Member postings for vic newey

They look really good Bob,

how did you make the hammers? I used a combination of forging, sawing and filing to make mine, all my threads are Whitworth which replicates the coarse threads they used.

here is my box of failed springs from my early days of lock making, mostly caused by following instructions in old books on how to temper springs

I think the mention of criminals using antique weapons applies to early revolvers etc, I can't imagine anyone trying to rob a bank with the unreliability a flintlock pistol

The biggest problem of all is easy access to explosives in the form of fireworks, at one time they only appeared around November, now there are firework shops everywhere so anyone over 18 can go and buy some big display tubes full of gunpowder

Also a close up of the lock, You can see what I made to look like my initials VN this is the end of the main spring support which passes through the lock plate. Other interior support parts also pass through the plate into a square hole and are then hammered to expand before being filed off flat, also visible is the letter 'V' stamped.

The original locks would be made from iron and not mild steel as I used, this has a different appearance

I've been up in the loft, here is the guns full length, just about 3 feet as was the original I copied, also the back of the gun which is sadly unfinished, perhaps I should resume doing it as I still have a pile of old bone handled cutlery that I originally used.

Here are two photo's of my Wheelock, I need to get in the loft to bring down the gun and take a complete photo showing the entire length and also the back of the stock with incomplete inlay.. If this was an original Wheelock from this period it would be worth £20.000+

According to this dated 2021 then 2. Under section 58(2) of the Firearms Act 1968, antique firearms which are sold, transferred, purchased, acquired or possessed as a curiosity or ornament are exempt from most of the controls in the 1968 Act, including the need for certification and being able to trade in them without being registered with the police as a firearm dealer.

**LINK**

You have to take into account that anyone can fix an old piece of gas pipe to a piece of wood, block one end up and drill a touch hole, pour in gunpowder, readily available just about everywhere from firework shops, devise the means to ignite it, i.e. 1.5v battery & fine wire wool it and there you have a deadly weapon.

I made a Wheelock holster pistol back in the 1980's, it's a fully working replica of a Nuremberg holster pistol, every part was laboriously made by hand. The stock is inlaid with bone as on the original I copied, I never quite finished the inlay on the back of the stock unfortunately. The lock stock & barrel have now aged and look very authentic, I took just the lock to an arms fair to see if any of the dealers could spot it's not original and non could. I had even made a makers stamp incorporating my initials and hammered it in to the lock plate.

It has been fired using gunpowder from fireworks and just tissue paper for the bullet so you get a bit of a bang, also numerous times with just priming powder to show the mechanism working.

Wheelocks didn't use a flint, it wore away the wheel to quickly so they used iron pyrites which is softer but liable to crumble.

There are 7 springs in total for various parts, on the front of the lock are the dog spring and the sear lock safety spring, inside is the main spring, the pan return spring and two springs on the sear mechanism. You wind it up it with a 3/4 turn and then the sear drops into a hole on the back of the wheel. This is called 'spanning the lock' and is where the word 'spanner' almost certainly originated.

Just like early pocket watches the interior of these gun locks were ornamented even though the owner would rarely if ever see inside. I had to carve & file some fancy scrolls on the the exterior springs and inside mainspring, after all that work the first attempt broke when it was first compressed. I still have a pile of broken spring parts, until I learned how to temper the steel correctly. Normally a bright blue is good for your average spring but for a powerful leaf spring I discovered the need to go beyond that to a grey colour and then drop it into a pot of old engine oil.

If you need any advice Bob then message me, I can get the gun out of the loft and post some photo's up

According to the timber trade federation there is a global shortage

Global timber shortage

On Firefox you can select which cookies you want to be permanently kept such as log-in cookies, all others should be deleted when you log off or you will end up with hundreds tracking you.

select 'tools' then Privacy & security, scroll down to 'cookies & Site data' and select 'manage exceptions.' In another tab or window log in to your forum & then cut & paste it into exceptions,

select 'allow' and then save. If it doesn't work first time then repeat as it sometimes needs this.

Mostly junk in that box and not related to the lathe, did you find the little casting to complete the milling head?

Here is a description page of the B lathe from an early catalogue

Edited By vic newey on 25/05/2021 16:12:28

Looks very nice, it's a plain turning model B so no screwcutting which use gears & worms not used on model B. This type is far less commonly seen however.

The draw bar is for 8mm collets & other similar fittings, the chuck is a metric thread so just like any make of old lathe it might be difficult to unscrew.

Pittler lathes used a mix of metric & imperial threads on lathes exported to the UK, draw bar threads are metric but bolts are imperial Whitworth, at least they were in the early days,

I can see two parts of the dividing head, but the main casting is not visible so for some reason it was dismantled, see my website for how it should look assembled. Original equipment should include a travelling steady also.

That channel must be unique, it's a family business founded by producer/editor Noel Cronin, and run by his daughter Sarah Cronin-Stanley with her husband Neill Stanley.

The Cronins run Talking Pictures TV from their house in Hertfordshire. They schedule the running order, acquire new films and carry out the day-to-day mechanics of running the channel at home,

Noel Cronin says that choosing what to buy is “based on suitability for the channel and then price”.

Here is my Model B No 8 for you to compare, 20" between centres

Edited By vic newey on 24/05/2021 09:33:58

Edited By vic newey on 24/05/2021 09:54:42

An interesting find, a pattern B lathe on a tri leg stand, these also came on a trumpet stand.

I can see it's a type without back gear which on Pittler B lathes is inside part of the pulley casing. I'm not sure if that type came with a dividing head but it was originally issued with 17 gears & 3 worms plus other accessories. I have Pittler catalogues showing all the information on these and other literature.

I have a Pittler B2 with overhead drive etc with lots of rare accessories, I made a very detailed Google website showing all the various parts etc

Pittler lathes

Edited By vic newey on 23/05/2021 17:36:14

Edited By vic newey on 23/05/2021 17:36:52