How Long Do You Expect A Frizzen To Last ?

[4119Bill]

I had a frizzen that would not spark at all. They sell a replacement but they are different than the one I have. I took my original one and refaced it with a razor blade from a 4 inch razor scraper.
I ground the face of the frizzen down about .030 and cut the razor blade a little bigger than the size of the frizzen. I ruffed up the back side of the razor blade a little with a Dremel. Got the best steel epoxy I could find. Put the 2 together and clamped with vise grips. The next day I took the Dremel and cleaned up the edges. Has been sparking ever since.
If it quits sparking again I will buy a replacement lock from L&R.

 

[rich pierce]

Everyone seems to blame the frizzen hardness when their lock stops sparking. How many of them actually test to see how hard it is compared to another lock that sparks well? Maybe 1 in 20.

 

[earlwb]

I remember reading somewhere that the British soldiers packed a extra frizzen in their kit. Thus they could change it out if it quit sparking well. Many if not all of the outdoorsmen carried a extra frizzen or two as well.

 

[sturmkatze]

I'd expect the frizzens on my rifle & smoothbores to be in good order when my grandkids are in the old folks home...if I had any grandkids, that is.

Your expectations might be a little high

 

[Rifleman1776]

Depends on the way the lock was manufactured. My most fired gun, a flint longrifle has a Pete Allen built Siler lock. Couldn't begin to estimate how many shots have been fired with it over 50 years. Lock, frizzen and all are still as fine as new. But, I have had less happy success with some others, especially foreign made. The lock on my Pedersoli (kit) Brown Bess had way less than 10% of the shots than my longrifle but the frizzen wore through and went soft on me. I used Kasenite to reharden.

 

[burlesontom]

Here is a good video on refacing a frizzen. Its not hard but you do need the right tools and skills.

 

[Omahkapi'si]

I think my frizzen will be sparkin' longer than I will.

 

[TDM]

Hammer geometry, mainspring tension, frizzen spring tension, flint quality/hardness. All these affect wear on the frizzen surface. But if all these are relatively balanced, the frizzen should last longer than us.

 

[shorthair]

We have had a lot of discussion on how long a flint will last or how many shots one should expect to get from a flint.
My question is how many shots should I expect from a well hardened frizzen face before it needs to either be re hardened or re faced ?
I do a lot of in house practice with my firearms and use a wooden "flint" when dry firing my flintlocks to keep the wear down .

I'm still waiting for the answer to how many licks does it take to get to the inside of the tootsie pop.

 

[TDM]

I'm still waiting for the answer to how many licks does it take to get to the inside of the tootsie pop.

Don’t you remember the old commercial from 50-60 years ago with the old owl? “One, two, three,….three”. If you don’t remember you’d have to see it.

 

[david w]

Don’t you remember the old commercial from 50-60 years ago with the old owl? “One, two, three,….three”. If you don’t remember you’d have to see it.

How many licks does it take to....

 

[TDM]

How many licks does it take to....

That’s it!

 

[bud in pa]

Had the frizzen on my Pedersoli Kentucky fail as I walked up on a deer years back. The week before I had sighted it in with no trouble.

 

[TDM]

Had the frizzen on my Pedersoli Kentucky fail as I walked up on a deer years back. The week before I had sighted it in with no trouble.

Some of the Pedersoli frizzens slip through the quality assurance crack. Unfortunately, they’re not the only ones.

 

[Flintlock Whiskey]

I've had to reface many imported frizzens with a piece of good high carbon steel from a band saw blade. Once installed they will last a LONG time, in fact have never worn one out.

How did you bond them on without losing the temper on the band blade piece?

 

[Flintlock Whiskey]

Had the frizzen on my Pedersoli Kentucky fail as I walked up on a deer years back. The week before I had sighted it in with no trouble.

I have the same gun in .50, how did the frizzen fail?

 

[FishDFly]

Just curious.... does anyone know someone who will rework a frizzen for those of us who don't have a forge (or blacksmith skills)?

Log Cabin.

 

[GREENSWLDE]

How did you bond them on without losing the temper on the band blade piece?

You don't. You Re-harden and temper them after Silver soldering. 1974 steel now on it's Second Re-Sole with CS75 water hardened. O.D.

 

[Mulemauler]

How did you bond them on without losing the temper on the band blade piece?

I use a low temp solder that flows at about 450 degrees - Stay-Silv. Plenty of strength to hold the plate to the frizzen.

 

[Flintlock Whiskey]

I use a low temp solder that flows at about 450 degrees - Stay-Silv. Plenty of strength to hold the plate to the frizzen.

Do you remove original frizzen material to compensate for the thickness or thin out the blade material? Which blades do you prefer to use?