doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DIY Gunsmithing @ doublegunshop.com Steel for cocking rods

Once again looking for some insight on another part for my Meriden. While working on the springs, I was thinking about the cocking rods. I have two rods from a 12ga which are too tall for the 20ga. I carved a wood model to see what size it needed to be and it works well in the receiver.



At some point I'll try my hand at making a couple but I'm wondering what grade steel I should use? Material that I have ready access to is A36 mild steel. Will this work for the rod? I would assume that whatever I use will have to be hardened. Is this feasible with A36?

Thanks
Kirk

Kirk,
I suggest you use either water hardening or oil hardening "drill rod", available from either local or mail order industrial supply houses. A 36 is typically a "Structural steel" and may have enough carbon to harden, but I think it will be easier to use tool steel. I would harden it like a spring. This is only a suggestion.
Mike

Never messed with cocking rods, but casehardened mild steel works well for most internal firearm parts.
Kasenit or equivalent makes a very wear resistant surface.
Chuck

I'd take a piece of plain mild steel,,1/4" round.
Leave it and inch or so extra longer than needed for the shaft length of the part.
Upset one end by forging it (acetylene torch for heat) to rough shape of the cocking rod.
It's just a double elbow bend with some extra material there. Bump up the rod and then forge it out while hot will give that extra.

Then finish file that end to shape.

Place the extra length in the lathe,,or if you don't have one a drill press will do.

Slow the speed down, you might have to give it a few light wacks to straighten it from wobbling as it spins.
Then trim down the shaft the extra .025" to the finished dia.
A rough cut file works fine in a drill press set up

Case harden the ends of the part. Casenite if you have any left. They've removed it from the market I guess. I can't find it anymore.
The CherryRed surface hardening stuff works well too. Brownells has that as well as many other supply places.

...Just the way I'd do it.

When I saw this, I thought if it isn't too big a project, why not make the cocking rod out of any mild steel, and consider not hardening it. A good successful case hardening may transfer wear to other internal bearing points that could be more difficult to repair or replace. Just a thought.

Kasenit


1LB.CAN #1 SURFACE HARDNING COMPND KASENIT is no longer available for purchase. If you need information about product substitutions, please contact one of our customer service representatives at 1-800-221-0270 or click the chat button at the top of the page.

https://www.travers.com/1lbcan-1-surface-hardning-compnd-kasenit/p/81-003-001/

Thanks guys.

Mike, when you mentioned "drill rod", my feeble mind was trying to figure out how to make it out of a rod. Then it struck me that you were talking about a material similar to drill rod. Been looking online at tool steels and I would thing that it would be possible to find something at a tool and die shop if that's what's needed.

Kutter, my first thought was that if you could pull that off then "You da man". Probably beyond my capabilities but I have to admit it is intriguing. Don�t have an acetylene torch which presents a problem and I doubt MAPP gets hot enough. Trying to figure out what you mean by "bump up" to get the extra material.

My thought for when I tackle it was to get a piece of �� flat stock and cut out a couple blanks and then take the file to them. Like the idea of chucking them up in a drill press. Doesn�t look like Brownell�s has the Cherry Red but they do have another product. Have to ponder this, certainly have no use for a pound of either one of them.

Thanks again for your help

Kirk

kirkp,
What I meant was a rod, commonly sold as drill rod and is used to make a lot of different things. The difference between my suggestion and Kutter's is the material, from which the rod is made, and the method of hardening( through hardening in my idea and surface hardening in his).If you can't do the "blacksmithing", maybe there is a knife maker( "bladesmith")or farrier in your area that can block them out for you to finish up.
You could likely do the job with flat stock, but if you lack a lathe it means significant file work to wind up with two precise diameters, offset by a precise amount, and they still should be hardened.
Mike

Kasenite is no longer any use anyway. I know several people who bought a new can and found it useless. You can thank the greenies for that.

I use o1, silver steel, ground flat stock, whatever you wish to call it for everything. Its easy to harden and temper, for small parts anyway, even flat springs.

Mike, thanks for the clarification. Just when I thought I knew what you were talking about I find out I was mistaken. I'll take a look around and see if I can find someone to do the work. Probably not something that I'll be tackling right away.

On a positive note, making some progress on the springs and lock plates. Got the thicker spring pretty much filed down and only have a bit of fine tuning before assembling things.

Thanks again to everyone
Kirk

This may be a little to old school for some people, on this side of the pond old good quality files that are past there best is a good source of quality steel for manufacturing gun parts. I cut the required length of the file with an angle grinder then heat to cherry red then allow to cool slowly to bring it to soft condition. I have found this type of steel will oil or water harden. In a short film about Holland and Holland works the stocker did mention that he made his chequering tools from old files, good to see the practice of making things from old files is still alive and well here.

Kirk,
Good luck, have fun.
Mike

Damascus, nothing wrong with repurposing old tools. People should do more of that.

Thanks Mike.

Good thinking. I have some old Stubbs files that are sadly past their best, will not get files that good again so easily, but i can use their steel for something else. Have you seen the long (circa 1 1/2 hour) version of that Holland and Holland film ? Its on youtube.

My German gunsmith buddy made many of his screwdrivers from old files, I noticed because he twisted the shanks( I believe to keep them from breaking due to the torque), he also made his scrappers from 3 corner files. This is an old and honored tradition, it makes sense if you can't cheaply buy a section of steel that takes less work.
Mike

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I did recommend this small and reasonable costing book to any of my apprentices who took an interest in re-using Metals for other purposes. As a late friend of mine who was a Village Black Smith would say "it is a little information in the black art of metal bashing" the information is given in a straight and uncomplicated way, bearing in mind it was published in the 1950s and is just reprinted from then.