Drink beer 'til your eyes braze over

There is so much boat hardware I want that simply does not exist. That's the main reason I am taking a bronze-casting course this summer. Oarlocks. Boweyes. They just don't make what I want.

Today it was the solid-ring brass screweyes for the decks and sides of Moe. All you can buy are ones that are bent to shape, but will unbend with very much stress. These guys:

Fortunately on New Years Day I ran into Steve Garro, consummate bike frame builder and noted local mad scientist (Coconino Cycles), and he offered to help me braze closed my standard brass eyes—the closest product I could find. This afternoon, after a bit of vise and hammer work, a fair amount of cleaning them up with sandpaper strips—and a few Tecates—we were ready to go. First, a little flux:

Silver solder is the ticket for this application:

A quick quenching:

 

And a little more quenching:

A bit of polishing:

And Moe has a new string of jewelry. Here is a lead-tapping hammer Steve found up on the mountain by the old water line, and rejuvenated.

Meanwhile back at the boathouse, the hatch lids and casings are going on.