Doug,
Thank you for the complete answering ...very explicit. Ronald Manseau,Gaspé,Qc.
> Ronald Manseau asks this question: Now could someone here describe the
> forging method that apparently Piero Serena was using into the building of
> the frames?
>
> Perhaps this method of putting tubes together could be described as "brass
> brazing tubes together using the forge method". My English English is
> getting a little rusty but when I was first learning to build frames at
> Ellis-Briggs in Shipley we called it hearth brazing (the Brits can correct
> my memory). Now most use an oxyacetylene torch for applying the heat to
the
> tubes. What we did back then was hang the frame above some bricks and the
> part to be brazed was surrounded by fire bricks as well. The torch was
like
> a natural gas fire thrower and oxygen was added to intensify the flame.
> This thing was one big mama compared to our itsy-bitsy torches used now.
> Anyway the torch was pointed at the frame like a fireman's hose and you
> would watch while the frame got to the right color (cherry red). The
bricks
> behind it balance the heat front and back. Next, brass would be applied
in
> the general vicinity of the joint and capillary action would take over and
> suck it all inside. Of course plenty of flux would assist in completing
> this job. I remember being amazed the first time I watched Andrew (Jack
> Briggs apprentice) braze a joint using this method because I wondered how
> the brass actually got where it was supposed to go. I learned to watch
for
> the gold color of the brass coming all the way through the bottom bracket.
> I built my first frame this way on the four main joints but used
> oxyacetylene everywhere else. Andrew sensibly gave up this practice that
> summer I was there (1975) and started building the whole frame with an
> oxyacetylene torch. This method is why British builders pinned there
frames
> before brazing because a spot braze would melt and the position of the
tubes
> to each other lost when the entire joint would get red.
>
> Now we silver braze tubes together and the tubes don't get red or even any
> color at all. Much superior but maybe not as much fun as that giant flame
> thrower.
>
> Doug Fattic
> Niles, Michigan