Stiff Cuffs

A young fellow came to the ring 96 meeting last Saturday with a pair of handcuffs. I did not see a brand name, but the looked pretty standard. The bow was stamped with a long digit number and the word "Taiwan".

Any clue what brand they might be?

Anyway he wanted me to show him how to shim the cuffs. I didi that but noticed that they were VERY stiff. What I mean is that it was a real fight to get the shim into place. Anyone know how to loosen them up a bit? They were so stiff that I could lee a law officer fighting to put them on a fellon. No easy snap for him.

Thanks

Brand?? They obviously are cheap cuffs from Taiwan, duhhh.
What else do you use on metal objects that need lubrication, oil...duhhh.

A young fellow came to the ring 96 meeting last Saturday with a pair of handcuffs. I did not see a brand name, but the looked pretty standard. The bow was stamped with a long digit number and the word "Taiwan".

Any clue what brand they might be?

Anyway he wanted me to show him how to shim the cuffs. I didi that but noticed that they were VERY stiff. What I mean is that it was a real fight to get the shim into place. Anyone know how to loosen them up a bit? They were so stiff that I could lee a law officer fighting to put them on a fellon. No easy snap for him.

Thanks

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There are other reasons cuffs can be stiff to push through.

Particularly on cheap Asian knock off cuffs.

Examine the cuffs to make sure the bow arm is not bent and is binding on the sides of the lock case when it is pushed through.

Uusally it can be bent easilly back into shape.

Far worse is if the bow arm is bent into a wider circumferance.

This too can be fixed but it is a slightly more delicate operation to get everything to line up perfectly again (i.e. the ditched jaw groove with the dimples).

Steve Santini www.thedarkmaster.com

A young fellow came to the ring 96 meeting last Saturday with a pair of handcuffs. I did not see a brand name, but the looked pretty standard. The bow was stamped with a long digit number and the word "Taiwan".

Any clue what brand they might be?

Anyway he wanted me to show him how to shim the cuffs. I didi that but noticed that they were VERY stiff. What I mean is that it was a real fight to get the shim into place. Anyone know how to loosen them up a bit? They were so stiff that I could lee a law officer fighting to put them on a fellon. No easy snap for him.

Thanks

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I also seen a thread on this same topic about a year ago. One of the replies was quite interesting. It was from a former gunsmith that used to work for Smith and Wesson that talked about applying the same principals used to do a trigger job to the ratchet teeth of the bows. By doing so you allowed for less resistance and a smoother cycle.

I will not try to repeat what he told us back then, at the risk of getting something wrong. But it involves stoning parts of the ratchet teeth. if you can look up info on trigger jobs it might give you some insight to what he is talking about. I will tell you I had it done to a pair of Peerless 700's that were real hard to cycle, and they came out as smooth as butter.

James

A young fellow came to the ring 96 meeting last Saturday with a pair of handcuffs. I did not see a brand name, but the looked pretty standard. The bow was stamped with a long digit number and the word "Taiwan".

Any clue what brand they might be?

Anyway he wanted me to show him how to shim the cuffs. I didi that but noticed that they were VERY stiff. What I mean is that it was a real fight to get the shim into place. Anyone know how to loosen them up a bit? They were so stiff that I could lee a law officer fighting to put them on a fellon. No easy snap for him.

Thanks

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Forgot to add that a strong magnet will do the trick.

A young fellow came to the ring 96 meeting last Saturday with a pair of handcuffs. I did not see a brand name, but the looked pretty standard. The bow was stamped with a long digit number and the word "Taiwan".

Any clue what brand they might be?

Anyway he wanted me to show him how to shim the cuffs. I didi that but noticed that they were VERY stiff. What I mean is that it was a real fight to get the shim into place. Anyone know how to loosen them up a bit? They were so stiff that I could lee a law officer fighting to put them on a fellon. No easy snap for him.

Thanks

Click to expand...

The theory is pretty simple. You use a smooth abrasive stone to polish the teeth of the ratchet and the teeth on the bow. Maintain the angles exactly as original, but smooth and polish the surfaces. This removes all the hills and valleys that have to climb over each other.

Knowing the theory is the easy part. Having the hand and eye coordination and skill to stone the surfaces (and handcuffs have a LOT of contact surfaces) is the hard part.

A young fellow came to the ring 96 meeting last Saturday with a pair of handcuffs. I did not see a brand name, but the looked pretty standard. The bow was stamped with a long digit number and the word "Taiwan".

Any clue what brand they might be?

Anyway he wanted me to show him how to shim the cuffs. I didi that but noticed that they were VERY stiff. What I mean is that it was a real fight to get the shim into place. Anyone know how to loosen them up a bit? They were so stiff that I could lee a law officer fighting to put them on a fellon. No easy snap for him.

Thanks

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I plan to be at the Crossroads of America Lock Show in Indy this weekend to again be available to "fine tune" swing through (modern) restraints.

Howy
Cincy