My Pre-B refinishing and modification diary

[sberres]

Underwhere, how?s that beavertail extension with the pocket coming along?  Looks like something really difficult to duplicate well via weld-grind vs. machining the groove and very curious to see how it works out for you.

[Underwhere]

Underwhere, how?s that beavertail extension with the pocket coming along?  Looks like something really difficult to duplicate well via weld-grind vs. machining the groove and very curious to see how it works out for you.

I've been meaning to get back to it. Last time I worked on it I added quite a bit of metal to the beavertail in the hopes of building it up a bit to grind it down.
If that doesn't work well I may cut off the beavertail closer to the hammer where it is naturally thicker and weld on a thicker piece of metal and grind that to shape.

But yeah I need to get back on it at some point.

[Underwhere]

I got back on it tonight.
Grinding away my last welds trying to get a decent shape.

The last time I tried filling as much as possible so I could reshape as needed.

Here is what I have so far.
I definitely need to reweld this a few more times at least.

The issue I'm having is that the sides end up very thin. Almost sharp. Not sure what I'm going to do about it yet.

I could potentially make the beavertail narrower, taking the sides inwards and thus making it thicker. Not sure if I want to do that.

[sberres]

  For future reference, and this being only how I would do it, I?d suggest deliberately building it up much more than what you?d originally think to allow yourself enough material to sculpt back down and avoid the thinning. This would include actually adding some width. Those small tabs that you?ve been adding are already thin and narrow and just don?t leave you with enough raw material to finish with.  It doesn?t really matter if you choose to add on raw stock or simply build it up/out with filler material; you have to allow enough to get back to your new minimum.
  Btw have I ever told you how sweet I think that HC compact turned out? 

[Underwhere]

  For future reference, and this being only how I would do it, I?d suggest deliberately building it up much more than what you?d originally think to allow yourself enough material to sculpt back down and avoid the thinning. This would include actually adding some width. Those small tabs that you?ve been adding are already thin and narrow and just don?t leave you with enough raw material to finish with.  It doesn?t really matter if you choose to add on raw stock or simply build it up/out with filler material; you have to allow enough to get back to your new minimum.
  Btw have I ever told you how sweet I think that HC compact turned out?

Yup. I didn't have pics before but I have been trying to build up quite a bit. I'm just out of practice

And thank you for the comment on the hard chrome compact. One of my favorites.

[sberres]

Good to see that you?re back up and getting back around to your projects, too. The suspense is brutal!

[Underwhere]

Did a bit of welding tonight trying to build up the metal a bit.

Turned the welder down to 20amps to try and keep things tight and controlled.

I filled the top first and it ended up catering the sides inwards so I had to build the sides back up a bit.

Then I tried to add some to. The very thin part if the beavertail so I could thicken it a bit.

No grinding tonight. That'll come later. Losing a bit of steam lately. I need to re-motivate myself to get back on this.

[Underwhere]

After some grinding.
This is a slow process I'm just not great at.

I need to fill some holes, add some on the edges and regrind, shape some edges.

[copemech]

i'm sorry, but this welding is just painful to watch.  Perhaps you might consider silicon bronze as a method. You will not need to get things near as hot and it will flow and fill a lot better. less cratering!

[Underwhere]

i'm sorry, but this welding is just painful to watch.  Perhaps you might consider silicon bronze as a method. You will not need to get things near as hot and it will flow and fill a lot better. less cratering!

Haha I know. I keep thinking that there are people on their computers and phones cringing at the sight of my posts.

In the end I know it'll end up OK. I may need to seek professional welding help as I have before.

Some people have offered some welding advice. I spent some time tonight practicing... But mild steel stock just reacts very differently than this beavertail.

[sberres]

Keeping it all in steel will keep final finish options open. If brazing or silver solder is used the finish will be limited to a coating of some sort. Nothing wrong with that, just for consideration.
  Unfortunately once one gets some degree of oxidation started within the weld it can be very difficult to get rid of. As you?ve seen with your practice scrap pieces it welds fine when it?s new and clean. But get some oxide started and it will be soon sputtering and pitting, too. When metals get thin it get gets even easier to oxidize the non-shielded areas. And at this point you?re limited as the defects are below the surface.  Anything is more difficult to make flow once contamination is present. Hopefully it?s improving with each passing cycle. You must be a very patient man indeed!

[Underwhere]

So a bit of grinding tonight.
Not so bad. A few more welding sessions.

[Underwhere]

After another welding session

And then I ran out of gas (literally).
I need to refill the tank so I'm delayed a few days.

[Underwhere]

OK I spared you all the multiple nights of welding and grinding... Sometimes doing that 3 sets of times per night. This one was an effort.

It's not perfect but I'm done. Would I do it again? Yes but I wouldn't start out the same way I did. I'll go into more detail in a subsequent post.

There are some very tiny holes. Given the casting quality and the contaminants I am not going to attempt to fix them.

I still need to finish sand it and blend the edges back into the frame. Easy stuff.

Those who don't tig weld - if you get near a thin edge, the edge may pull back on you leaving a crater. Then you need to spend time filling it and grinding it back to shape. I must have done this 20+ times.

[Underwhere]

Let's start with what I actually did do before going into what I think I should have done:
1. I never planned on welding the beavertail.
2. I tried to up sweep the original beavertail and ended up running out of metal to do so. This left me with a short and sharp edge.
3. I decided to fix this by welding
4. I needed to practice a lot but didn't.
5. Every time I ground down the welds I did so as if the beavertail was going to be finished. This always left me with thin edges which drew back every time I got near them with the torch. It made things very difficult.

What I should have done:
1. Stripped the finish off the frame
2. Weld the edges to build more metal up...adding more to the edges to make them thicker so they are less likely to draw back when welded.
3. Don't touch any of the topside of the beavertail near the hammer pocket.
4. Grind away hopefully only what I've welded to create the shape I want.
5. Do the edges last so you don't make them thinner and harder to work on.