Building a new Kentucky pistol

[Mike W Terry]

Question of the day. I have a new box of parts, everything i need thanks to Penatonica gun works for a Kentucky pistol. I have been cleaning up the lock and cant decide to leave it polished or to brown it. Did they leave some locks polished or was brown the norm. Also if it is left polished , how do you keep it from rusting?? Thank you for any input. Mike T

 

[54ball]

Polished Steel is actually pretty rust resistant to a point.
Most locks come from the factory a dull textured gray. The casting ridges need to be filed away and smoothed.
It's up to you how you finish it but polished locks were very common if not the norm, late 18th Century very early 19th Century.
In the 18th Century English locks were case hardened and the colors polished off leaving the lock bright. later in the 19th Century case colors became fashionable and were left on the lock.
One caution though about polishing a lock. Use handtools like files and always back your sand paper or emory with a straight edge. It's very easy to obliterate the details and round off the edges if you're not careful. This is magnified 100 fold if you use a power tool like a Dremel.

Bottom line... If polishing a lock, do by hand. Locks polished by a power tool look just like, well, like they've been polished with a power tool.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

The look of a gun with polished lock barrel and furniture against dark wood is the classiest ever

 

[ApprenticeBuilder]

Yup,

What they said.

A case hardened lock is rust resistant in its own right, and a beauty to behold.

 

I like doing both. Polished steel works pretty well and it was a universal finish. HAha. Polish by hand and finish with your favorite oil. Give it continued love and it wont let you down.

 

[Mike W Terry]

Thank you all for your input. I just was not sure. It is something i never did before, always putting a brown to them. As for power tools, The only thing i use is a drill press for the lock holes. My guns have always been done by hand. Truly a labor of love. Thank you all again. Mike T