Sweat brass to steel

tryppyr

tryppyr

Joined
Feb 5, 2010
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One of the projects on my bench now is a half scale Musso Bowie, based on the plans circulated by Stacy last year. One of the things that makes the knife interesting is a strip of brass along the spine that the drawing refers to as being "sweated on". Inasmuch as I have no forge or oven, I'm now wondering how someone with nothing more than an OA torch might accomplish this, or is this something I'll have to get some help with?

- Greg
 
Interesting, A guy I work with wants me to make him a bowie with the same same brass thingiemajig on the spine. I was thinking of pinning it to the spine like a bolster.
 
I believe it is sweat soldered on, the same as sweating on bolsters. A torch would be the right tool for the job, you just have to take care not to over heat the blade.
 
Silver braze, or brass braze it on. Use a 1/2"X1/4" brass bar, and set the blade down the center, leaving the excess brass sticking out both sides. hard solder or braze the strip solidly, making sure all the seams are flowed and there is a bit of excess braze material making a slight ogee. Do this before HT. Don't clean up the spine before HT any more than to remove the bulk of excess brass. At HT time, clay coat the spine well. Use a torch or forge on the edge and edge quench the blade. Just let it sit upright in the quench pan for ten minutes to assure the brazing re-crystallizes properly. Then you can grind the spine/blade smooth when you do the final sanding on the blade.

The alternate method requires making an exact machining of a "U" channel in the brass and matching shoulder down the spine. Once tightly fitted, the assembly can be soft soldered on. This can be done post HT.
 
Yesterday I looked at the plan again and noticed that the brass on the spine isn't a solid piece, it's a thin brass sheet folded over the spine. Is that in line with your first description, Stacy?

I'm still not entirely sure I know what the end product should look like. I like the idea of setting a chunk of brass into a channel, as that soundsm solid and secure... but it also seems to be more challenging.
 
The shaped brass sheet is more like description #2. It is bent in a "U". Milling it on a milling machine is the modern procedure for the same result.
 
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