Brass Key hole escutcheon plates:

[danmart77]

Well looking at my last 3 WIP posts I get the sense that they are a bit boring or not very useful(4replies/910views). So with this one I'll be short and answer questions if they come back.

In the past I have used Ball and Ball Brass for some brass pieces. They have downsized and their inventory is not what it used to be. In many cases you have to wait "until the set up for that piece of brass" to be stamped out is on the production floor. Wait?

The piece I am showing below is 16.50 and 8 bucks shipping. This is time consuming and the convenience of purchasing the brass is worthwhile in most cases but I decided to make it up and be done. After all, I call myself a rifle builder and this includes making all the brass parts from sheet brass.

Here's how I do it:

Solder an example to the sheet brass stock. Notice the nail holes in the template? These are critical to use as indexing points as you file later. I drill out as much as possible once I screw the sheet stock to a piece of hard wood.

I don't have a scroll saw so I cut out the plate with a fret saw and then use needle files to get close to the shape I want.
Once I have the shape close I heat the pieces and separate them. I forgot to mention, I anneal the brass before working it so its nice and soft. Later I will stiffen it back up before polishing and installation

Test fit on lock side. The other false plate will go on the other door.

That's it.



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[Bill Clemmons]

Well looking at my last 3 WIP posts I get the sense that they are a bit boring or not very useful(4replies/910views). So with this one I'll be short and answer questions if they come back.

Dan, I look at it from a different angle. Not boring, just very informative. Few questions necessary. Judge the reception by the number of "Thank You" clicks you get at the bottom.

 

[Roy G]

Dan, I am totally ignorant about brass, but wondered if you could have cast that part? I have ordered from Ball and Ball in the past and as I remember it, a lot of their pieces were cast brass, but some were stamped. Anyway, very nice work.

Roy G

 

[JohnnyR]

Dan, there hasn't been one of your posts that hasn't been enlightening and interesting. Don't let lack of responses keep you quiet! Often I read and forget to click! Question, what's the annealing and stiffening process?

 

[Chris C]

Well looking at my last 3 WIP posts I get the sense that they are a bit boring or not very useful(4replies/910views).

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Wrong on both counts. I enjoy the posts very much and appreciate the tips that you share. Carry on....please.

 

[Raymond]

Wrong on both counts. I enjoy the posts very much and appreciate the tips that you share. Carry on....please.

+1. I find your posts quite informative, as your comments along with the photos explain a lot that I see in the photos. I truly appreciate what you are doing.

 

[danmart77]

Dan, there hasn't been one of your posts that hasn't been enlightening and interesting. Don't let lack of responses keep you quiet! Often I read and forget to click! Question, what's the annealing and stiffening process?

OK we have a couple of questions to address. Before I get to them, I want to thank the above viewers/members for their encouraging comments. Some of you know that I keep a bunch of photos in folders here in the Gallery. Unlike many other photo posters who import from other storage means, you can go to my folders and see more pictures of the same thing from different angles. Some photos just make more sense from a different angle. Nuf said on that.

Casting vs sheet brass work question. Casting takes a whole lot of equipment that I am not going to use enough to make it worth my investment. I build blackpowder rifles with lots of different brass mounts. Just about all of these mounts or "furniture" are cast. Nowadays, the pieces can be cast using wax investment technology and they are almost in a final form with smooth surfaces. Impressive but there is a cost for these pieces.

I have worked sand cast pieces for so long I don't mind the hand work to bring the rough castings to final form. The pieces cast in sand are so cheap its not worth fooling with foundry equipment and sand molds to get the pieces. I have cooked brass and learned about adding zinc and copper but its an art like everything else and it takes time.


In the following photos you see buttplates and a trigger guards in brass. They come to me from a man up in Mocksville in rough form and I have to file and smooth them out before polishing. I might add - setting the buttplate is a real challenge.

To get this kind of fit, you hold the brass buttplate over a candle and get it black with soot. Tap in place and file away the high spots. You do this about 100 times till it sits just right. When it gets to this point, its time for a cold one my friend. You still have another 50 hours to finish the rifle.

To JohnnyR's question on annealing brass. Annealing(soft) brass happens in the opposite order of business when working iron or steel. To be clear here- I'm talking about softening sheet brass not castings. So.

You take a propane or MAP gas torch and heat the brass to a dull cherry red. Its a visual thing with lots of wiggle room. It won't melt on you so press on soldier. Once you get the cherry red thru out most of the piece you immediately dunk it in water. Wiggle it around and it will cool quickly. That's good. Double check that you can handle it with your fingers. Now bend it around its soft. Now you can work it a whole lot easier.

If you are done with all your cuts, bending and setting in, you can make it harder again. In the case below I will wait on stiffening it up till after I engrave it.

How do you stiffen it up? Get the torch out and get back to cherry red. Do not dunk it in water just set it aside and let it cool down slowly. Bingo its stiff again.

In the photo below of the patchbox lid and the finial, they are hinged together. I want the lid hard and the finial hinge section stiff to hold its shape. I don't need the side pieces hard they sit in place nicely in their soft state so I just leave it alone in the soft state.

Working with a hinge you make to sit on a curved surface is a small headache. With the brass in a softer state, its much easier to shape and flex. This is not a "rifle only" discussion, its useful when working brass for furniture.

This is an engraved patchbox by the late Gary Brumfield former Master of CW gunmakers shop. If you look carefully at Gary's patchbox, you will notice the screw heads are blue. These are fire blued and quench in water or oil. This will stop all future rusting. This is used on parts of the gun you don't want to get a rust film. It looks nice too.

If you look at these escutcheon plates on a desk, I needed 12 of these. 8 of the plates needed holes for bales and 4 needed key holes for drawer locks but the outer edge is the same on all of these. Make 'em up boy.

I cut 12 rectangles exactly the same. I annealed all the pieces. Then I soldered 4 together and had 3 lots. If you look carefully at the lower photo of the plate, you can see there are perfectly round holes all over the plate. You drill these out with the plates soldered or epoxied together. Done. Now its time to hacksaw and fretsaw the shapes. Work. When done. Stiffen the plates back up and polish.

Edit Note: I forgot to mention in the original text to drill the nail holes before filing. This is the indexing point for each lot. If you forget to drill and put tiny nails in the holes when you start filing and working a hacksaw something might accidentally separate and you don't have an exact way to get the pack of 4 just right. Easily avoided if you drill the small holes that will be used later to attach the brass to the drawer front.

Well its the 4th of July and its not looking like a day for celebrating. If it stops raining it will be good for fire works. I'm pretty sure the Fire Dept in Durham is loving this.

Hope this sheds some light on the world of brass.





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[JohnnyR]

Thanks again Dan. How do you keep all this knowledge from leaking out? Have a happy 4th!