I made the detent blade from .012" steel shim stock, a good material available in many thicknesses. It's somewhat work-hardened, yet it's soft enough to be workable.

The part is made by gluing a Deltacad template on the steel. I exracted the template from a drawing of the escapement, and it can be expected to provide a part which fits.

There are two small holes in the blade, which I drilled prior to sawing it out, using the template hole marks as a guide. Then I sawed out the part with a jewelers saw and finished it with files and abrasive sticks.

On one end of the detent blade there is an L-shape which makes the "horn" of the blade. The "horn" is bent forward when installed in the escapement, to act as a support for the outer end of the detent spring. It can be bent a bit to adjust clearances when the escapement is set up to run.

In the middle of the blade there is a square tab with a hole in it. This provides a base for mounting the socket for the detent jewel, but it must be folded at a right angle before it can do its job. I made the fold by first heating the tab to red heat with a small torch. This anneals the steel -- without annealing, the steel will crack when folded. Only the tab is annealed.

When cooled, I clamped the blade lengthwise in a small machine vise and bent the tab down. I clamped it with the upper edge of the detent blade exactly aligned with the upper edge of the vise jaw. Once clamped, I tapped the tab flat with a small hammer and a brass punch. A dowel stick would also have worked -- either would completely flatten the tab without marring it.

When the part is finished, I heat-blued it with a heat gun.

Todays links:

Bending the tab 1
Bending the tab 2
Detent blade 1
Detent blade 2
Detent blade 3
Detent blade, GIF drawing
Detent blade, Deltacad download