Brass Cut Water

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A customer is restoring a 1940 criss craft cigar boat and wanted me to fab a cut water(thing thing that cuts through the water on the bow of the boat).  After welding and grinding it, it is to be chromed.  This is a fitup with measurements every 12" of the degree needed.I took a few days off of work and came back to find a spot where a coworker decided to grind too heavily and tried to fix it.  So I had to cut the section out and rework it.  That little section took me about 1 1/2 hours to fix.  Guess that's what I get for taking work off in the middle of a project.Here's the finished cut water, ready for chrome.  One thing that I have learned from TIG'n brass is that I don't like it.  The zink boils out, and even faster if you are running too hot.  I didn't have the right filler rod, so I took some rem and sheered it into 1/16" strips.  I did about 2 feet of weld on it before I left and found a nice groove.  When I got back and tried to fix it, I had nothing but problems.  So I ended up sheering up some copper that I had laying around and that seemed to fall into the puddle alot nicer.  Where as the brass would like to atomize before it got close to the base metals.  But all in all, it was a good learning experience for me.   Oh yeah, 16ga brass sheet (4x8) will run you around 600 big ones.-Mike Attached ImagesCommon sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.
Reply:For all the time and trouble polished stainless might have been a better choice.  It would not have been authentic of course.  Nice job.
Reply:Wild one Brian!! Settings please?? I have to try some for a project soon, I would like a starting point.And then, after so much work...... you have it in your hand, and you look over to your side...... and the runner has run off. Leaving you holding the prize, wondering when the runner will return.
Reply:They have tried stainless in the past, but it dosn't have the shine that chrome has.  As for where to start... DCEN, 50amps (less once it warms up), red tungsten and a resperator.  OH yeah, and baby wipes for your hood lens.Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.
Reply:Stainless will have the chrome look if finished properly.  Only some plating shops do the process.  A lot of chrome looking stuff on large trucks is stainless that is electro polished.
Reply:Thanks Brian.And then, after so much work...... you have it in your hand, and you look over to your side...... and the runner has run off. Leaving you holding the prize, wondering when the runner will return.
Reply:That's pretty impessive. Personaly I'd want to leave it bare brass, but that wouldn't be authentic either.I tried tigging brass a week ago, I had some 11ga. sheet around the garage so I figured why not? Total disaster, freakin tricky stuff to work with.
Reply:Tigging brass...HmmmWhatever happened to good 'ol fashioned O/A for brass??B.T.W.  Nice title..Bet it has everyone saying "W.T.F.????"...zap!I am not completely insane..Some parts are missing Professional Driver on a closed course....Do not attempt.Just because I'm a  dumbass don't mean that you can be too.So DON'T try any of this **** l do at home.
Reply:Funny thing is, when I was tacking it together, it fused nicely.  As easy as copper.  But when I started adding filler, everything changed.  If I had my way, I would have fused the whole thing.  But I had to have a point on the end, so there went that idea.  I thought about the OA route, but then I started thinking about warpage.  And with chrome, it would have stuck out like a sore thumb.  I forgot to mention, that when I was tigging it and using filler rod, I would drop the filler rod on the backside of the direction that I was going.  It was to keep the filler rod from boiling away in the heat.  It was a little tricky at first, but when I back washed over the newly laid metal, it blended in qutie well.Last edited by Brainfarth; 07-04-2007 at 02:36 PM.Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.
Reply:What kind of rod did you used?