Finished metal parts

[wkndman]

May start my first kit, metal skills aren't good, any suppliers selling already white/polished steel parts? How are locks/triggers finished? Think I'm only talking BP, TG, & SP for gun. Barrels are white from manufacturers? Do they need extensive finish? I'm leaving white to patina with other steel.
Thanks, Dave

 

[bioprof]

The only parts that I know of that you can buy already polished are the barrels from Rice Barrel Company. You can buy them unpolished, but it isn't hardly worth the small amount of money that you save.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Most all gun parts come with whatever color they came from the mold, or after machining, and being covered with oil for some period of time. You do see a light graying in color on some parts, but all are in need of being finished to the builder's specifications. Depending on the parts you may have to do some filing, but you can expect to do a lot of finishing work with emery cloth, in various grit sizes to get the metal finish either " White" or ready to be browned or blued.

 

[BrownBear]

Cleaning and polishing the parts you need is surprisingly easy. File to remove the casting "sprue," then continue slow filing to get rid of any other big extras such as mold lines. Then switch to sandpaper and use successively finer grits to produce the polish you want. Leave it as is, or finish it. The Laurel Mountain Forge Browner and Degreaser is easy to use and gives very nice results if you want brown. There are a bunch of other finishes possible, many of which are described here in past threads. As you scan or search back through the pages, watch especially for threads on the Lyman Great Plains Rifle kits. There's some real good stuff going on, and most are easy as can be, yet look great.

 

[bioprof]

I forgot for a minute, but Muzzleloader Building Supply used to sell locks that were already polished and engraved. They are now under new ownership, so I don't know if they still carry them.

It is tedious to do it yourself, but is good experience.

By the way, sand cast trigger guards and butt plates may look like a lot of work, but they are actually easier to do than investment cast parts.

 

[Zonie]

May start my first kit, metal skills aren't good, any suppliers selling already white/polished steel parts? How are locks/triggers finished? Think I'm only talking BP, TG, & SP for gun. Barrels are white from manufacturers? Do they need extensive finish? I'm leaving white to patina with other steel.
Thanks, Dave

As the others have already answered most of your questions I'll add my comments about your post.

You mention that your metal working skills aren't very good so you need to realize that most of the parts in the "kits" from places like Track of the Wolf, Pecatonica River, Muzzleloader Builders Supply, TVM, Sitting Fox etc are not finished at all.
Many of the parts are rough sand castings which will need to be filed, sanded and polished before they are installed on the gun.

It is necessary to measure, locate, drill and tap several of the threaded holes and screw clearance holes that hold the parts onto the gun.

Using an Electric Drill isn't absolutly necessary but without it making these holes can be a chore.

The use of a Dremel grinding tool (or other brands of high speed grinders) must be avoided by anyone not skilled in their use. They can cause great damage in less time than it takes to talk about it.

Filing is very important and I suggest that you, and anyone else interested in files and filing should follow this link:
FILING 101

It will greatly help folks who aren't familiar with this important process.

 

[wkndman]

Thanks All
Read the article, thanks for advice, will look for some files

 

[dlpowell]

Iron parts take a lot longer than brass to polish. Plan on about 10 hours to polish all the small parts for a kit. The barrel mey take 8 or more hours. Last kit I did I brought the barrel to a mirror finish before bluing. The lock plate and side plate I brought to a mirror finish and left them that way. All other parts were reasonably polished and blued. Take your time and walk away from it after 2 or 3 hours of work. It's great therapy after a day at work :thumbsup:

 

[Old40Rod]

May start my first kit, metal skills aren't good,

I really didn't have much in the way of metal skills when I started... if I can do it anyone can. Nobody is going to die if you drawfile or sand a metal part incorrectly, and there isn't much you can do to the outside of the barrel, buttplate or trigger guard with a file or sandpaper that you can't undo if you just go slowly. So, give it a try if you are so inclined.