Lock cleanup 'Parting lines'

[dlubbesmeyer]

hey guys
I am ready to inlet my Chambers early lock and one of the books says to remove 'parting lines before drafting the lock plate. My question is about the narrow edge around the plate. Is this a parting line to be removed before drafting the plate at the beveled edge! or do I start my draft at the lock outside bevel?
Any photo would greatly help
Thanks
Dan

[P.Bigham]

 I think the parting lines your book is referring to may be casting parting lines. Some of Chambers Locks already have a draft cast in the Lock plate. If you have the Large Round Faced English Lock you would not remove the line moulding on the Face.

[Mike Brooks]

If this is the early Ketland you will ned to bevel the top surface as well. Like this gun's lock.
http://www.fowlingguns.com/gunforsale8.html

[whetrock]

Dan,
Some early Ketlands were beveled along the face, like Mike's great photos show. But not all were. So if you are building a copy of an antique, but sure to study that detail well if it matters to you.
For example, here is a detail of RCA 124. It is only beveled on the top edge just behind the cock. Most of it is not beveled.
Hope this helps.
Whet
PS: If you want to see a clear, detailed photo of this lock, it is in Shumway's Longrifle Articles, Vol II, p 190, and again on p 216. (also in Muzzle Blasts, Jan 1970, and Sept 1981, as Shumway notes).

[Mark Elliott]

Dan,
Some early Ketlands were beveled along the face, like Mike's great photos show. But not all were. So if you are building a copy of an antique, but sure to study that detail well if it matters to you.
For example, here is a detail of RCA 124. It is only beveled on the top edge just behind the cock. Most of it is not beveled.
Hope this helps.
Whet

Gary Brumfield told me to always bevel the edge, and I have mostly followed that instruction,  but you can't argue with an original.   As to the draft on the edge,  I always run a file around the edge.   Someplaces already have a draft and some don't.   Where you have those little moulding lines at the bottom of the bevel on early locks,  they stay, and you polish the bevel with small stones. 

[Mike Brooks]

Dan,
Some early Ketlands were beveled along the face, like Mike's great photos show. But not all were. So if you are building a copy of an antique, but sure to study that detail well if it matters to you.
For example, here is a detail of RCA 124. It is only beveled on the top edge just behind the cock. Most of it is not beveled.
Hope this helps.
Whet
PS: If you want to see a clear, detailed photo of this lock, it is in Shumway's Longrifle Articles, Vol II, p 190, and again on p 216. (also in Muzzle Blasts, Jan 1970, and Sept 1981, as Shumway notes).

Looks beveled to me.....never seen an original flat faced English lock that wasn't. In fact, it's obviously beveled in the other pictures in Shumway's book. Your seeing an optical illusion in this particular picture. It is beveled less than the one I did, but it is beveled none the less.

[louieparker]

Whetrock , Photos can be very deceiving. I have never seen a lock only beveled behind the cock.   LP

[Telgan]

I have a feeling he may be talking about the early Germanic with the odd ( I have always thought it odd ) rim around outside of the plate. I like the way that lock looks much better with the rim removed - But I see it used both with and without. Which lock

[David Rase]

If this is the early Ketland you will ned to bevel the top surface as well. Like this gun's lock.
http://www.fowlingguns.com/gunforsale8.html

Mike,
That lock looks really great with a bevel filed around the edge.  Makes it look like a completely different lock.  Very nice.
David

[flehto]

Having designed many molds, am quite familiar w/ "parting lines". Seeing PLs can be unsightly, one should try to hide them if possible by parting the mold at the juncture of converging surfaces, Sometimes this is impossible if the PL has to "jump" between 2 surfaces.

Also the quality of the mold denoted by "matched" PLS between both mold halves makes for a "cleaner" part.  I always use Chambers' flintlocks and the cleanup of PLs is nearly non-existent. ....Fred

[whetrock]

Thanks guys. I appreciate your patient replies.

Yes, Mike is right. It is slightly beveled. My photo does show that, and I think the photo on Shumways p 216 does seem to show that, just as Mike says.

Mark, yes. I think Gary’s old "Flintriflesmith" post of the “early SW Virginia” shows a very slight bevel, perhaps about equal to what we see on RCA 124. Gary's post shows how this looked in a new build, with crisp edges around the mortise.
http://flintriflesmith.com/GunshopEraGuns/62_caliber.htm

Louie, yes. I would certainly have to agree with you in principle.

If I get a chance to examine this piece again soon, then I’ll try to get some better pics. I’m sorry that the close up that I made of the lock is so poor. Also sorry to have made confusing comments earlier. Sincere thanks to you all for the correction.

Whetrock

[Mike Brooks]

At one point today I dug out my antique Ketland fowling gun and took a look at the lock.....I actually learned something. The bevel is just like the one by Whetrock. It has a pronounced bevel  at the upper rear and the nose of the lock. The bevel is much less pronounced on the lower edge, but still there. Seems to be a lower end lock feature I think. The higher end English flat faced locks have much stronger and consistent bevel all the way around.

My old lock is actually pretty crude by today's standards, unbridled tumbler, Hammer marks from the forge in the inside of the plate and there are thick and thin areas from one end of the plate to the other. Not at all what we are used to today.