Reduced lock bolster

[Lone Wolf]

I had to file off about 1/16" from the back side of my lock bolster to get the lock to fit properly in a pre-carved stock mortis from a kit.  Will the reduced bolster have any detrimental affect and are there any potential problems I should anticipate? 

The first thing that comes to mind is that the mainspring could break through the ramrod channel, although that web of wood there seems pretty thick since the stock is drilled for a 5/16" ramrod and will require some taper.

[smylee grouch]

Is it a straight sided barrel or tapered, swamped?

[Lone Wolf]

Round swamped barrel.

[rich pierce]

I normally chisel wood before cutting or filing metal off a lock. But I’ve never tried to fit a lock to a pre-inletted mortise.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Lone Wolf:  pictures of your work would go a long way toward understanding the pickle in which you found yourself.  I have a feeling, based on my experience building these things, that you may have made a mistake cutting away the bolster metal.  But as I say, pictures will reveal all...

[Lone Wolf]

I normally chisel wood before cutting or filing metal off a lock. But I’ve never tried to fit a lock to a pre-inletted mortise.

The problem was I needed to add wood, not remove it.  When the lock plate was inlet with the bolster up against the barrel, there was a gap between the steel and wood at the location shown by the arrow in the first picture.  The only way to fix that was to remove material from the bolster to bring the lock plate closer to the barrel, or fill the gap with wood/epoxy.  I chose to reduce the bolster.  The first picture below was taken after the fix. 

This particular supplier was having QC issues with its vendor who makes the stocks.  The first one had to be returned because the barrel channel was too wide, and after a long wait while the maker retooled, I finally got a replacement.  Although much improved over the first stock, this one still had some minor issues where wood was over-cut such as at the breech and at the rear of the lock plate shown in the second picture.  I will fix the gap at the rear of the lock with stainable epoxy, but that's besides the point.  Just FYI.  This is why I much prefer building from a blank.  Only went with a kit this time because it's my first fowler and I have no examples to go by for the overall architecture.

Third picture shows the lock plate as presently inlet.

[PAFlinter]

The lock plate needs to be inlet much deeper.  The fence of the pan may need work.

[B.Habermehl]

It appears you didn’t file a flat on the barrel for the bolster to mate up to. Not too big of a flat but enough for the bolster to mate up to. This is necessary, and appears on original work. Then you will need to inlet the lock a bit deeper to get a clean fit. Both the barrel and the bolster, will need adjustment filling to accommodate each other just don’t get heavy handed. BJH

PS look at Dave C ‘s Dragoon pistol pictures to see what I’m talking about

[Lone Wolf]

The lock is up tight against the barrel, although you can't see that in the pictures due to shadowing. You also can't see the nice flat ground on the side of the barrel by the manufacturer.

The lock plate is plenty deep, perhaps too deep.  I need to bring down the side edges of the lock mortise because the plate is now sitting below the wood.  That was the result of filing down the bolster to close the gap at the front of the pan.  It is this increased depth that concerns me as all the internals of the lock will now penetrate deeper into the stock, possibly requiring more wood removal behind the mainspring and the moving parts of the lock.  Anyways, nothing I can do about it now so I will forge on and see what happens.  If I think of it, I'll update this thread for the sake of posterity and report on how it turns out.

[PAFlinter]

The picture appears to show a gap between the barrel and the pan/bolster.  There can be NO gap between the pan and barrel flat.  Bad things will happen!  Lock internals do as deep as necessary.  If the main spring breaks thru into the rr hole, just taper the rod, this is a non-issue. The issue at hand is NO gap between the pan/bolster and barrel flat, that MUST be fixed.

[Dwshotwell]

An experienced builder recently showed me a test for whether or not the bolster was tight enough against the barrel: pinch a piece of regular paper between the two. If you can pull the paper out when the lock is bolted down, the gap is still too big.

[Lone Wolf]

An experienced builder recently showed me a test for whether or not the bolster was tight enough against the barrel: pinch a piece of regular paper between the two. If you can pull the paper out when the lock is bolted down, the gap is still too big.

I'll have to try that.  I use inletting black on the bolster. If it prints on the barrel with a very light tap of the mallet, I know it will be tight under the compression of the screws.

[bob in the woods]

One thing to mention is that I always check to make sure that the plate and bolster surfaces are flat. On many of the locks I've received  over the years, they weren't .