Hey CW, operation is under way

First step is to center the cavity then spot drill. This is a photo of the spot made with my phone. No way was I taking the mould out of the vise and then recentering it.
Follow that with a drill and ream to .1645.


Then I made the pin from a piece of .164 drill rod. Nice and round.

Pin goes into a .375 collar which is also reamed .1645. It was held with some blue Loctite, let sit for 15 min, then drill and seat a cross pin to keep them aligned. This gives a good surface to butt against the bottom of the mould, a place to drill and tap for the pin the keeps it in place when casting, and a surface for gluing into the handle.
I used to make all of this, and a collar for holding in place when casting, but this is way faster and easier.

Drill and tap for screw in bottom of mould and make the screw. Takes a little thinking to get the head far enough away from collar to not interfere. I also make a shoulder under the head of the screw to locate it firmly on bottom of the mould. Making the screw is pretty easy using a die holder on the lathe.


I now need to drill and tap for the cross pin that keeps the HP pin in place when casting and file it to fit. That is all pretty quick and easy work.

All told it takes a solid hour if I don’t get interrupted. I love this kind of stuff.

And another member of the 357446HP Master Race is born!

Good work, Brad. Reamers rock. I have the dangest time sawing a screw slot on center, did you get lucky or is there some trick like using a tool blank in the toolpost as a guide while the screw is in the collet?

Now, if you just knew someone with a wood lathe who could make you a handle out of some hill country black cherrywood blanks......

The slot was done freehand. Screw held in a vise and hacksaw held by hand.
I have considered making a lock ring and a block with a threaded hole so I could use a fine toothed slitting saw.

JW sent me some of the best hacksaw blades I have ever used. Made by a Swedish company I believe. Far and away the best I have used and they make it so much easier to cut.

Cross pin made and fit. I use .125 brass rod threaded 4-40. I give .040 between edge of hole and base of collar. Tapping under power with a good spiral point tap makes it a breeze.

Once pin is tight I file off most of the end of pin then peen remainder to hold it I place.

File to fit is the last step. This is by trial and error. I want it snug but not tight so it doesn’t bind.

Now to drill the handle to 3/8 then drill for cross pin and glue in place.

Looks awesome Brad!!

The epoxy is setting up now to hole the handle on. Tomorrow I will drill for a cross pin, make the pin, and be done.
I may need to take it for a test drive CW.

Have at it brother!!! She is a virgin.

CW

Impressive work, nice write-up and photos!

Building Flintlock guns from the stick....you learn to make a lot of your tools
Here is my set up for starting Dovetails in barrels and also Cutting screw heads.
It is a mini hacksaw with super fine Swedish metal blade. I made a moveable and lockable piece of steel to use as a depth stop as well as to keep the cut parallel to the surface being cut. While I will cut modern screw heads with this set up ( square groove) ; all my 17th & 18th Century screw heads are cut with a "V" file .... because screw slots back then were V shaped, not square

I had no idea about V slots. Was this due to lack of good steel for drivers?

Likely more due to the tools the black smith used to make the screws one at a time by hand .

The claim is that the V slot and V blade maintain more contact area and the act of using the V "turnscrews" ( as they were called) prevented the blade from jumping out of the groove.

Let me put it this way....I have yet to see an old hand tool from the 17th and 18th century that was a "make do" because of poor quality materials.
The old guys knew way more then we do about making something work properly.
I have a pretty nice collection of old 18th C tools and I use them ( but not on modern things) Do not think I have ever seen a square slot or a square turnscrew before the period of the industrial revolution

Sorry to Drift Brad's Thread
but here are some V blade old turnscrews ( the 4 pieces at 11 o'clock are not very old: I forged these for myself in the 1990's from old files but these are what 18th C "turnscrews" would look like.
The tall one w/ brass barrel, in the center top, is from Winchester rifle company's shop. the ones with no handles are meant to be used with a hand brace.
All are Vee blades ( and were not altered...however some I had to work on to get out chips and nicks)

Thanks for the insight, Jim. I wonder if the difference lies more in thread pitch and material receiving the screw. Machine screws threaded into metal tend to have parallel slots while cabinet or wood screws always have wedge slots.

I thought those was called chisels?

No, not chisels! But if you want to see old Chisels!
Would not want to clutter up Brad's thread any more & would start a new thread! Carving or Woodworking chisels?
Anyway........ Ian I'm not sure because the lock bolts and tang screws on original Flintlocks were Machine screws! They have V cut heads
Remember as far as wood screws are concerned, in that time period the thread was cut with a hand file! Every screw has to go back in it's same hole...no 2 are the same! The pitch is greater than we see now so it didn't take as long to secure them or remove them
I use to make these on weekends when I had my museum workshop open. Our resident Blacksmith used to forge the blanks and head them
then deliver them across the creek to my gunshop... where I slotted them and cut the threads!
It was a neat learning experience for the public

Oh by the way cabinet and Wood screws are no longer are made with V heads ...unless you mean those blasted Phillips grooves!
I photographed a custom Flint rifle for my good buddy from up state New York! Befor I sent the images to him I reworked all the screw head in Photoshop to make them Phillips! Sure was a nasty trick! but funny as all heck!

Clutter away Jim, this is good education.