cow's knee?

[Bigsmoke]

10-4, good buddy

[M1Tommy]

10-4, good buddy

    even if only Thursday!

Tommy

[WhiteBlanket]

I've cut the toe off an old moccasin and used the heel and sides to cover  the lock area.   Tallow and beeswax  or Snoseal to waterproof: add a thong, and there you are.  I have used a moccasisn pattern sans toe area to do the same thing.

 In my understanding, a "Cow's Knee" is a weather cover to keep rain and snow off the lock ; the frizzen stall is a safety feature, as described.

Sansquartier

[Lady of the Woods]

Brilliant discussion gentlemen! Thank you to Black Hand for the pattern advice and the suggestions from all.

Received today from a friend a perfectly fit cows knee for the Lady of the Woods.  pictures to follow tomorrow...

A frizzen stall is already in the works and I agree it is probably more important overall, but I'm getting excited about hunting season and thus the need (possibly) for the cows knee.  The one I received is actually a barktanned buck knee and is quite fabulous.
Z
ps, glad that the discussion sparked new knowledge on a couple of items!

[Chairslayer]

I just use a scrap opf linen that I saturated with patch lube. My patch lube is beeswax tallow and olive oil.  I once sat out an ice storm like that. My gun had 1/4 inch of ice on it except for the rag was.

[Buffler Razz]

I'm a visual kind of guy, so...here is a picture of a frizzen stall in use

Razz

[david32cal]

[albumimg:y1pzo5ed]3372[/albumimg:y1pzo5ed]

[Three Hawks]

Z[/b
Tucking the lock of my flinter under my arm proved much more practical that trying to cover, and uncover, the lock......besides, when it's pouring down rain you need to freshen the prime about every hour or so anyway...just dump it out, wipe / dry the pan, and re-charge.

Uncle Russ...

I've used a flinter to hunt quite a bit in Western Wa. (You know, where rain was invented.)  I have found a cow's knee to be one more piece of foo-fa-raw that simply gets lost, or worse in the way, not unlike short starters.

Seems like us humans like to add more and more "stuff" when we do things.  The older I get the more I like the KISS principle.   the fewer things I have with me when I'm hunting, the fewer things I have to get tangled up in or lose.

Your mileage, of course, may vary.

"Dubbin" is a greasy goop used to soften and preserve leather.  The word derives from "dubbing" which itself derives from "daubing".

Three Hawks

[Roaddog]

Thanks David23cal That Padrn I can fallo.

[vermontfreedom]

I use two devices to protect my lock in inclement weather - both are easy and have different applications. Sometimes I use them together.

(1) cow's knee - I much prefer a soft cover that just lays on the lock rather than a hard, molded thing. Take a thin, supple piece of hide or leather, cut in 6-8 inch circle or oval (esp. if  you have a long lock). Next cut a triangle out of it with the point in the center of the circle or oval and the wedge only about 10 degrees or about 1 inch of the perimeter. sew the two edges together along the triangle cut and you have what amounts to a cone that should sit perched on top of the cock over the frizzen/pan , etc. I have a short length of rawhide string so I can tie mine to my trigger guard. The great thing about this is you can just flick it off your lock when your ready to fire and it's light and quiet enough to just hang from the guard if you don't need it.

I use this most often in any foul weather - rain or snow. Only downfall is it blows off easily in a strong gust and won't stay on well at all if moving through vegetation.

(2) the shank of a wool (NOT COTTON) sock. Just cut to length to cover entire lock area from the head of the frizzen spring back to tail of the lock area. When ready to fire, just pull it back to the wrist and it should be out of the way. I used to use this by itself, but have gotten away from that because it will snag on my rather tall cock screw and because heavy rain or wet snow will pass right through the weave. An exception is in cold cold weather with light, fluffy snow. In very wet weather, I will use both, the cow's knee on the bottom and the sock shank pulled over it.

I should mention that perhaps the best thing you can do if you're going to be hunting in bad weather is change your prime regularly. I change every 10-20 minutes in damp weather and every 5-10 minutes if precipitating rain or wet snow. Also consider using 3F or even 2F instead of 4F (they absorb less moisture because of granule size).

[Chairslayer]

One thing I forgot to mention is that I always use 3f for prime when hunting. Every time I tried 4f I would get a misfire or at best a hangfire. I've never had a problem with 3f in the pan. Targets I use 4f. I've also thought about sewing roundballs in the corners of the linen rag to help hold it on in a wind. Haven't tried it yet.

[Captchee]

Im with russ on this one . I made a cows Knee once . only once and the thing is   most likly still high up on the mountian where i  tossed it  in anger  during an elk hunt , my first year out with a flintlock .

 i do just what uncle russ said . carring the lock under my arm  in really bad weather or  i carry the rifle  upside down.
 if its really raining or snowing out " snow is much easier  to deal with then rain . what i do is use soft bee's wax to  budder the edges of the  pan , frizzen and where the frizzen closes to the barrel .
 now others oppenions may very but i find them a total bother , a henderance and just something else to get in the way .

 a frizzen stall is a good idea though and if you just tie it off so you  can quickly slip it off  and not worry about dropping it , it works well  exspecialy  when going through heavy brush  where you can possably trip the lock

[Minnesota Mike]

If it is really miserable weather, I break out the canvas poncho - then keep the lock area under the canvas with me. That way we both stay dry.

r/
MM

[Black Hand]

OK, I had that in my mind's eye as what a cow's knee is, but the cow's knee is considerably more involved and covers most all the action extending some over the stock,  right ?

Tommy

Yes.

[vermontfreedom]

a buddy of mine has a squarish leather flap that he punched holes through and mounts to his rifle via the sidelock screws. It drapes up and over the lock. He flips it off to the side when it's time to shoot. He says he could stiffen it into a dome so he could shoot through it if need be.