Sparking Problem

[kmeyer]

I have a brand new "Large Siler" lock that won't spark. I've tried Fuller flints as well as Agate. Tried bevel up and down. At half cock, the edge of the flint is 1/4 inch from the frizzen. Sometimes it won't even flip the frizzen open, but some times it does. The frizzen appears to have normal tension and not be any different to open than my L&R lock. I put a small amount of oil in the Frizzen pin just to help a little, but no luck. The frizzen is starting to get a groove cut into it where the flint strikes it. I am worried this may be ruining the frizzen. Anyone else had this issue?

 

[rebuse]

I definitely don’t have the most experience here, but (and correct me if I’m wrong guys) my flint almost (maybe even less then 1/16th of an inch from) touches my frizzen.

Preacher

 

[Stumpkiller]

Wipe the frizzen well with acetone or 91% isopropyl alcohol and try again after a few seconds. Could be your frizzen is lubricated.

I agree that 1/4" is a bit far. Add a piece of wood stick match inside the flint leather to shim it forward a bit.

 

[Treerat]

At what angle is the frizzen flipping on open by itself? I read somewhere that silers should hold tension up to 30 degrees and then flip open. I had to modify the cam a little on my small siler to do this and after the adjustment and a real good polish on the cam and frizzen spring it works great. Also took two tries to get the heat treat right,dosn't spark as good as a Chambers virginia but pretty darn good for such a little lock. Hope this helps.

 

[Twisted_1in66]

I have a brand new "Large Siler" lock that won't spark. I've tried Fuller flints as well as Agate. Tried bevel up and down. At half cock, the edge of the flint is 1/4 inch from the frizzen. Sometimes it won't even flip the frizzen open, but some times it does. The frizzen appears to have normal tension and not be any different to open than my L&R lock. I put a small amount of oil in the Frizzen pin just to help a little, but no luck. The frizzen is starting to get a groove cut into it where the flint strikes it. I am worried this may be ruining the frizzen. Anyone else had this issue?

Hey Kmeyer,

Your flint should be about 1/8 - 1/16 of an inch away from the face of your frizzen at half cock, and the edge of the flint should look like it's going to hit about 1/3 of the way down from the top with a down sloping angle. Bevel up or down, whatever it takes to get that angle. If the flint does not have a slight downward angle, it will crush the edge of the flint against the frizzen instead of slicing along it. If it has too much of an angle, it will chip big pieces off your flint. Both of these will dull the flint so that it needs to be knapped to get it to spark again.

If your flint is not opening the frizzen, it could easily be because the flint is hitting your frizzen down too low because your flint is set back too far in the jaws of the cock.

Get it close, get a slight downward angle, and try it again. Make sure your flint is sharp before you try again, but be careful not to slice your finger open.

Hope this helps.

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Twisted_1in66 :thumbsup:

 

[kmeyer]

This site is awesome. I only went back downstairs for about 45 minutes and return to all this input. Thanks everyone. I will shim the flint and get it closer to the frizzen. I just took the frizzen spring off to look at it and then put it back on. I then did wipe off the entire lock and now it is opening everytime. It is now sparking to, but not quite as good as my L&R yet. I think it will be fine after moving the flint forward more. My guess right now is it was a combination of the flint to far back and maybe I got some tung oil on the frizzen. A few large pieces did chip off the flint. Thanks again all. I need to get to sleep. I leave for Deer camp at 5:30am

 

[Uncle Jed]

A few large pieces did chip off the flint. Thanks again all. I need to get to sleep. I leave for Deer camp at 5:30am

Please take note to make sure the flint is not set out too far in the jaw, if it is, then the frizzen won't close properly and the flint will also hit the bottom of the pan and snap off once fired. You want to set the flint just a skosh from touching the frizzen, then Clampett in place. Hee-he-he, I love that line.

 

[Stumpkiller]

. . . maybe I got some tung oil on the frizzen.

It only takes a tiny amount of oil to slick up a frizzen. I carry a teeny botte of 91% alcohol in my bag (the bottle is a 5 ml brown bottle with a cork). About the size of an acorn. The night before a hunt I wipe the frizzen and the flint with alcohol on a piece of cotton. Don't worry if you get a little rust on the face of the frizzen. The flint will take care of that in short order.

 

[jdixon]

I second this alcohol trick - I carry a small nasal spray bottle of denatured alcohol (100%) in my possibles bag. Great to de-grease or dry a wet frizzen. Was able to fire off my flinter in the driving rain the other day after qucking wiping the frizzen and flint with a cleaning patch sprayed with alcohol, then firing - went off like a champ!

 

[mikelange]

Good luck deer hunting (or, by the time you read this, I hope you had good luck). If your frizzen still isn't performing up to par, you might think about the heat treating. You mentioned the flint cutting a groove across the face of the frizzen, and a few large flakes breaking off the flint. I could be wrong, but I'm guessing a soft frizzen might be your gremlin.

 

[vermontfreedom]

I'm not convinced distance between frizzen and flint at half-cock is much important, so long as the frizzen opens properly, is properly hardened, etc. etc. I say this because I learned flintlock on a Lyman Trade Rifle and the flint was about 1/32 from the frizzen at half cock. SParked every time. Then I got a custom gun that has a Jim CHambers golden age Siler. At half cock, the flint is AT LEAST 1/4 inch from the frizzen. I was really worried until I calculated that I have a misfire about 1 in 100 shots, and that's usually not due to poor spark. My flint usually scrapes 95% of the frizzen. THe lock is SUPER STRONG.

So all I'm saying is that whether the flint to frizzen distance is 1/64th or 1/4, it doesn't matter as long as everything else is right.