First order of business for today is to silver solder the back onto the Front Step assembly.
I started by filing the bottom side of the step frames flat, to make sure we had good solid contact with the back across the whole assembly. (Sorry, no pic.)
Then, after a good cleaning, I fluxed the parts up and placed the bits of silver solder around. I put them on the inside so I could apply the heat on the outside. This worked for all edges except the middle step. And for that, I put the solder in the little section above so I could apply the flame in the larger hole. I made a gap underneath the part so I could apply some heat there if needed.
This actually worked out a lot better than I’d feared. This is the most soldering I’ve done in a single operation – five separate edges, and several of them fairly long. I did some preheating along the bottom, but most heating was done up top, right at the corner line between the back and the edges of the stair frame. I’m fairly pleased with the results! (Though it looks a little chard here, it's not really as bad as the photo makes it seem).
After soldering the other one, I left them both in the pickle solution for a while and worked on a tool I will need shortly. I have to make an 82
o countersink for the mounting screws. These holes are at the bottom of a 1/2" deep hole and very close to the edge. So I need a small countersink to fit down there. Rather than go looking for something to purchase I decided I’d make one. Seems like a fairly simple tool to do.
I took some 1/4" W-1 that I had on hand, and cut an 82
o cone on the end, then brought about 5/8” length of it down to 3/16” diameter.
Then I moved to the mill and made a single cutting edge.
Then I heat-treated and tempered it. Here’s the end result. Now I’m all ready when I need to use it!
Out of the pickle and washed off (no other clean up done yet) here are the two front steps:
(Also, here you can see the two mounting holes on that drawing between the top and middle steps – the reason I made the countersink tool.)
Next, we need to cut off all the excess metal – the part that was used to hold things together during fabrication but really isn’t needed as part of the steps. Kozo says to cut it off with a fret saw, but I chose to mill most of it off. Seemed easier to me. I started with the flat sides:
Then moved to the complex angled sides:
Since it would make less filing later, I turned the parts at an angle and cleaned up the diagonal edge too.
And finally, I cut down the width of the top two steps to 5/16”.
The rest of the shaping was done by hand filing – cleaning up the final bit of the outside edges and then creating the rounded part between the middle and bottom steps. Here’s the first step completed, to shape:
Here’s a before & after shot, well, a not-done vs. done shot
Next time I’ll finish shaping the other front step assembly.
Thanks for following along on my progress.
Kim