shutter mysteriously quit working

[jeremy_rardin]

I received a commercial-astragon 210 lens today and *saw* it work

over-and-over perfectly when the quy was telling me how to use it, but

when I got home, cocked the shutter - fired it, then tried to cock it

again IT DIDNT WORK! What on earth could be wrong? Is there some kind

of trick with large format lenses? :) silly question - i know

[leicaglow]

Not to be ridiculous in my answer, but does it have a lever to close the diaphram, or might you have not closed the diaphram to take the shot? What shutter is it mounted in?

[gary_deal]

The correct answer will depend on what shutter you have, but, make sure you haven't set the shutter speed to "T" or "B" (some won't cock in that position), try operating the firing mechanism, move the available settings around and try cocking and/or operating the firing mechanism, and if all else fails, take it back to the guy that was showing it to you and say "Ok, what am I doing wrong?". Don't be too embarrassed, stuff happens.