Artisans Skilled at Brass Brazing?

[redware]

First post from a total newbie looking for help.

In about a week or so I'll have a two piece brass buttplate I'd like brazed together. I haven't the skills or tools to do it myself. This piece is important to me and I want it done right; it's not something for me to learn on.

Can anyone recommend an artisan in the Virginia area who can take on a project like this?

[Mike Brooks]

You can mail stuff even farther than VA. if you have to.

[redware]

Ha! You're right of course, but I figured my best bet might be to start locally. Perhaps that was a poor thought process and I ought to expand my search. 

[Hungry Horse]

I have a possibly silly question. If you are going to braze two pieces of brass together to make a buttplate, why make it two piece? I understand the process used on early Hawken rifles, and Southern Mountain rifles, where iron two piece buttplates are brazed together usually showing a slight line of brass. This is just one more step towards total authenticity. But, brazing a brass buttplate would leave no such evidence. It seems kind of like the old story about the guy with mink lined underwear, everybody saw him smiling, but nobody knew why.

  Hungry Horse

[redware]

It's a legit question. Historically it would have been a one piece casting, but the way the casting was reproduced has it in two pieces.

Hopefully I can find someone with the skill to marry them together without any evidence of having done so.

[jerrywh]

  I can but won't. Too busy to doing engraving.  Bazing that is too risky because in brazing all the melting points are equal and require equal temp to fuse.  The best bet is to use an alloy called silvaloy 45. It is almost the same color and has a much lower melting point. Look it up.
 http://www.silfos.com/products/catalog/Easy-Flo-45-orderby0-p-1-c-67.html

[redheart]

I have a possibly silly question. If you are going to braze two pieces of brass together to make a buttplate, why make it two piece? I understand the process used on early Hawken rifles, and Southern Mountain rifles, where iron two piece buttplates are brazed together usually showing a slight line of brass. This is just one more step towards total authenticity. But, brazing a brass buttplate would leave no such evidence. It seems kind of like the old story about the guy with mink lined underwear, everybody saw him smiling, but nobody knew why.

  Hungry Horse

By the time you pay for the labor and shipping you could have probably bought a nice one piece buttplate. I'm forced to agree with Hungry Horse and that's not an easy thing to do!

[redware]

By the time you pay for the labor and shipping you could have probably bought a nice one piece buttplate.

That's not possible for this buttplate as far as I or anyone I've asked knows. Regardless, the piece is important to me and I'm willing to pay the labor and shipping for a job well done.

[T*O*F]

Just a thought.  Take it to your local jeweler who makes and repairs jewelry.  They are adept at doing this type of work and have all the necessary tools and supplies.  I have taken several items to mine for him to silver braze together.

[JTR]

TIG welding it might be possible; https://app.aws.org/forum/topic_show.pl?tid=12524
But, exact color match might not be.

If you could go with a color mismatch, silver soldering with close colored alloys would be a whiz.

It might be easier to make a one piece mold with your two pieces, and have someone cast it?

Good luck, John

[Hungry Horse]

You didn’t mention what style buttplate you are trying to reproduce. It would be pretty hard to come up with many examples that aren’t either able to be restyled from modern offerings, or nicely represented by the modern makers. What are you trying to duplicate?

  Hungry Horse

[Mark Elliott]

I am in VA, but i wouldn't try to braze brass for the reasons Jerry mentioned.   Instead,  I use a brass colored silver solder that I get from Rio Grande.    I think I have a little bit of it.   Do you live anywhere close to Mechanicsville?    A better question, is do you have the parts tightly fit and ready to braze/solder.   Solder is not for filling, it is for joining, and you need a tight joint.   When I forge braze iron butt pieces,  I can use the brass to fill because that is what I do with the heel;  I fill it with brass.    You don't have that luxury.

For full disclosure, a solder joint is not going to be completely invisible.   It might be nearly invisible when polished, but as everything tarnishes,  the color of the silver or brass and the solder used will be slightly different.    The best bet is always to get as tight a joint as possible so that the seam is extremely thin.

[WadePatton]

I'd try 56% silver as I have some for joining steel.  But you will see a line.  Don't know if that's important or not.

It's used for 4130 and stainless in high-end handmade bicycle frames and forks and bits.  Brass was used in production work. That's just how I know about it. I made some bikes.

[Goo]

I do this all the time join brass with brass brazing rod, it's a matter of skill development and understanding what you are doing and having some torch skills and the right fuel.   

[Bill Raby]

  I can but won't. Too busy to doing engraving.  Bazing that is too risky because in brazing all the melting points are equal and require equal temp to fuse.  The best bet is to use an alloy called silvaloy 45. It is almost the same color and has a much lower melting point. Look it up.
 http://www.silfos.com/products/catalog/Easy-Flo-45-orderby0-p-1-c-67.html

Mix up an alloy of 85% brass and 15% silver. It will get you a solder that matches the color but has a slightly lower melting point than pure brass. Color will even match as it tarnishes.

[Rolf]

I've made several brass buttcaps and buttplates using this brass color solder https://www.riogrande.com/product/brass-wire-solder-20-ga/132201

Check out http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=32410.0 and  http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=27793.0

Easy to use. No visable seams

Best regards
Rolf