holding the spring by a wire through the screw hole, then quench in warmed canola oil. Temper as above. If the spring is too soft, anneal, reharden and temper at a lower temp.

Good luck
J.D.

[David R. Pennington]

Certainly a controlled temperature like an oven or lead pot is safer, but I don't have either and I've had good results with burning off the oil to get a temper as well.   

[Mark Elliott]

I have seen a lot of these sheet metal springs but none that look good
no matter how well they work.

Bob Roller

You know Bob,  I never considered how they look;  just how fast I could make something that worked.   Having been shown the error of my ways,  I will pay more attention to appearance in the future.

Thanks,

Mark

[Sawatis]

Thanks for the suggestions.  Don't have any 1095 so I guess I will be filing

You can save a lot of effort (and that nice spring steel!) if you take and cut you a strip about 1/8 by 2 from the edge of that bar and then heat it up however and forge it flat to 1/16...Heat it a good blush read and let it cool slowly (anneal in ashes or such). The start your filing!
John

[doug]

   I make my springs from drill rod which I think is about 1095.  In the case of sear springs, I start with 1/4" and forge it to a thin blade with a lump at the end large enough to drill the screw hole through.  After bending and fitting. I heat it red hot and quench in water.  Then draw the temper in molten lead for 3 minutes with the lead at the chosen temperture and let it air cool.  Currently I am drawing to 720 - 740F using a high temperature thermometer  I have drawn the temperature a number of different ways including drawing to a colour with a torch, floating on molten lead using a piece of polished iron and colour to guage temperature, using burning oil and most recently in molten lead with a thermometer.  All have worked to a degree but the molten lead method has been the easiest and most consistent for me.  I originally drew the drill rod to 680 - 700F but for the last couple of years or so have upped that to 720 - 740.
    I also tried using a piece of automotive leaf spring heated to 720F but both tries broke and I suspect it has to be heated up to at least 800F and may even air harden to a spring temper. 
    I would not call myself a master spring maker by any stretch of the imagination but I have made a moderate number of springs, mostly main springs

cheers Doug

[LRB]

  Auto springs are made in many different steels, with many of those having different heat treat needs. Many will also have micro cracking from use. They are pretty much a gamblers choice unless very new and you can identify the steel.

[eddillon]

Any thoughts on tempering at 900F?  Happens to be the self cleaning temperature of our GE Profile oven  

[LRB]

   Some packing box bands used to be 1095. don't know if they are anymore. 900° sounds high, but may not be for some steels.

[Dphariss]

Thanks for the suggestions.  Don't have any 1095 so I guess I will be filing

You can forge any carbon steel fit for spring making.
Just think it through first and heat it well back from the point you are forming since the material can through harden at the cold/hot transition and break off at that point.
I suggest you wait till you have this in hand.
http://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartDetail.aspx/321/3/BOOK-SVS

Dan

[Dphariss]

Any thoughts on tempering at 900F?  Happens to be the self cleaning temperature of our GE Profile oven  

If you want something annealed it should work fine.
Dan

[Paddlefoot]

So for those of us that want something that should work first shot, what is the best bet for purchasing spring/1095 stock? Two of the local metal supply places had nothing and an industrial hardware store only had Blue Spring steel stock in strips .005, .010 and .015 in. thickness.

[LRB]

Any thoughts on tempering at 900F?  Happens to be the self cleaning temperature of our GE Profile oven  

If you want something annealed it should work fine.
Dan

   Hey Dan, that is at or near the heat range for a spring of 01 steel. Many of the high alloyed steels require more heat than the simple types.

[mattdog]

So for those of us that want something that should work first shot, what is the best bet for purchasing spring/1095 stock?

I bought a supply of various thickness 1095 spring stock from Muzzleloaders Builders Supply.  It came in 6" x 1" strips, enough for several springs and the price is very reasonable.   I'd suggest that you call them and tell them what you want to make and they will guide you to the correct thickness for your purpose.  I bought several pieces in different thicknesses so I have it covered when something comes up.

 MBS, (208) 397-3008

[westbj2]

Fast service and fair prices
http://www.knifemaking.com/category-s/282.htm

[Dphariss]

Any thoughts on tempering at 900F?  Happens to be the self cleaning temperature of our GE Profile oven  

If you want something annealed it should work fine.
Dan

   Hey Dan, that is at or near the heat range for a spring of 01 steel. Many of the high alloyed steels require more heat than the simple types.

I realize that this varies with the alloy. I have a couple of 01 springs in service that are tempered fire blue in Nitrate just like 10xx springs. I did have one break some years ago but sometimes 10xx springs break too.
I personally would not run a spring that hot, but then I do them by eye. IIRC 900 is grey in temper colors.
 
Dan