Hawken stuff

[smylee grouch]

OK I see it now, the filing and engraving made some major cosmetic changes. Thanks for that explanation. Keep up the good work. It's fun to watch as it is when Runar builds and when Okiboy documented his rifle a few years back.

[Daryl]

The double throated cock-lock looks perfect, just as it is to me, too. It is very nice indeed.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Just to be specific about the lock, as it comes 'out of the box' first the surfaces need to be drawfiled, stoned, and polished.  The edges do not have sufficient bevel, so I filed a greater and heavier bevel around the periphery.  The tail has a flattened section that I increased, deepened and added a concave molding with a border.   The bridle of the frizzen was filed to give a more pleasing shape and the finial where the frizzen screw terminates was rounded.  Apart from filing and polishing, the cock is fine as is.  I engraved in block letters, "Ashmore Warranted", and did a little decorative engraving.  The plate, cock and tumbler bridle were then pack hardened.  Adding to the bevel on the plate diminishes the thickness that needs to be inlet, and adds to the appearance of the lock and the molding surrounding it.  On these particular locks, I also reharden and draw the temper of the frizzen springs to a dull grey past blue...they tend to be brittle.

[Joe S.]

That's a real nice touch to give some extra detail to the flint lock.I too like the patina,darn shame what it took to get there though.I'm right about where you are with my hawken and you now have my thinking about the look of the lock plate.I did want to have that ashmore warranted like the picture in Baird's book but did not see the extra details around the lock like the bevels ect.Thanks for pointing these details out,love your work and attention to detail.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I got an email from one of our subscribers asking about the filing of the L&R plate, so I thought I might as well post it here as well.  Hope he doesn't mind me sharing the msg. I mailed him.

In the image, you see a new L&R plate along with the one I'm using on this build.  Treat all locks, and triggers as received, as a kit that you can improve upon.  They are a blank canvas.


Joe:  the first thing to do, even before inletting, is to file the edges of the plate to remove the as cast surface, and true up the 'draft' edge.  this makes inletting the lock so much easier.

Then, with your Vernier's calipers, scratch a line on the plate parallel to the edge, all the way around the plate.  Now, holding the plate in your vise in protective brass, leather or wood pads, file the bevel into the plate.  You'll be cutting down and into the edge, reducing the surface of the edge that will be inlet.  All of the beveled portion will remain above the surface of the stock.  That is to say, once the lock is inlet so that the bolster sets firmly and evenly along the side flat of the barrel, you must take away stock wood until all of the bevel is proud.

Now you can cut the concave molding, and decorative border, and reduce the height of the flat tail down to the bevel.
Baird's books have no flint plates illustrated...that's why you can't remember seeing one there.  Percussion plates, almost always, are flat with the wood.

[Joe S.]

Thanks Taylor,nah don't mind you sharing this with the folks.Without your knowledge and expertise building one of these rifles would be a heck of a lot more difficult.I appreciate you sharing it with us.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Butt plates are on both stocks.  This first one is what TOW calls their "Bridger" butt plate.  But I filed out the little curved webb where the crescent joins the heel, as there are more originals like that than with the curve's.  The ones with the little curves are usually associated with the two piece brazed butt rather than the cast ones, I think.






This second one is for a full stocked rifle, so it's an earlier style plate.  This one may have originated in Don Stith's shop, now sold by TOW as well.  It is much lighter and thinner.  But this particular specimen was too hard to drill for the screw holes, but it annealed with red heat and air cooled.  I like both plates, for different reasons.

There's nothing special about these inlets.  I bandsawed as close to the inside curve profile as I could, and then it's rasp, file and chisel, with lots of fitting with transfer grease...lipstick in this case.   I used a short bladed knife as a scraper at times as well.  It's easy to lose the line along the top of the comb as you whittle away, so keep a straight edge handy to frequently check that comb line, and don't inlet the plate kicked up or down.  Make sure you drill the holes at 90 degrees to the surface of the plate - otherwise, the screw heads will not fit nicely into the countersinks.  I like the screw slots to align with the bore, but it isn't necessarily historically correct.  If you do the same, countersink less than you think is necessary, screw the plate down, and then little by little, increase the depth until you're happy.  File off the heads flush - make sure you've deepened the slots if necessary, or you'll cut away the screwdriver slot.  A hacksaw is all that I use for that, in the case of these screws.  The screws are # 10 x 1 1/4" with a countersink domed head.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I just re-read my last post, and there is one more thing I want to bring to your attention.
I drill the pilot holes for the screws through the plate with a 1/8" drill bit.  then I return the plate to the stock, drop the drill through the holes and lightly tap with a mallet, ensuring that the drill is square.  Then prick punch the mark left by the drill bit on the wood on the crescent hole, but not the one on the heel.  I prick punch that mark about 3/64" FORWARD of the mark.  Then I drill these two marks again with a 1/8" or 9/64" bit, square with the surfaces and to a depth of about 1".  A #9 drill bit will give the clearance needed for these screws I use.  Select a screw driver that fits the slots in the screw head closely, rub some bees wax onto the threads of the screws, and run them into the wood.  Setting the hole in the wood a little forward on the heel will draw the plate tightly against the wood.  I have already described cutting the countersinks. 

Don't hesitate to ask for clarification if I am too vague in some aspect of this work.

[sqrldog]

Taylor
First thank you for taking the time to post all that you posted concerning the construction of two fine Hawken rifles. I only wish one of them was coming to Alabama.  I have always had a soft spot for Hawken rifles. Just a bit of trivia on the M900 L&R. If memory serves me the M900 was initially based on a Birmingham lock made by Bishop. It was owned by Lynton McKenzie and loaned to LC and Liston Rice to use as a basis for the M900. They called it a Manton because as LC said" who ever heard of a Bishop". Anyway it supposedly had never been mounted on a gun and was in pristine condition for a lock of that age. I have a picture of the original lock front and back. It came pre engraved as did many of the export locks of this period. Just basically an export lock of the period. But very appropriate to use on an american rifle

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I've done a tutorial on inletting barrel slides before, but I'm at that stage with these two rifles, so I'll keep this ball rolling by repeating myself.
The slides are commercial offerings from TOW.  Two of them have slanted heads for the upper forestock, and one does not, for the lower forestock.  I file and polish to 120 grit prior to inletting, and they ended up .070" thick and about 3/8" wide.  I'll increase the length of the slot in the slides when the time comes to install the capture pins.  But now it's time to inlet them.
Measure the barrel's vertical dimension with Vernier's calipers from the top flat to the top of the slot in the underlug...write it on the barrel.  Do all three...they may not be the same.  I use a fine tipped marker to indicate the exact location and extreme borders of the slot in the underlub, on the flats of the barrel, extending them up the angled flat to the side flat.  Then, with the barrel in its channel, I transfer these vertical lines to the wood, using a sharp pencil and a machinist's square.  I do this for all three slides on both sides of the stock.
Now, set your Vernier's calipers for the dimension you wrote on the barrel.  Set your square on the top flat above the slot location with the leg alongside the stock.  Using the inside legs of the calipers, set one leg against the square and the other on the wood...hold it there while you deftly use a pencil to make a dot on the wood, indicating the barrel's full depth in the channel.  Use your finger as a guide and draw that mark all the way across the width of the slot.  Now lay the key against the wood, and mark the bottom dimension of the slot.  It will look something like this.




Do this on both sides of the stock in all three slot locations.  You'll get good at it the more you do it.  And I know, a video would have been easier to understand.
Now it's a simple matter to prick punch three marks just inside the extreme outside ends of the slot and the middle.  Then centre punch your marks.






I use a drill press to make my holes in the stock.  I set the rifle in the vise on the press table, gently squeezing the barrel and wood enough to hold it and you can tell it's square looking at the contact between the vise and the barrel.  I drilled the holes with a #50 drill (.070").  The drill press was set on high speed, and the the drill bit aligned carefully over the marks, then brought down to contact very gently until I had a clean perfect start. I drilled and withdrew three times on each hole, to clear chips, and ensure that the bit didn't wander off line.  I drilled a little over half way through the stock.







I drill all the holes on one side of the stock, moving the rifle along each time.  When you do the slot closest to the muzzle, you'll either have to set up a support to take the weight of the rifle or hold it in your left hand while you drill with the right.  I don't clamp the vise down, though that would be a good idea, but still there is too much weight out to the end of the rifle for the vise to hold without crushing everything.  You do not want to squeeze it so tight that you change the barrel's seat in the channel, or do other nasty stuff.
Then I turn the rifle over and drill from the other side.  You'll find that the holes will align very well from side to side, if you've done your layout well.

Removing the wood webs between the holes is next.  For this task, I made a chisel from a thin worn out file used for sharpening spade drill bits.  The chisel ended up being .057" thick.  I just insert the tip into the middle hole and gently push in and wiggle back and forth parallel to the length of the slot.  In this step, the barrel is out of the stock, so you'll see the tip of the chisel breaking through into the lug inlet in the channel.  Then it's into the outside holes breaking the wood toward the centre, being careful not to widen the slot.  The sharp chisel will make the slot rectangular, when prior, it had rounded ends from the drill bit. Again, work until you get to the centre of the channel;  then go from the other side.





This shot shows the slot chiseled out and the tool I made for the purpose.  The handle is a hardwood plug I used on a .62 cal Hawken years ago, and added some leather work to improve grip.






The keys will still not go through the stock, but that's good.  That means you have not taken away too much wood.  To make the fit perfect, the next step is to burn your way through the wood and the lug at the same time.  Put the barrel back into the channel, and clamp it gently fore and aft.  Grip one of your keys with a pair of vise grips by its head, heat the tip not quite red, carefully insert the hot key into the slot and push it squarely into the slot.  It won't go all the way in one pass, most likely.  Just repeat until it goes through.  I insert all my keys from left to right - the same way my lock nails go through.  I've seen Hawken rifles with keys going in etiher side, but most go left to right.  If you do them the same as your lock nail, you won't get mixed up. 








That's it for barrel slides (keys).  When you dress off the stock - in this case I used my bandsaw - the burnt edges of the slots will disappear, leaving only perfectly fitted slides.  Remember, it is the slides in contact with the wood that holds the wood to the barrel.  If you use escutcheons (and you don't need them with this system) they are only decoration, and to protect the stock from ham-fisted pin or slide removal.  The escutcheons are not to support the keys.




Thanks for your continued interest.

[PPatch]

I'm still tracking with you here Taylor and loving this tutorial. Beautiful work.

dave

[Joe S.]

Me too,I know if you do your figuring right this should work just fine but this is the one thing in the build that's shake my confidence a little.You only get one shot at getting the slots right.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

One of the jobs that is most difficult, for me at least, to get right is to get the tang screws countersunk into the tang so that they are perfect...no gaps at the front or rear.  The key is to get that drill square with the top of the tang,  Here's how I do it.

In order to determine where to put the front screw on a Hawken tang, you have to think through the process and find out where you want it to come out on the trigger plate.  So turn the rifle up-side-down and make a mark in the centre of the plate just forward of the guard's threaded hole.  That's the traditional exit point.  Prick punch it, and then centre punch it.  Now, draw a line across the bottom of the stock at ninety degrees to the length.  Add a little witness mark on the side of the wood where this line ends.  In the following photo, I've already done the work, and am now backing up to document it...sorry order is backward.  Ignore the two parallel lines that go up the side of the wood for now.

how do i delete an account

With the stock in the vise, barrel and tang and triggers completely inlet, place your machinist's square on the top of the tang, straight across, with the leg down the side of the stock.  With your thumb on the top pressing the square firmly against the tang, you'll see the leg in some proximaty (spell check doesn't like my word) to that mark you made at the bottom edge of the stock.  Slide the square back and forward along the tang watching how the leg moves to come to your little mark.  When you have the leg in contact with that mark and the square straight across the tang, make a pencil mark on both leading and trailing edges of the square, and along both sides of the leg too.  Those are the two parallel lines you saw in the first shot.  It was difficult for me to hold everything with one hand and take a picture with the other, but I hope you get the idea.




Now do the same with the rear screw.  It doesn't matter where that one ends up on the trigger plate, as it will end up behind the mainspring's retaining screw.




Draw a line across the bottom of the stock at right angles to the length.  Be aware that you have built taper into your lock panels and you cannot use the square along the side of the stock to make this line.  I eyeball it.

Now mark the centre of the plate, prick and centre punch and you are ready to drill for the screws.




You have two pairs of lines crossing your tang, one set for each screw.  Mark the middle of the tang between each pair, prick and centre punch.  Remove the tang from the rifle, set it FLAT ON A BLOCK on the press table and drill these two holes with a 1/8" bit.  It's important to drill these two holes at ninety degrees to the surface of the tang.

Remove the triggers from the rifle, and disassemble the triggers.
If you are using #10 x 32 tpi screws, choose a #21 for your tap drill.  But pre-drill with a drill bit smaller than that, such as a 1/8" bit.  For that rear screw, you can simply turn the trigger plate up-side-down and drill straight through on your mark.  But the forward screw is a little trickier.  The forward screw passes through the trigger plate at an angle less than ninety degrees, so start that 1/8" bit into the plate with everything square...go in about 1/16".  Now clamp the plate in the drill press vise so that the bit will pass through at an angle.  What angle?  I'd have to take the thing apart and measure it.  I just set a 1/2" block under the forward end of the plate, and drill it through.  The angle is noticeably less than 90 deg....does that help?  Don't drill with the tap drill yet.

Put the tap drill into the chuck, set up you table vise with a centre punch sticking up about 1 1/2", align the tap drill with the centre punch, drop the table about 2 1/2" or so, check the alignment again. and clamp down the vise.  The tap drill must strike the centre punch perfectly, so check again.  You can set the stop on the quill so that your drill doesn't hit the centre punch, but I don't bother.

Now with the whole rifle assembled but without the lock, ie:  barrel, tang, and triggers in - turn the thing up-side-down, place the forward of the two holes in the tang over the centre punch in the vise, align the drill bit with the pre-drilled hole in the trigger plate, and on slow speed, drill half way + through the trigger plate and stock.

Now reverse the stock, place the hole in the trigger plate on the centre punch, align the drill bit with the hole in the tang, and drill on slow speed through the tang, and half way + through the stock.  Do the same for the rear screw.

You now have to drill the tang and wood with a clearance drill bit.  Measure the diameter of your tap on its shank and select a drill bit that you'll use to make your clearance hole.  You can start the clearance drill bit through the tang, sitting the rifle on the centre punch as before, but stop well short of passing through, or you'll have nothing to thread.  Ask me how I know of this.

Remove the barrel and tang and the triggers from the stock.  Now, set the rifle in your bench vise on it's side, tang facing you, and drill right through with the clearance drill.  Return the tang and triggers, and tap the holes through the stock with the 10 x 32 tap.  You might want to just start the tap perhaps three threads, then remove the plate and tap it the rest of the way out of the stock.  Then you can use cutting fluid where it would have stained the maple in the stock had you finished it that way.

Sorry I don't have pictures to describe this metal working stuff, and a video would have been even better.  Most of this stuff applies too to making other muzzle loading guns including pistols.  But the subject of drilling the tang straight was the point.

[oldtravler61]

I'll crack a beer to. Well done Taylor an a great tutorial. We learn so much from what you do an show us. Thank you very much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Thanks for the reply, and you're welcome.  I just cracked one too.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I just finished drilling the stock and lock plate for the lock plate screw.  I this case it is a #8 x 32 tpi with a 3/8" cheese head.  I re-cut the threads and ran them down the shank to the appropriate length, drilled the lock plate at the appropriate angle to take into account the taper of the plate to the axis of the bore.  I returned the plate to the stock, and using the tap drill and a drill press vice, drilled through the wood to the off side.  Then I removed the lock plate and ran a clearance drill bit through the stock.  I tapped the plate right through the wood and out through the lock plate.

Now it's time to inlet the screw escutcheon into the off side of the stock.  I use a commercial rendering that is a stamping with a machined recess for the screw head, and a # 8 hole .  Using a square against the barrel, I drew a vertical line through the hole, as the tear drop of the escutcheon is oriented that way.






Here's a picture of the escutcheon with the draft filed into the edge.  this taper should be filed into any and every inlay, so that as you inlet it, it becomes tighter and tighter as it goes down, eliminating damage to the surface, and little gap mistakes.





I return the rifle to the drill press vise now, install the clearance drill bit in the chuck, and align the rifle with the drill bit.  Now I lock everything up solid with clamps.  I replace the clearance drill bit with a specially ground 7/16" bit to cut the circular part of the inlet.  The drill has been ground flat with some rake in the cutting edges, like a milling bit, and a little tit in the centre for keeping the bit running straight...that likely doesn't do anything in this application.  With the drill press running on its slowest speed, I gently plunge the bit into the stock to the depth of the escutcheon's thickness, minus a few thou.  I finish the depth with chisels.
Now the rifle goes back to the bench vise and the escutcheon is inlet fully.  A file across the surface finishes the job.





I obviously do this work prior to shaping the stock and the lock panels.  But the taper has been finished.  The lock screw is now too long and must be cut to finished length.  To do that, I run the screw to its finished depth in the gun, measure that which protrudes, and grind that off in my special plate made for this and other purposes.  After you've filed or ground off the extra unnecessary length, removing the screw from the plate cleans up the threads, so that no other finishing is necessary, though I dome the tip and polish it when the time comes.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Some interest was expressed back on page one of this thread, in the chequering of the spur of the percussion hammer.  So here goes:

Below is the hammer polished ready for browning/bluing.  With rust browning or bluing, one doesn't need or want a mirror polish;  at least I don't.



...and here's the file that does the work.  It's a Grobet Swiss file from Brownell's - a #1, and it has 44 lines to the inch.  I've been using this file since 1978 and it still cuts like a dream.



I just lay the file at an approximate angle on the spur and gently cut some teeth.  The surface is convex so you have to roll the file to cut on the curved surface.  I try to stop the cut so I end up with a point at the bottom, and lines going from /corner to corner.






Now repeat it going from the other side of the spur, stopping the cut as you get to the outside line of your first effort.  You might get a bit of run-over, but we'll deal with that in a minute.



I use my safe sided three cornered file (dovetail file) to take away the run-over ends, and to separate the chequered area from the rest of the hammer.  This provides a very positive thumb grip on the hammer spur, so that when your thumb is numb with cold, and Mr. Big is standing in front of you, you won't slip and have the rifle go off without the necessary perfect shot placement.  Is it traditional?  I have images of some Hawken rifles from Jim Gordon's fantastic collection that have chequered hammer spurs, though most do not.  So either way is correct.  I know what I like.

[GANGGREEN]

Oh, that checkering is neat.

[Bob Roller]

So many OLD guns of American make have no checkering on the hammer at all. To me,the checkering is a
safety of sorts. A sweaty thumb and a polished hammer spur are unwanted shot waiting to happen. Thanks
to Taylor for showing this simple,effective method..

Bob Roller

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

The time has come to attach the rib to the barrel, and then drill the rod hole.  I have come to like the rivet system of attaching the rib.  It is easy, fast, and very strong.  But first, this rib needed some work.
The rib I'm using is a machined hollow rib.  But the concave sides of the rib don't go all the way to the upper edge, and that won't do.  Several of the ribs on rifles illustrated in Gordon's Vol. III have flat sides rather than concave, so that's what I steered toward.  I glued the hollow rib to a piece of 3/8" diameter drill rod with Cyanoacrylate (Ca) so I could hold the rib solidly in my machinist's vise, and filed the sides flat.  This first photo shows the end of the rib sticking up for picture taking, and shows the one side filed while the other one is not.




Once both sides of the rib are filed and polished to 180 grit, I heated the rod and rib with a propane torch until the rib fell off.  I scraped the glue from the inside of the rib - it popped off easily with a knife blade.  Then I laid it on the barrel and marked the position of the two rod pipes, and the locations of the rivet holes.  I centre punched the rivet holes and having already made the rivets, I drilled the rib and countersunk the holes just a little.  This shot simply shows the rib polished.  There are images of the drilled and countersunk holes in another thread somewhere.





These are the rivets.  I made them on the lathe out of a 3 1/2" spike.  They are a tight fit in a #29 hole drilled 1/8" deep into the barrel.  I also bottomed the hole square simply by grinding the drill bit flat and then grinding a tiny bit of rake on the flutes.  It takes a gentle touch to just remove the taper in the holes.  Make sure you set the stop on the drill press quill to avoid making your barrel into a flute.  This barrel is 1 1/8" tapered to 1" x .62 cal. so I had to pay close attention to how deep I was drilling.  Once tapped into the holes in the barrel, the rivets are staked using a punch.










Now the rib is placed over the rivets, and they are set down into the countersinks.  Then the rivets are dressed off using a 3/8" rat tailed file, and a dowel with abrasive cloth.
Now the rod pipes.  A flat is filed on the rib for each pipe, and also on each of the pipes until you almost break through the tubes.  Tin the pipes and the rib, lay the pipes in their position with a rod through them to index them perfectly on the rib, and sweat solder them to the rib.  I use a solder made for electrical work that has 2% silver.  It flows nicely and is strong.







This last image shows the job done, and I've already drilled the rod hole.  I use TOW's deep hole drills.  The first drill is about .015" under 1/2" and goes through these 1/2" ID pipes easily.  It is critical that the hole get started exactly where you want it, otherwise, it will not go where you want it.  But with careful layout, and a confident approach, all will go just fine.  I drilled about 1/2 of the hole's depth with the 1/2" drill and then switched to a 7/16" bit, as the rod is to be tapered, and this gives me a little more wood on the belly of the forearm.  I made little inserts to go into the rod pipes to centre this smaller drill bit.  And again, everything worked out fine.

[Daryl]

Good job - great pics & directions.

[WaterFowl]

Love these build alongs...Inspirational!

Taylor any concern for creating tight spots inside the bore while peening the rivets?

[Old Ford2]

Awesome post!
I can't give up on reading it.
Thank you so much!
Fred

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Many thanks for your replies.  Staking these rivets did not create pimples or tight spots in the bore.  There is enough room created by the parting tool when I made the waists in them to receive the barrel steel, without jeopardizing the bore.  And I only drilled .125" into the barrel flat, leaving lots of steel between the rivet and the bore.  The punch I used is a nail set ground down to 3/32" diameter, and a concave cut into it with a Dremel cut off wheel, to closely approach the rivet.
When I rivet, I start at 12 o'clock, then 6 o'clock, then 3 o'clock and then 9 o'clock.  At first the staking moves the rivet away from the staked metal, but continuing the process brings it vertical again, sometimes with some assistance.  Then its another four stakes at 1;30, 4:30, 7:30, and 10:30.  This staking system is very strong.  I drilled the rod hole using the pipes on the rib as my guide, and it did not loosen in the least.  Still to come is to stuff some steel wool into the hollow of the rib at the muzzle and fill with solder.

Here's the punch.

I would not use this riveting system on a thin walled barrel.  One has to use some common sense here.  Nor would I drill a hole without knowing EXACTLY where the bottom of that hole will be relative to the bore.  I drill each hole one at a time, setting up the barrel flat on the drill press table.  I chuck up the bit I'm using, bring it down with the quill until it touches the barrel, and then I lay a 1/8" drill bit in the scale alongside the quill and lock the nut against it.  The 1/8" drill bit is the depth indicator.  Now I can confidently drill that hole, knowing that the quill will stop at .125" deep.  Would a picture help?

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Here's how I set up the drill press to limit the depth of the drill.

The first image shows the drill in the chuck and down on the top of the barrel flat.  There is a 1/8" drill bit set between the depth stop and the frame of the press, and the nuts are locked.  This incidentally, is the muzzle piece I removed from the Rice tapered barrel for this Hawken build.







Now the spacer drill bit is removed from the stop, and the quill is lowered as if I had drilled into the barrel.  The drill is shown against the end of the barrel in this illustration.  The quill has been arrested by the locking nuts on the depth scale.






And finally, here's a close-up showing how deeply into the barrel this drill would have gone.  This barrel stub is 1" at this end and .62 cal.  There's lots of steel between the end of this hole and the bore.  And as you move away from the muzzle, the barrel wall becomes thicker, leaving even more barrel between the end of the hole and the bore.