The Creation of a Turret Clock

Whole lotta holes...

  I have the rest of the week of for the holidays so spent time on the forge today.  I decided to work on the lock plate for the chest that I'm working on.  The first order of business was to harden the punch I made a few days ago and to put a handle on it.  Next, I cut a wooden template for the plate.  After further study, I decided to go with a size of 3 1/4" x 18".  This is very close to the actual size.  Anyway, I cut the wooden template to help me cut and trim the plate properly to size.  That went easier then expected.  After the plate was cut to proper size, I moved to the nail holes in the plate.

  The original plate had 18 holes in it.  I added an additional two holes to the design simple to secure the ends a bit more.  Not really a significant change.  Well, I was able to punch the holes fairly quickly.  I had to frequently stop to do some cleanup on the punch.  Because of its contact with the hot metal, it is easy to deform the punch.  On the good news front, this is the first time I have done a lot of punching.  I've done a few here and there for tongs and the like but this is the first time I've had to do a lot of holes.  Other than a few minor errors(which are easy to fix or conceal) they came out pretty good.

  My biggest fear was the amount of metal left on the outside edge of the plate by the holes.  The act of punching causes the metal to push out a little.  To fix this, I simple file the bulge away.  I wanted to make sure the holes were very close to the edge but not so close that the hole breaks out the side.  Other than one or two close ones, when I do the filing, it should come out pretty good.

  I've included a pic of the plate below.  The bulges around the holes can be seen.  Next, I will file around the holes to restraighten the edge.  After that, comes the keyhole then the holes for the locking mechanism and the latches that the lock engages.  I should be able to get a lot of that done over this weekend.