Thank you all, Hank, theres about 8 hours of work into it now that includes looking and thinking and coffee, I seem to do a lot of these.
Jim, I remember that post from years ago, thanks for taking me back to it, your tips are very helpfull. I really think you should do more of this kind of work, we are not getting younger. We need more people doing it so we can share ideas. It is underappreciated like you said.
Alacran, I am very happy that Mr Chambers are making these locks, but yes there are some problems with them, like the pan that doesnt bottom out on the plate and its only the screw that holds it in place. It can be fixed by peening the pan and welding some material to the plate and refitting. Also the screws on the innards cant be tightend or the tumbler gets pinched. I have 2 of these locks and they are the same, lots of work to get them right. You just cant compare them with Jim's CNC locks wich are perfect. I think in the future I will just buy Jim's locks and alter the plate, cock and frizzen.
HSmith, follow the link to Jim's blog, its very interesting. I dont think they hot forged these finials in the 17th century, unless they wanted to mass produce them with die forging, but I doubt it. Actually I dont know much about it, I do know that there were some very good engravers back then.
I did it cold (its mild steel) with gravers, chisels, punches and files. I am a begginner when it comes to engraving and I find the sculpting easier than engraving lines, I use hand push and hammer and chisel. I find hand push easier than hammering. I am seriously considering getting a Lindsay palm control. I also have a selection of stones from congress tools like Jim uses and some die sinkers rifflers. Working with steel in this way is much the same as working with clay, you can push it around with a punch, cut it etc, its just harder.
I have to go off to work for a week tommorow so I dont have to be a starving artist, thans for looking!
