Forged Wheellock Spanner

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Bookie

40 Cal.
Joined
Mar 13, 2005
Messages
346
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Location
Corn Patch, Iowa
Here's a photo of the combination wheellock spanner and turnscrew that I forged this morning from a piece of round stock taken from a 1919 Fordson tractor. The socket is 5/16" deep and fits the tumbler on the Dutch lock very nicely, but to be honest, was a bit of a chore to hammer out with the ol' 10 pounder. The quench was 50 degree motor oil. Crude perhaps, but effective.
Spanner.jpg
Cheers, Bookie
 
Assuming that your tumbler shaft is 1/4", the quickest & easiest way to do this is to take a piece of 1/2" tool steel that is 1 inch long and drill a 11/32" hole 1/2 the way through the stock. Drill an appropriate sized hole that will allow you to thread for whatever size rod you are using for a handle on the opposite end, then tap the handle hole and screw the handle in place. Take a length of 1/4" key stock and insert it into the 11/32" hole after the socket has been heated bright red and hammer the sides to fit around the key stock. Go carefully here as you do not want the key stock to become stuck or the sides lop-sided. An alternate method would be to cold forge the sides around the key stock. (Both methods work well, I find out.) Bend the handle to suit, clean it up and then harden the whole thing. It may not be pretty, but it's a lot cheaper than what is sold and it's comfortable. Hope this helps, Bookie
 
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