RE: [CR]Race car brazing, silver etc.

(Example: History:Ted Ernst)

Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2003 14:02:46 -0800 (PST)
From: "joe starck" <joestarck2003@yahoo.com>
Subject: RE: [CR]Race car brazing, silver etc.
To: Mark Bulgier <mark@bulgier.net>
In-Reply-To: <C102531FB711D411B5B90060B0A468760DB14A@mail.bulgier.net>
cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org

Joe B-Z, Mark, and others- I wrote a three-page article titled "How To Braze A Lug in Issue #17 of the Rivendell Reader, which includes three photos of cut-away lugs. I'd welcome comments on this essay, especially if it gives a thorough learning experience to any o' y'all. Joe Starck, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin Mark Bulgier <mark@bulgier.net> wrote:

Joe B-Z wrote:
>
> How many builders have done cutaways to establish their braze
> integrity?

I cut apart and/or broke apart "countless" frame joints - in the sense that I didn't count them. ;^) Would "plenty" be a better word? Plenty of joints I brazed, and equally important, plenty of examples of other builders' work, over a period of a couple decades.

Learned a lot from that, and I strongly recommend it. Doesn't have to cost you anything either, if you cut them up after the frame comes back broken - not that any of mine ever broke!!! It's continuing education, not just for beginners.

Breaking the joints, with a vise and cheaterbars, is perhaps even more elucidating than cutting up perfect joints, though it doesn't make as good a sales tool to show to customers. After you've broken a few you get a good feel for how strong the joint was.

I even got to do calibrated joint breaking, when Charlie Cunningham lent us his frame strength measuring tool. We brazed a bunch of joints out of different steels, some with silver some with brass, and the results were not completely what we expected. They led to us switching from silver brazing to brass brazing for instance.

Mark Bulgier Seattle, Wa USA _______________________________________________

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