My Pre-B refinishing and modification diary

[Earl Keese]

 Man, that turned out great. Sometimes I wonder why I don't just buy a Shadow 2 and focus on shooting, then another old 75 catches my eye.
 I have a couple friends that have TIG welders. When asked about doing a project like this, both said no way they'd try it. I'd like to learn, but if I'm honest about the time commitment, it's not feasible for me.
 Congrats on getting this one finished, I'm sure you had some doubts along the way.

[Mercs]

Once again you got to the point where most of us would give up, but you came out a winner and it looks good man


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[sberres]

Looks like you got it, man!  The profile looks great and I?ll bet she looks even awesomer when you get the finish done. Love the comments; review your notes before you start the next one and you?ll be all set. Have you decided on the finish yet?

[Underwhere]

Looks like you got it, man!  The profile looks great and I?ll bet she looks even awesomer when you get the finish done. Love the comments; review your notes before you start the next one and you?ll be all set. Have you decided on the finish yet?

Thanks.
It'll be rust blued to match the slide. I decided I'm going to Rust blue the frame and see if I can match the slide. If not I'll re-rust blue both together.

[Underwhere]

After sanding a bit to smooth things out I found a bit more that was hidden. Now I'm thinking of welding again. *gulp*

The edges kill me.

[Underwhere]

I'm a glutton for punishment.
I started re-welding it all over again.

[Underwhere]

This is what happens.
I've ground the metal down so thin that any sort of welding causes the edges to draw back... Which necessitates more building.

Is I'm going to take another pass at a lot of building up with higher heat to remove the porosity (which causes those small holes).

Hopefully when I grind down I find less and less holes.

[Underwhere]

I'm taking a totally different route now.
I keep thinking back on how CZ does things. Their beavertail is thick and had no sharp edges like mine.

It got me thinking... Maybe I build mine up as thick as CZ. Make the top convex instead of flattened. Building it up this way would give me thicker edges and overall thicker beavertail which allows me more flexibility in heat when welding (so I don't burn through)

The bottom side is perfect shaped but the heat burned through. So I added a bit so I could reshape it. The topside got a lot of filler metal, higher in the center and lower on the sides.

I ran out of gas again. Gotta go get some more tomorrow.

It never ends!

Factory CZ beavertail pic included.

[Underwhere]

It's been a while and I couldn't get back to this until last night. Some preliminary grinding and shaping.

Most of you must be getting so sick of this.

I need the blend the top where it meets the hammer area.

The beavertail is much thicker than before so I'm hoping any welding will be easier. I have to reweld the bottom. Too much porosity there. The top is decent but needs a few spots as well.

The hammer does clear.

[Underwhere]

Finally found some time to get back at it.
Did a little sculpting tonight.
More welding and sculpting again.

There is still some porosity I need to take care of. Then finish sculpting and then take the edges back as the last step.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to have some pin holes left. I'm OK with it. I just want to finish this gun.

[sberres]

Underwhere, you?re keeping us hanging here. How?s this project coming along? 

[Underwhere]

Underwhere, you?re keeping us hanging here. How?s this project coming along?

I've been a bit unmotivated.
I took the frame to my welder friend last week and he said I was "chasing the weld" which I certainly feel is accurate.

He mentioned I can use heat sinks to absorb the heat when I weld on one side so that the amount of oxidation that occurs on the other side is minimized.

He also said I was polishing the metal too much before welding.... That I needed a bit of roughness to it.

Again my issue is the pits. As soon as I strike a weld, another pit appears. It's a game of cat and mouse.

I'll get back to it at some point.

[sberres]

  Thanks for the update. It gets stressful and discouraging when things don?t quite go as planned but it?s all part of the learning process and something that will ultimately benefit you in future projects. Keep up the good work!

[Underwhere]

It's been a while but I have a tiny bit of motivation.

Last time I saw my professional welder friend he told me to use a heat sink on the opposite side of the beavertail while welding.

He also warned me of cold weather welding and the condensation that can develop, then turn to vapor and contaiminate the weld. The solution is to pre-heat. He showed me by taking a flat piece of metal and heating it up with a propane torch. Instantly it glossed over with condensation and then burned off.

The idea is that the vapor will get into the weld if I don't pre-heat the metal to the point where condensation is not possible.

So tonight I precision fit (5lb hammer) a copper pipe as a heat sink and then  acetoned it and the frame.

If I have time I'm going to hit the welder yet again. I'm not sure how to secure it to the frame.

[Underwhere]

I also just realized that this is almost a year in the making. Wow that's embarrassing