To Flintlock or Not?

H Wally said:
Somebody's going to be happy :p

Just curious though - any idea on the age of said staircase? True wrought iron hasn't been used or produced in much quantity for quite a while now and has been replaced with mild steel. It's pretty much a "potayto potahto" kind of discussion, but older wrought iron does have some unique traits that you can't find in modern produced metals. I've never found a project that I particularly would have preferred wrought iron over something else, but it's nonetheless different and historically accurate.



haha - I definitely have a hard time spending $800 on a flinter that isn't assembled, but only because I'm cheap.... you can see the quality in these guns.... I quite like the lancaster but it's even more expensive!!!
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if you take a file to wrought iron you will see dark lines this is impurities and voids it can be refined by drawing it out (not leting the scale get forged back in) folding it and repating the process till you feel its clean enough
 
rusting left ridges much like a wood grain in the metal.
mooncoon, thanks for this insight. I have some pieces at the farm which I could not figure out. They came off an old log sled (which I used till it disintigrated). I put a piece on the mantle cause it was so odd. Looks like I'll be rooting in the alders for the other pieces. oiled they look pretty cool.
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This topic has diverged significantly from the original question but since we got on the subject of John Clark guns, that are expensive but very high quality,I will mention a couple of years ago, through the CGN E&E I acquired a whole box of Clark's flint lock parts, including one of the lockplates marked J Clark Toronto. After a bit of research I determined the plate was very slightly different but the guts virtually identical to the top-of-the-line L&R Durs Egg lock sold by TOTW and others. I hope to complete one of these over this winter for a future gun - I will need to purchase the frizzen, sear and main springs from TOTW. I can try to post some pix of my progress later on. Meanwhile, I have way more parts than I could ever use if any adventurous CGN'ers want to try their own build and save some wampum in the process.
 
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mooncoon said:
It would have to be at least 100 years old and probably 130 years plus to be true wrought iron. Today people call mild steel bent in twirly ques wrought iron.

I think tiny amounts of wrought iron were produced up to about 1920 but I also think that by perhaps 1880 most of the production had ceased. The bessemer process came out in 1854 producing homogenous controlled carbon iron and that would spelled the beginning of the end.

If you file and draw filed a piece smooth and bright then rubbed with copper sulphate you should see lines or perhaps blotches in true wrought iron. In the case of the anchor chain that I mentioned above, rusting left ridges much like a wood grain in the metal.

cheers mooncoon
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Well that rules it out. It's the same age as me born in 1949.
 
mooncoon said:
Not sure how well this photo will turn out; Photobucket seems to have morphed yet again. Anyway, what I hope can be seen in the photo is the barrel of a gun that was made between and which has elongate blotches of light and dark of high and low carbon areas. A longitudial weld line looks very similar but in the case of wrought iron, the blotching goes all the way around the barrel. By the 1850s wrought iron appears to have been run through rollers a few times and the pattern has become fine longitudinal lines fairly close together

cheers mooncoon

JMollwrought1.jpg
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It's painted. But I'm pretty sure your first post about the age means it's not and I have no doubt you're right.
 
david doyle said:
we were both wrong:

from clark industries web site

This rifle is also available in kit form with a fully shaped and inletted stock, barrel installed, and ramrod hole drilled. A full size measured drawing is included with several articles on gun building written for Rendezvous and Longrifles Magazine in the 1980's.
With Hard Maple stock - Price: $750.00 CDN (inludes Parcel Post)
ORDER# CLR-001

Yep that is 'crazy cheap' but not as cheap as Hwally LOL. Wally go take a look at what he is offering even for you it should sit well (BTW I have a lot of respect for you and for your frugal nature). For the same money you could pay shipping/duty from the USA for a DOM tubing barrel, sketchy partial inletting, a gamblers breech job and a hundred dollar lock.
It really is the best deal out there.
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That's a very well priced flint.

I think I'll get one in 2012. I have two here on the go. A .54 Lancaster and a 10ga. fowler.
 
Ol' Flinter said:
This topic has diverged significantly from the original question but since we got on the subject of John Clark guns, that are expensive but very high quality,I will mention a couple of years ago, through the CGN E&E I acquired a whole box of Clark's flint lock parts, including one of the lockplates marked J Clark Toronto. After a bit of research I determined the plate was very slightly different but the guts virtually identical to the top-of-the-line L&R Durs Egg lock sold by TOTW and others. I hope to complete one of these over this winter for a future gun - I will need to purchase the frizzen, sear and main springs from TOTW. I can try to post some pix of my progress later on. Meanwhile, I have way more parts than I could ever use if any adventurous CGN'ers want to try their own build and save some wampum in the process.
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I have a bulged barrel that I want to bore out for a smoothie or cut into pistols.

Whaddaya got to go with one of those? Locks being my first concern and of course a stock.
 
Waterloomike said:
I got to yakking on the line and didn't use my range rod after short starting.

:redface::redface::redface::redface::redface:

I'm expecting my new barrel pretty soon. I haven't smelled any black powder in all this time. Withdrawal is painful. :(
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My ex-favourite brother-in-law did the same thing to my Sapergia Kentucky. Managed to rebarrel with a green Mtn barrel , browned and fitted it and had Taylor autograph the barrel .
 
FWIW, I have reamed shotgun barrels out for liners by taking a standard reamer, fitting a brass pilot to the shank, and an extension, and then pulling it through the barrel. No expensive, specialized tooling.
Might be worth considering, to clean out the damaged barrel. Might take more than one reamer, depending on how much the bore must be enlarged to clear the bulge.
 
Good idea.

I understand I can have it done by a pro for $75 which doesn't bother me all that much.

But pistols are still a possibility.

Once I get the whiff of black powder back in my nose, things will become much more clear.

This withdrawal is more painful than I ever imagined.
 
tiriaq said:
$75 to ream a barrel is a good deal.
Of course the barrel could be recycled for other uses.
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It will be a fowler or pistols.

I don't have any flint pistols, and I have the parts almost, still waiting on the barrel as I'm having it jug choked, for a complete fowler.

I think once the smoke clears, so to speak, what to do will come to me. :D
 
Excuse my ignorance but what the hell is ALR?

I have a Jeager flinter that was built from a TOTW Durs Egg lock. I like the lock but it is hard on flints and will only work reliably with good English knapped flint. It beats the hell out of sawed flints.

The metal on my rifle is great but one of these days I'd like to have it restocked with a nicer piece of wood.
 
Suputin said:
Excuse my ignorance but what the hell is ALR?

I have a Jeager flinter that was built from a TOTW Durs Egg lock. I like the lock but it is hard on flints and will only work reliably with good English knapped flint. It beats the hell out of sawed flints.

The metal on my rifle is great but one of these days I'd like to have it restocked with a nicer piece of wood.
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american long rifles forum
 
Suputin said:
I have a Jeager flinter that was built from a TOTW Durs Egg lock. I like the lock but it is hard on flints and will only work reliably with good English knapped flint. It beats the hell out of sawed flints.
.
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How well a lock deals with flints largely depends on the angle the flint strikes at, A long flint and bevel down that hits square on is going to shatter the edge back fairly quickly. You can knap the sawn flints using a short 3/16" brass drift and a mallet or a short starter with a head shaped like a mallet. Angle the drift forward about 45 degrees so that you are driving back parallel to the bevel (down) and only engage the very edge of the flint with the drift. Except that they are easier to grip with the jaws, I still prefer english flints :>) Something that is in my bag of round twoits, is to make a couple of extra top jaws for one of my locks. What I intend to do is to put a short pedestal on the back of the jaw so that it is held farther away or up from the bottom jaw. Point being is that when you get those damn triangular flints with a ridge in the middle, the reason they do not hold well is that the top jaw is angled up. Using a top jaw with a pedestal or thickened back portion forces it to angle down on thicker flints. Hope that is not too confusing

cheers mooncoon
 
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