Frizzen Hardening

[LRB]

White sparks are not necessarily a good thing. White sparks burn up faster and are smaller. Red-0range sparks are larger and burn longer. However, go with what works best for your lock. On the Rc hardness, As far as I know, it is very difficult to get accurate readings from an irregular shaped object without a specialized set up. Rc testers are normally designed to test steel with parallel surfaces. Even knife bevels are difficult, and blades are usually tested only in the flat parallel areas. The point of a tester has to apply pressure in a dead in line position to its anvil to read accurately. Again, that is my understanding of it.

 

[White Oak]

Wick,
I wanted to thank you anyway for your input on this subject. The oil quench suggestions by both you and Zonie are extremely helpful.
You are correct in your understanding of rockwell testers. We have various methods in the shop for keeping the tested surface perpendicular to the to the travel of the tester. We test a lot of castings of irregular shapes. When you start tearing up $400 carbide Z drills it is a good idea to look for the problem which generally turns out to be castings that are hard beyond normal machining.
As to the color of the spark, see, it didn't come out as well as I thought. Still pretty happy as the gun is firing. 35 rounds the other day and he thought he was shooting again over the weekend.
I just hope it keeps firing. You see the sooner it proves out, the sooner I get to buy his Renegade flintlock. :wink:
Take care Wick, and thanks again. You to Zonie if your there.
Ed