How to braze

As usual when researching a new topic, the first port of call was Wikipedia. Thirty minutes of reading later, crimey! Talk about complicated.

After a strong cup of tea and some cogitation it seemed that the easiest route would be to torch braze with either a silver or brass alloy. However I was going to have to do a lot more reading before I could make any progress. The web was, as usual for practical technical subjects, a bit patchy. But a YouTube search did at least give me some examples of what the process looked like. Unfortunately I couldn't find enough of the right sort of information to make decisions about which brazing system to use and what I would need to get hold of to carry it out.

In this situation wise words are "if you want to save a week in the shed, spend a day in the library" and I came up with two books on the subject, Soldering and Brazing by Tubal Cain (Workshop Practice Series #9) and Brazing and Soldering by Richard Lofting (Crowood Metalworking Guides).

Brazing and Soldering by R Lofting

Soldering and Brazing by T Cain

They were both useful, covering the subject from slightly different angles but broadly were aimed at the practical aspects of the process. Once read they allowed me to work out that I could use bronze brazing and a propane torch to get the job done. Thus avoiding the expense of silver-based alloys and kitting out with multiple gas cylinders for a process that I might not need again.

The shopping list for the job involved

• PPE (safety specs - already had, a pair of welding guantlets, and a fire extinguisher - hose pipe)
• Consumables to prep the workpiece (Dremel flap sanders and some soft iron wire to secure everything in place)
• A brazing hearth (a donated trolley and some old fire cement as firebricks)
• Requisites for the brazing (a blow torch and some propane gas)
• Brazing consumables (bronze brazing rods and sifbronze flux - obtained a small quantity together on eBay)
• Something to process the workpiece afterwards (quenching trough - hosepipe again, wire brush - already had, Dremel to grind back any excess braze, and wet & dry to clean up the workpiece).

So while the orders arrived I cleaned up the surfaces to be brazed, removing any paint and taking the metal back to bright steel, in preparation for putting the pieces back together.