"Cast" steel for side plate

[Gobbletn]

Hey guys, I'm building a Tennessee flintlock style steel gun and the side plate that Track sells is close to my copy gun but not exact. Where can I buy .100-.125" thick "cast" steel sheets to cut my own? Home Depot or Lowes has small steel sheets that would work but they are "rolled" hot or cold not "cast", will I see any difference?

 

[longrifle78]

the diffrence is the hot rolled from the hardware store will be easier to cut and file.If you dont have any wrought iron hot rolled mild steel is the next best thing. Also old hinges, angle iron or other old scrap you can find thats the right thicknes will work.

 

[Va.Manuf.06]

I am assuming that you are copying an original rifle, am I correct? If so, use the sheet steel, the gun you are copying probably used the period's equivalent. Casting brass is much more easily done than casting iron which melts at a higher temperature and is difficult to do in a small shop "in the day".

 

[Gobbletn]

Can't do Brass... This is an "iron" gun, with only iron/steel parts.

 

[Gobbletn]

Thanks, that helps!

 

[TennesseeJed]

I've got a lot of rusty old hinges laying around. I'm going to try that idea out when I decide what shape of sideplate I want to use on my latest project.

Thanks.

 

[jdkerstetter]

That's the nice thing about those Southern Appalacian guns....recycling steel. For example, old barrel bands make great stock for ramrod pipes....perfect thickness and width.

Any old steel laying around can be used to fashion all kinds of things and what you don't have laying around is only as far away as any hardware store metal rack.

Enjoy, J.D.

 

[Vaino]

I've used both cold and hot rolled steel in 1/8" thicknesses and prefer the CRS because it's easier to file. The HRS besides requiring that the decarb surface be removed, is "gummy" when filing, loads the file and then tears the surface....even when chalk is used. CRS also seems to brown better. If heat is to be applied, then the HRS is more stable than the CRS which has stresses that are "released" when heated. Both will do, but the CRS is easier to use......Fred

 

[Va.Manuf.06]

Can't do Brass... This is an "iron" gun, with only iron/steel parts.

Of course, read my post again. My mention of brass was to explain that brass casting could be done then and can be done now much more easily than casting iron in a primitive or small shop. It was not a suggestion to use brass.

To make the side plate you can and should use easily available sheet steel (or iron) just like the maker used on the original gun. He did not cast the side plate.

 

[Gobbletn]

Lol... Sorry. Thanks. I let my ADD take over!

 

[Gobbletn]

Thanks so much... That's the info I needed...

 

[44-henry]

The sheet steel is the next best thing to iron plate for the rifle you are building. Most folks wouldn't be able to tell the difference between high quality iron and today's mild steel. The wax cast steel parts available today are produced this way because it is much cheaper to do this than machine them out of solid stock, or drop forge them as would have been done in the 19th century. Unless you have an induction furnace handy (plus a lot of other specialized equipment), or some other trick up your sleeve you won't have much luck doing steel casting. The temperature is substantially higher than brass, bronze, or even cast iron. Cast iron is totally inappropriate for gun parts such as the ones you are working on due to the high carbon content that makes it very brittle. In the 19th century cast iron was further refined before it would have been used as gun parts. The original makers didn't have the ability to cast steel either, that technology came along much later.