Frizzen Problem

[Rebel]

I received a Tower flintlock pistol today that i won on Auction Arms. It was sold as being able to be fired. I suppose it would be if the frizzen had ever been hardened on it. I don't have anything for heating it up except a propane torch, and i don't know if that will get it hot enough. Also, i don't really know how to go about it and don't want to take a chance on breaking it. Is there anyone here that would be willing to do it for me if i sent the frizzen to them? I would pay for having it done. Pistol is no good as is, and i want to be able to sell it as a shooter. Other than the frizzen problem it is a pretty nice pistol. It is one of the ones that was made in Japan, but isn't too bad really. Any help appreciated. Thanks.

 

Ok ; here we go. Take the frizzen off and shine the face well.Find a piece of banding steel from a junk pile. cut it with metal shears to fit face of frizzen, Bend, curve and stuff and polish the mateing side to the frizz. From the hardware buy a small can of casenit. lifetme supply. hold the tip of the new piece so the inside curve is up, load with casenit, heat till the stuff melts with the propane torch hold at that heat a few min then quench in water. Now clean the gunk off the new piece and smooth up the flint face side. Epoxy in place with jb weld . I did this as a quick fix several years ago and it is still sparking. PM me if you need more info. Bob

 

[Rebel]

Thank you for the info. Since posting this i heard back from the seller. He said he is going to talk to his gunsmith and see if he can do it. If so, he said to send him the frizzen and they will fix it at no extra cost to me except the shipping cost. I will wait to see what he has to say. Thanks again.

 

[Roy]

Sent you a p.t.

 

[Berk]

Rebal I had one of those tower pistols a few years ago. I bought it for $20.00. I had the same problem that you have. I had a neighbor who has a torch heat it to cherry red and quinch it in water and that helped but still not a real good sparker. The frizzen spring was real heavy too. I ground it down to weaken it some and that also helped.

I would load the gun up with newspaper wads and some shot and shoot sparrows and cowbirds with it.

I finaly put it in a friends booth in an antique mall and got $60.00 for it. It sold so fast I wished that I had put more on it.


Good luck with your gun.

Berk

 

[rice1817]

Not that it matters now since the guy is going to make it good for you, but it is possible to harden a frizzen with 2 propane torches. Watched a reknowned builder do it for me. The two torches provided the necessary heat. He dipped the hot frizzen in casenite case hardening compound, cooked it some more, then oil quenches it. Polished off the slag and I was in business again. Another way, which I read about in Dixie's catalog and tried myself was to get a steel can, pack it with leather scraps and sugar (for carbon content), stick your frizzen in the middle of it and throw it in the fireplace for an hour. Pull it out with tongs and drop the whole thing in a bucket of water to quench it. That also worked.

 

[Rebel]

Thanks for all the replies guys. Will see if the seller can fix it. If not, a member here has offered to help me out with it. Take care.

 

[howlingwolf]

Not that it matters now since the guy is going to make it good for you, but it is possible to harden a frizzen with 2 propane torches. Watched a reknowned builder do it for me. The two torches provided the necessary heat. He dipped the hot frizzen in casenite case hardening compound, cooked it some more, then oil quenches it. Polished off the slag and I was in business again. Another way, which I read about in Dixie's catalog and tried myself was to get a steel can, pack it with leather scraps and sugar (for carbon content), stick your frizzen in the middle of it and throw it in the fireplace for an hour. Pull it out with tongs and drop the whole thing in a bucket of water to quench it. That also worked.

I think you have given him the best advise yet. Heat it and stick it in casenite, when cool heat it and quench it in oil.