FLINTLOCKS & FRIZZENS
I have long been fascinated by the flintlock. How such a mechanism was ever devised is beyond me. Yet its history shows that the process was one of progressive development, from a smoldering 'match' applied by hand to a touch-hole, to the same 'match' in a 'cock', so called because the rooster-like match holder pecked at the priming powder containing pan, to the wheel-lock, the various pecking locks, the miquillette, the snap-haunce and finally the 'true' or French flintlock as we know it today. It's development took about 200 years, it lasted as a predominant means of lighting the fire in a gun for the next 400 years, It is a marvelous means of producing fire.
"Marvelous" is a quantitative term. The fire produced depends in great part on the size and number of sparks produced, which in turn depends of the firmness of strike by the flint and the hardness of the frizzen. Both need to be just right. And herein lies the problem. Many mainsprings are not snappy enough to get the job done and many frizzens are not hard enough to splinter off the huge sparks that guarantee a quick shot.
Modern flintlocks are a bit better than the antiques. Spring and frizzens can be manufactured from proper steels (they are not the same) that are supplied by number, the number indicating the qualities of the steel. They can then be tempered using standardized processes that almost always work. Almost, that is. It is the ones that don''t work that interest us.
Because of the problem, White Muzzleloading has decided to offer a frizzxen hardening service. Send us your undependable flintlock and we will properly harden the frizzen. Results are not guaranteed, but if the frizzen does not improve substantially with our ministrations we will not charge you for the work. (S&H is not covered- that is your responsibility- both directions) The frizzen will never come back to you in worse shape than it started.
Final results will depend to a great degree on the metal in the frizzen. Common iron is impossible and the frizzen will need to be half-soled. Steel is better, in general the more carbon the better, but too much carbon can make the steel too brittle to hold up to repeated strikes. The doal is to harden the frizzen just right, then draw the tail just right so it will hold up. We think we are pretty good at this, but it is an art, and the results are variable, sometimes disappointing.
The cost is $30 plus S&H. Send in the entire lock, not just the frizzen. Turnaround time is about a month.