Wes, I'm curious: [email protected] wrote:
. When patches are installed properly and the bell isn`t re-annealed during the soldering process and the finished patch is esthetically pleasing, the end result can be very positive. How relevant might the annealing danger be? Since you have performed both bell patching and bell cutting, please comment whether the soldering heat for each operation comparable. My expectation is that normal soldering for either would not cause a high enough temperature (for brief periods) to affect the metallurgy of the bell. My only experience with patching was during the construction of my taditionally-fabricated natural horn bell (at Atelier Harlow in Tokyo). Welding the seams on the bell is quite different than soldering, as it must be performed at a temperature rather close to the melting temperature of the brass itself. If the torch gets a little too hot (contol is based on the color of the glow) once can melt the brass sheet and "blow a hole: in the metal. I blew a hole in my bell during the welding, as is commonly done by amateurs, but such errors are corrected by welding (_not_ soldering) a patch of the same metal. While welding in the patch, I blew another smaller hole in the patch. I am now known in that shop as the person who has a patch in his patch. That horn is still unfinished, but I once had a chance to play the bell temporarily connected to the front work of another horn, and it is a damn fine Uhlmann-copy bell! Only took about 30,000 hours of hammering and scraping and bending and reshaping to fabricate (minor exaggeration) but it will someday be a fine instrument. I hope... _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
