Soldering a hollow under rib

[Dave B]

I have been putting this project off for about three years and finally got the gumption to get er done. I prefice this with listening to several folks talk about how they do things and thought to give it a go. I have soldered down underibs that were machined flat surfaces but not the thin edged hollow jobs. The barrel is a .62 cal Rayl Oct RD that has a taper and mild flair to it. It required the custom contouring of the rib to lay properly with out gaping. I tinned up the under rib after having sliver soldered my ram rod pipes in place. I watched a You tube demonstration of soldering a loose sxs rib and he used acid core solder to do the tinning then a rosin core to do the final joining. I too used the acid core for both surfaces and neutralized the surface's afterwards with a baking soda solution as he describes. I wired up the rib just as you would do with a S X S using bailing wire and a nail shoved under the wrap to tighten it up. I did use a slick tool that Cliff Noal from Idaho told us about years ago at the Oregon Gun makers fair. Its a copper rod slug that is just under bore dia tapped for a steel shaft with a T handle on the end. This slug is heated to temp and slid down the bore to the point you want to flow your solder. I used the copper slug in conjunction with my external heat source (torch) The copper slug in the picture has oxidized and looks more like a chunk of steel. I was pleased with how smoothly the soldering went and how the heat was very Even by use of the slug. Here are some pic's just after having done the job.









I learned from an auto body man about leading fenders and such and he used a paste flux with steel wool to help get a good surface tinning. I used the two chunks of steel wool for the job. The small chunk is wrapped around a sharpend dowel for smoothing out the seam with paste flux the puddled solder in the joint, tinning areas that want to be contrary for a good bond full length.

[jerrywh]

Good job Dave.

[Birddog6]

Great job ! For me that would have been a disaster, as there is no way that would have went right the first 12 times.   

[Lucky R A]

   Good job Dave,   You can simplify the clean up the following way.  Lay out the rib on the barrel to it's final position, lightly scribe a line along the edge of the rib.  Remove the rib from the barrel, and coat the area outside the line with a welder's soap stone.  Then tin your barrel and set your rib back into place and complete the solder job.   The excess solder will not stick to the soap stone coated area.   Of course, now the solder falls on the floor or sticks to your anti-fatigue mats......Ron

[Acer Saccharum]

Love that copper slug.

[Dave B]

Thanks guys for the complements.
Soap stone ...... well, I have some of that, I should have thought of that. I must say the hollow rib from MSB worked very well. I only had to make some minor triming to match. The rib from TOW were not long enough for my barrel. I had sweated over how well soldering would work on the round barrel. I had to attach the rib over the top of the wedding band because the stock is set up for a full octogon rifle barrel leaving the wedding band right at the point of the exit from the fore end piece. I did flatten the wedding rings alittle but the worry was for naught in that the solder was able to fill in the gaps with out any trouble. My only tasks now are to put a jug choke in, clean up  and rust blue. It feels good to be making progress

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Good stuff Dave.  You can go on with the build and finally use the gun knowing that you will never have any trouble from that joint.
When I clean up this sort of a solder job, I first use scrapers to remove the solder down to the steel.  It comes off much faster and cleaner than by using abrasive cloth or paper.  Once all the lead is gone, I then polish with coarse and then finer grades of abrasive cloth and paper until I have every vestige of lead removed.  Only the solder between the edge of the rib and the barrel should be left, and that is the only solder that is doing any work...all the rest must be gone or it will show in the final finish blue.

It is very rewarding to have accomplished such a project, eh?

[BJH]

I really have a tough time descerning the fine traces of solder that seem to stray from a joint. I will give the area a quick cold blue job. This will make any stray solder stick out like a sore thumb so blind fellows like me can polish it away. The cold blue easily sands away. 

[Z. Buck]

thats pretty neat. also i never though about the soapstone, i have become reasonably proficient in soldering as i have plumbed our entire house, as well as repaired where the cold snap pressure tested my pipes... but i have never been all that worried about cleanliness just a good seal, i havnt had the opportunity to solder any work that would be "finished" the closest i have come to that was my soldered on underlugs on my smoothy...i certainly wouldnt want them exposed, of course i suppose i could cleaned them up more thoroughly than i did.