I recently "finished" an old project. I used to build muzzleloaders in the latter 70's and early 80's, then went on a hiatus for nigh on 20 years due to career pressure. I got out an old project from the closet last spring and reintroduced myself to the craft. It's a Christian Spring-related piece. I had bought the blank, barrel (Getz, .50, heavy swamped) and lock (Davis Tulle) all around 1986 or so. At that time there were few early locks available without a frizzen bridle and this is what Dixon had in his shop.
Anyway I got her "done" but am still fiddling with it, working on learning how to put a "patina" on a gun so it looks well-used but well-preserved. I want this gun to have a "history". The trigger guard broke in half in the rail while building, so I soldered a strap of brass atop the rail and re-shaped things a bit. That sort of thing. This is a new direction for me as I used to make them as new looking as possible.
OK, the Davis Tulle lock, intended for the Tulle Fusil de Chasse, is a good early lock, heavy, big, no frizzen bridle. But I was not happy with the frizzen spring and with folks saying, "that's the Tulle trade lock, eh?" So I forged a new frizzen spring for it, meant to look like a period repair. This was my first frizzen spring mounted with a screw from the inside, requiring forging a significant "boss" and tapping it etc. I made it, hardened it, tempered it, tried it, and it was too soft and "took a set". Much better than breaking! But it flattened the rounded curve of the spring. Oh well. Re-heated, opened it up, hardened, re-tempered to a lower temp, and put it on. Here is the before and after pix: (having trouble getting the image to work so click on it)
before
http://tinypic.com/view.html?pic=1twnmh
after:
http://tinypic.com/view.html?pic=1twnqp
Hope this looks like a period repair and adds some character to the lock. Still have the old fancy one.
Anyway I got her "done" but am still fiddling with it, working on learning how to put a "patina" on a gun so it looks well-used but well-preserved. I want this gun to have a "history". The trigger guard broke in half in the rail while building, so I soldered a strap of brass atop the rail and re-shaped things a bit. That sort of thing. This is a new direction for me as I used to make them as new looking as possible.
OK, the Davis Tulle lock, intended for the Tulle Fusil de Chasse, is a good early lock, heavy, big, no frizzen bridle. But I was not happy with the frizzen spring and with folks saying, "that's the Tulle trade lock, eh?" So I forged a new frizzen spring for it, meant to look like a period repair. This was my first frizzen spring mounted with a screw from the inside, requiring forging a significant "boss" and tapping it etc. I made it, hardened it, tempered it, tried it, and it was too soft and "took a set". Much better than breaking! But it flattened the rounded curve of the spring. Oh well. Re-heated, opened it up, hardened, re-tempered to a lower temp, and put it on. Here is the before and after pix: (having trouble getting the image to work so click on it)
before
http://tinypic.com/view.html?pic=1twnmh
after:
http://tinypic.com/view.html?pic=1twnqp
Hope this looks like a period repair and adds some character to the lock. Still have the old fancy one.
