Lock finish

[Corrosionguy]

Guys, sorry for asking a question that has probably been asked a thousand times but here it goes. I am in the process of building my first rifle, a .40 Cal Dickert. I have seen many rifles with many different finishes on the locks, some polished in the white, polished and blued/browned, and some with the lock left in the raw cast look. My question is does anyone ever brown/blue a raw cast lock, and if so could someone post a picture.

[Mark Elliott]

A raw cast lock is not finished.   They need to be filed and polished.   Then, you can blue, brown, etc....

[Corrosionguy]

I may be wrong in what I'm calling raw



This is what I was referring to, I have seen many pictures of rifles finished with the lock left as pictured. Is this just a shortcut or do they finish the locks later.

[SingleMalt]

The "factory" finish is bead blasted, supposedly to allow them to be browned easier.  I prefer polished or case hardened. 

[PPatch]

What Mark said.

My approach is to begin by removing that casting gray lightly at first with a backed abrasive to discover what is lurking under it. I have found emery paper from the auto store to be helpful, start with the finest grit at first just to see what you find. You are looking for how deep the pits and casting flaws are, you will always discover them to one degree or another. If you are lucky they won't be too bad. The pits and flaws have to be filed out using a sharp file and a steady hand. Once that is done you move to your choice of either stones or abrasive papers (backed by something and wrapped around files and the like, be creative here) to take it to where you want it.

If you go slow and controlled you will eventually get there without creating extra work by making scratches that will have to be removed.

Only then are you ready to apply the finish of your choice.

dave

[SingleMalt]

Here's a rifle I built several years ago and sold through Track of the Wolf.  I simply polished the lock then got some color on it with a torch.

[Corrosionguy]

Great looking rifle and thanks for all the replies.

[Mark Elliott]

I file the bead blasted surfaces eliminating all the mold lines.    I use #2 Barrett and needle files.   Then I used 120 grit and 320 grit emory finishing with 600 grit silicon oxide.  The abrasives are backed with a wood block or files.    I also use 1/8" round and square stones in hard to reach areas in 120, 320, and 600 grit.   600 grit is fine enough to retard oxidation and is a historically correct finish.   My opinion is that it is never acceptable to leave the bead blasted finish because no original lock would have been so finished.   

To finish the frizzen and frizzen spring, you must rely either  on abrasives or anneal the parts.  Once you have filed, polished and optionally engraved the frizzen, you must re-harden and temper these parts if they were annealed.   If I am not going to engrave the frizzen,  I clean it up with silicon abrasive wheels in a flex-shaft grinder.   

 

[Mauser06]

This was a factory L&R lock...i briefly hit it with 220grit but it was a couple minutes tops...


Then rust blued with Mark Lee Express blue...





Gave it a nice black color...kind of a satin black once oiled..


(I forgot to blue the dang hammer screw...lol)


If you want close ups send me message... depending on the application I really like it and it seems really durable...i feel if you prepped the metal more you could achieve a more polished blue...i got the look I wanted for that rifle...

[rich pierce]

There are plenty of rifles built with the lock simply browned without polishing.  It sort of looks like an old lock with some pitting when that is done.  But most here favor traditional finishing techniques as mentioned above- original locks were forged, filed and polished then case hardened, then often polished bright.

[Pete G.]

The bead blasted finish on a casting is not what a finished lock should look like. It is only a starting place. Most lock plates will show unevenness on the surface. That is the reason the manufacturers polish the interior face; it does affect the functioning of the lock. The exterior face should be leveled and polished also. Original locks do not seem to have been blued or browned, most were apparently polished and left bright.

I like to finish with phosphoric acid, which leaves sort of an antique gray finish that is somewhat rust resistant, and to my eyes anyway, appears more authentic.

[jerrywh]

 Almost all original locks for longrifles came from Germany or England and were case hardened when they arrived here. They more than likely were gray colored but could have had some color on them.  One reason you almost never see engraving on a longrifle lock is because they were hardened and could not be engraved, Case hardening is fairly resistant to corosion.

[EC121]

A browned, bead blasted finish is used by those who are in production to get a rifle out the door at a minimum cost.  The reverse of that is to put lock parts on a buff wheel and round off all the edges trying to get a shiny finish.  Pitting on an old lock isn't uniform like a bead blasted finish.  There are slick spots and rough spots.  If you wire brushed the high spots off the blasted finish, it would look a little better.   (As an aside, my pet peeve is putting a stock, uncolored, large Davis trigger on a high dollar rifle.  It stands out across the room.)     

[elkhorne]

EC121,
Did you mean "putting a stock, uncolored, large Davis "lock" on a high dollar rifle instead of trigger? I have seen this also and often it looks out of place unless the rifle is a large rifle with a proportiate large rifle.
elkhorne

[mikeyr]

I like the look of case hardening, but don't know how to do it...yes I know the process and even have the torch but I would not want to try it.  Where can one send out a Jim Chambers lock to get it case hardened ? I am going to build a Kibler kit and would like that done, I am worried that sending out to just anyone to "color" it would affect the frizzen and make it soft and maybe doing the frizzen is not a good idea.

[Corrosionguy]

I'm going to start sanding and polishing the lock this weekend, if I mess it up I will just rough it up and brown it, what about the barrel, how far to I sand. I've got most of my draw filing done and almost ready to start with sandpaper.

[rich pierce]

I don't sand barrels after draw filing. As far as lock polishing is concerned it takes about 6 hours of filing and polishing with wood backed emery cloth or fine sandpaper depending on how dished and wallered it may be.

[EC121]

EC121,
Did you mean "putting a stock, uncolored, large Davis "lock" on a high dollar rifle instead of trigger? I have seen this also and often it looks out of place unless the rifle is a large rifle with a proportiate large rifle.
elkhorne

No I meant a set of those large shiny Davis triggers with the curl at the bottom of the front trigger.  I have taken the triggers out of new rifles just to grind that hook off and round the front trigger some.  Then I put some cold blue or something on them for color.  It only takes a minute to change the look a bit so they don't look so "off the shelf".  That counts on an expensive rifle. 

[Ric27]

one of the reasons to work over the whole lock is that locks made these days are cast and have mold lines that are totally not on any old gun. So I file as much as I can then use stones to work over the hard parts of the frizzen. I will usually reshape the lock plate just a little and sometimes the cock and under side of the pan. I don't try to get out all the pits cause I will be adding distress and patina later. I do a lot of detailed filing though to enhance the lock. The lock makes a very big statement on any longrifle. Most important however is does it spark and does the sear break clean. And for safety, does it hold half and full cock?!!!! 

[jerrywh]

 Everybody has their way and that is fine. I finish mine by hand with files and wood backed wet and dry paper. I also remove any pits no matter how hard it is. I will fill them with iron inlays if I have to. Thank God the best lock makers locks are very nice like Chambers and I don't have to do any filling.
  It was mentioned to use blue remover or phosphoric acid to produce a gray color. This will work very well but
be very careful not to get any on the springs. If you do there is a very good chance the springs will break.

 

 

[Dphariss]

Casehardening the plate makes for a better lock.

Dan

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

As far as lock polishing is concerned it takes about 6 hours of filing and polishing...Rich Pierce!!

I apparently have to learn how to work faster Rich.  Polishing a flintlock often takes me as much as three days.  We had a kind of contest/competition here several years ago, where 'smiths submitted images of locks they had polished.  I doubt any of those were done in six hours, but I could be wrong.  I take locks to 1200 grit wet/dry.

For barrel finishing, after draw filing, I back 180 grit abrasive cloth with my big file and work it over.  Unless I'm going for a polished brown/blue with heavy carding, that's where I end it.

[Bob Roller]

As far as lock polishing is concerned it takes about 6 hours of filing and polishing...Rich Pierce!!

I apparently have to learn how to work faster Rich.  Polishing a flintlock often takes me as much as three days.  We had a kind of contest/competition here several years ago, where 'smiths submitted images of locks they had polished.  I doubt any of those were done in six hours, but I could be wrong.  I take locks to 1200 grit wet/dry.

For barrel finishing, after draw filing, I back 180 grit abrasive cloth with my big file and work it over.  Unless I'm going for a polished brown/blue with heavy carding, that's where I end it.

Once in a GREAT while I will finish the outside of a cast lock plate.
I use a long angle lathe file and Tap matic threading fluid and the
same method with fine cut files in cocks and finish with 600and 1200
paper abrasives.I sometimes follow this with a wire wheel at 3450 RPM.

Bob Roller.

[Chris Treichel]

After using files... I find it helpful to use sharpening stoned turned on their side with the final being ceramic 1000 grit and it is flat and true... makes polishing to that level pretty easy.

[Acer Saccharum]

I'm in the Sapergia School. Three days of rub-rub-rub-rub....