Repairing this brass horn

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kirtley2012
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Repairing this brass horn

Post by kirtley2012 »

The corrosion will be a case of fine wire wool, alot of elbow grease and metal polish I think, but has anyone got experience at repairing horns, I'm mainly wondering about keeping corrosion at bay to maintain a shine and also mending the botched repair on the seam, someone obviously had a good go at it with a blow torch, don't care about it being perfect, just a bit better
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Lucius1958
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Re: Repairing this brass horn

Post by Lucius1958 »

How is the seam itself? If it's still open, you should first slip some plumber's emery cloth in the gap, and make sure the mating surfaces are clean. Wrapping some wire tightly around the horn may close the gap enough; then you can put some flux in there, take a small torch, and go over the seam. You may also be able to remove the excess solder with a wire brush while it's molten.

As for cleaning, a scouring pad with salt and white vinegar is a good start; then you can move on to the wire wool and polish. Some folks lacquer the brass to keep it bright; but it shouldn't really need re-polishing for years, if it isn't handled too much. Good luck!

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Marco Gilardetti
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Re: Repairing this brass horn

Post by Marco Gilardetti »

It seems to me that the previous repair attempt shows fairly celarly that a gas torch is not a good approach, and that an electric solder of appropriate power should be used instead.

Canuk Phonographs
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Re: Repairing this brass horn

Post by Canuk Phonographs »

I use an electric soldering iron that is typically used for stained and leaded glass. It is larger than an electronic soldering iron (½ in. tip) but not so large as to over heat the surrounding material. Lots of flux and patience, take your time and give the seam time to heat up and melt the solder.
Blain

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Curt A
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Re: Repairing this brass horn

Post by Curt A »

Don't use high temp to try to repair this, just enough to melt the solder and use paste flux. Don't use electronics solder with a rosin core or lead free solder, try to find 60/40 solid solder (60% tin/40% lead). Try to seal the inside first and let it cool, then the outside. Too hot and the solder will flow through the crack... Also, it is important to clean the brass down to bare metal to do a good job of soldering. You might be able to seal one side with duct tape to keep the solder from running through.

I used to do stained glass lampshades and that was the hard part, keeping the solder hot enough to stick, but not hot enough to flow through the cracks... I used an outlet that I wired to an extension cord with a rheostat to control the temperature of the soldering iron. Some newer irons have temperature controls built into them to adjust the heat. If you have access to an electric grinder, you can use a brass wire wheel to remove excess solder from the seam after it cools. The brass wheel can also be used as the first step in removing the built up crud (some people refer to it as patina), that will need to be removed to solder and polish the horn. The grinder can also be fitted with a buffing wheel and using jewelers rouge, the task of polishing the horn will be less time consuming and aggravating...

If you don't have a grinder, an electric motor fitted with an arbor adapter to fit buffing wheels will work...
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