Sweated Brass Strip On a Bowie

Rick Marchand

Rick Marchand

Donkey on the Edge
Moderator
Joined
Jan 6, 2005
Messages
9,680
I think I know how to do this. Is it not just channeled into the blade and slid on during assembly? Before I mar a good blade, can anyone(who has done one) shoot me some pointers?
 
I seem to recall that Stacy did a brief write-up on this a while ago. It's around here somewhere.
 
From a previous post:
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.
 
I am no expert but I remember one made by a slot in the brass and drill and pin.
 
Mine is actually going to be copper.

Hmmm.... decisions, decisions...

What about silver soldering a flat wrapped piece, after heat treat?
 
I made one for my Musso Bowie. The original was soft soldered brass channel. I used 1/32" brass carefully hammered over the spine, removed and cleaned up. Since this was made as a collector piece, I just used J&B Weld.





The original



 
Do some experiments:
Take some 4" pieces of 1/4X2" barstock. Try pre-soldering/brazing a piece of brass/copper on one section of bar stock. Clay coat it and harden the edge. HT the other and post solder/braze the copper/brass to it after cleanup. See how they compare in rockwell tests 1/4" up from the edge.

Of course, the wrap and solder method Larry showed works fine, too.
 
Brass brazing is done at higher temps than heat treating, silver brazing is cooler than heat treat so the silver braze will need to be shielded from the HT. I have never quenched brass before, so I have no idea how it would respond to HT. I have brazed many bicycle frame joints with brass and silver. There is a few hundred degrees difference in the brazing temps. Brass is over 1600f, silver under 1400f. Soldering temps are under 800f IIRC.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top