Thread: Phil Coggan
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Old 04-08-2008, 12:54 PM
Phil Coggan Phil Coggan is offline
Platinum
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: South Wales
Posts: 899
Default Re: Phil Coggan

Someone asked me a few days ago "Who polishes and laquers your guns after hardening"?
Well I do, and have since the early eighties, the reason.......back about that time, in a period of about two years I had more than ten guns over polished after hardening. About seven guns had to be annealled, re-engraved and then re- hardened. About 30% to 50% of the game scenes / portraiture had been wiped off. This was done by one man in the factory.
Since then I don't take any chances, the guns come back to me, I polish them, ink them if they need it and laquer them.

There was also a time when there was some bad steel about, impurities caused holes to blow out in the plates, this was a nightmare especially in the middle of a game scene.
Sometimes a hole of about .3mm. on the surface opened out to about ten times that size below. Also flaking metal was possible.

I have also had problems with raised and flush gold guns. Clamping a raised gold gun in between lead jaws is not good enough, i've had raised gold border lines and scroll come back flat. I always use a thick leather.

When a gun goes back to the factory after engraving it's worked on by as many as half a dozen people, some are more cautious than others, it only takes one person to put a gold gun down on a bench full of tools or shavings!

Another reason I finish the gold work after hardening is that sometimes the gold engraving comes back lacking definition, a little worn looking.
I think the reason for this is that the heat process gets rid of those microscopic burs around the cuts and cuts down on the vitality and freshness that it once had.

I hope this has been of some interest.

Phil
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