Steel patch box questions

[Tim Ault]

It was a slow day at work on Friday so I was toying around some forming simple steel patchbox pieces , it came out pretty good in a shorter and more rounded on the ends version of a bean cigar style this was just a trial run so I just used some galvanized 22 ga. Steel that was laying near by  I made it a beefy 2"wide by 8" oal. My question is on most originals how wide would they have been ? Also how many knuckles and what dia for the hinge pin ? Also would 22 ga. .028-029 be thick enough ? The sample I did seemed stiff enough after I curved it slightly to match the stock .


Thanks , Tim

[Mark Elliott]

I normally use 16ga for my patch boxes, brass and steel.     I would say that 1 1/4" would be a typical width, but some two piece boxes are wider.    The number of knuckles is all over the place.   I normally use 5 (2 lid, 3 finial) or 7 (3 lid, 4 finial).   I have seem some very fine iron mounted guns with more.   If you use more than 5, it can be hard to put any bend in the hinge.   

[Tim Ault]

thank you . why so thick though ? Just what originals were ? I can understand for brass but as a sheet metal worker by trade 16 ga seem a lot more than needed especially when some curvature is added to the steel .

[Mark Elliott]

It is probably a little thick for steel.   It is just what I have used for a long time.   I never had a reason to change.

[bgf]

16 g is what I use too. It's available at Lowe's, tractor supply, etc.   It holds its shape very well.  I've also used it successfully for a buttplate.  Probably a little overkill for a patchbox, but easier to work with, also, in some repects, as it resists kinking and creasing better than thin stuff.

The 22g is better for one-piece nosecaps, plain ramrod pipes, small inlays, etc.  Sometimes it is easier to make a fine patchbox hinge out of 22g and rivet/solder to 16g door and finial.  I think 7 knuckles is my best effort with 22g and 5 with 16...But I've made practice hinges with 9 knuckles, it just gets to the point where even my small files etc. are too awkward and I can't even meet my low expectations!

[heinz]

I use 16 ga and the originals I have seen seem to be in that area. Rolling iron into sheets did not become a common process until the 1750s. And the available sheet would have been hot rolled.  Hot rolled steel is softer than cold rolled steel. Cold rolled steel is what we usualy see in the hardware stores today. Early iron patch boxes are probably iron, and are probably hammered out into a sheet, not rolled.  When I have flattened out hot rolled steel bars with the forge and anvil I get real bored  before it is much thinner than 16 guage 😊 I see no problem with using 16 guage even cold rolled.  It is what we have and is reasonably close in metalurgy. You can easily get it to red heat with a propane torch to roll the hinge flange. I thin the hinge section down a bit in a gentle taper and mark it at the length I need for tube. Kick the metal up at a right angle at the mark before you start. I then roll it up like a tube around a finishing nail  I cut the hinge finger out after the tube is formed. Remember you want the cut end of the hinge to roll down and out of sight.  Put the hinge pin in place in the assembled lid befor you curve the lid.  Have fun