02-02-2010, 01:04 PM
Where Jurjen has mentioned how he does his brass edging on cheekplates I use a simple method for finding the length of brass needed to do this.
It is where I use a stiff leather thong which can be held against the very edge of the cheekplate, one holds it in position at the top front with finger and thumb, then moving along the edge with the other fingers it can be nipped and held as it is taken around all the way to the rear top edge and this gives the approx' length needed then give another 5mm to that length and this way one is not messing around with a long length of brass.
As he has also mentioned it is sheet brass made into a U shape which can be made from 0-6mm at 15mm wide, with a line drawn down the center of the strip this can be bent over in a vice but only to 45 degrees. With the strip all bent to this angle it can now be queezed gently in the vice jaws and it will become U shaped.
Then also as he has mentioned a 2mm hole needs to be drilled in one end then after annealing one begins with the front edge first, however the strip needs to be bent outward so it can be fitted to the top front edge where one can now mark the cheekplate thro' the 2mm hole and drill that at 2mm.
Then with a 2mm rivet just held in it one can now work the strip around the front top curve, if it starts to become difficult stop remove the strip and re-anneal but only in the area where it has become difficult maybe about 4 or 5 cm. There is a good method for getting the inside curve at the cheek area and this is to take the U strip from the top outer curve to the lower and tap with a hammer inbetween these high points but not with the hammer head use the shank of the hammer just back from the head. It is also handy to have a flat edge srewdriver to open the U edge now and then with also a pair of pliers handy to just nip and tuck here and there but not to tight just gentle so the strip can be removed some more for maybe re-annealing if needed. It is better to do the difficult front curves first and after that the rear area just rolls around easy, then with the rear curve of the cheekplate the whole strip can be removed and the last 2 or 3 cm need to be re-annealed.
It is where I use a stiff leather thong which can be held against the very edge of the cheekplate, one holds it in position at the top front with finger and thumb, then moving along the edge with the other fingers it can be nipped and held as it is taken around all the way to the rear top edge and this gives the approx' length needed then give another 5mm to that length and this way one is not messing around with a long length of brass.
As he has also mentioned it is sheet brass made into a U shape which can be made from 0-6mm at 15mm wide, with a line drawn down the center of the strip this can be bent over in a vice but only to 45 degrees. With the strip all bent to this angle it can now be queezed gently in the vice jaws and it will become U shaped.
Then also as he has mentioned a 2mm hole needs to be drilled in one end then after annealing one begins with the front edge first, however the strip needs to be bent outward so it can be fitted to the top front edge where one can now mark the cheekplate thro' the 2mm hole and drill that at 2mm.
Then with a 2mm rivet just held in it one can now work the strip around the front top curve, if it starts to become difficult stop remove the strip and re-anneal but only in the area where it has become difficult maybe about 4 or 5 cm. There is a good method for getting the inside curve at the cheek area and this is to take the U strip from the top outer curve to the lower and tap with a hammer inbetween these high points but not with the hammer head use the shank of the hammer just back from the head. It is also handy to have a flat edge srewdriver to open the U edge now and then with also a pair of pliers handy to just nip and tuck here and there but not to tight just gentle so the strip can be removed some more for maybe re-annealing if needed. It is better to do the difficult front curves first and after that the rear area just rolls around easy, then with the rear curve of the cheekplate the whole strip can be removed and the last 2 or 3 cm need to be re-annealed.
Brian Stobbs
