doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Making your own flat springs?

In my search for a source for spare springs for my new-to-me BC Miroku O/U 20 ga., I came across this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFx-LCvAevM
Does anyone here have any experience in making their own springs?

Jack Rowe has a much better video (IMO) on how to make a spring. Google him and you will find an entire library of videos he has made in partnership with Brownells. The most difficult part is the final tempering; the temper is either too much or too little. Mr. Rowe's method is understandable and repeatable.

I posted some pictures in the thread below, making a pair of flat springs.

http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=349007#Post349007

There are dozens of steels out there that could be called "spring steel". I would use a known alloy, and then you have the exact heat treatment specifications. Hardening and tempering can then be done in a furnace with predictable results. I make springs on an almost weekly basis, and I don't want to do them over, so I must use a known process.

I have been making springs of one form or another for some forty years but it has been try to make it now and it will not be the same pattern as the last one you made. In consequence not all the springs I have made have been a success purely because they where made using a gas torch and muffle furnace Silver steel (drill rod) or oil tempering Gauge plate because that was the material at hand. Though I have been successful in making a couple of shotgun main springs though with a number of failures along the way, but I did have success using �Stubbs Files� for the material after annealing and tempering using the standard visual colour temperature method surrounding the spring in sand to slow things down for the final annealing, Stubbs was a Brit manufacturer of the best specialised steels and fine quality engineering files that when past their useful life as a file where made into all sorts of hand tools especially screw drivers, but alas the company is no longer with us.
I did watch Jack Rowe on u tube making springs and drawing the temper by using the old method of flaring Whale oil which is a commodity as hard to find as hens teeth today though I must say it was one of the best ways for any spring maker to get it right, but up to the 1950s you could buy Whale oil by the gallon for all sorts of engineering uses, though now I am personally pleased to see the cessation of commercial exploitation of whales for what ever reason and long may it stay that way.

damascus,
Three different old gunsmith friends told me to use 30 weight motor oil to burn it off with( I think it is what wou call flaring) instead of Whale oil.Just knock a dent in the side of an oil can put the spring and oil in and light it off with the torch,when it burns off ,clean and try it out.It usually works(do it outside).
Mike

I made a sum total of one with good success. It is still going strong.

I haven't watched all the videos yet (one must have some patience with Mr. Rowe), but seeing what's involved I can appreciate the sense of pride one would get from a well-made spring. I can also appreciate the subtle humour in Jack Rowe's comment, which in effect came across as "You'd be crazy to make a spring when you can buy one."

Could it also be said that, where it is possible to buy a generic V-spring and cut/file it accordingly, this would be better than starting from scratch?

Or buying them is a possibility

http://www.wisnersinc.com/additional_info/Mirokusprings.html

Alas even at Wisners the springs for my Type 3 20 ga. are scarcer than whale oil. The good news is that I have a quality gun that works just fine. Seems the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" approach is in order.

I bought spring stock from Brownell's and followed the directions. I tempered by eye without problems. My toplever spring has lasted about 15 years and a set of boxlock mainsprings are two years and several thousand rounds old. It's not that hard.