A more decorated flintlock pistol I made

The trigger is actually made of ONE PIECE of black iron sheet,about 1/16" thick. You take a bout a 2" square of it,clamped in a smooth jawed vise. Then you start tapping on the edge until,like making a ring out of a coin,the edge spreads and spreads till you have a hollow shaped piece of flared out iron,about 1/4" wide. The hollowness of this flared out shape is important because it determines the shape of the wide part of the trigger.

When you have a nice wide,hollow shaped flare,you remove the trigger from the vise. You take a jeweler's saw and saw out the decorative shape on the flat part behind the trigger. The flared part is filed into a long teardrop shape.,and its surface is filed smooth and polished. The pointed end of the teardrop shape is bent into a miniature scroll shape,like on a violin neck.

That is how the trigger is formed. The lowest carbon content steel,like black iron sheet,will be the most ductile to form.

I'll describe how the butt piece is formed,in brass in this case,another time. I figured out how to do this myself,and was the first one in Williamsburg to do it. I showed the gunsmiths how to do this. They had been casting these butt pieces in halves,and silver soldering them together.

I learned how to make the trigger from them. Nice trading of techniques.
 
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