The Big Ugly Tool

[Rick Markham]

Awesome video Reed! Good to see you! This looks like a cool project, thank you for taking the time to film and post this. I will definitely be trying this in the future.

[Mike Goetzke]

Don't know if this is where Robo gets his but found it on the internet: http://vrwesson.com/products/tantung

[Bob Bouis]

So I tried to make one of these. I don't have an acetylene torch, and I knew there was no way I'd get it with a copper sweating handheld, so I tried to do it with one of those $15 weed burning propane torches from harbor freight. Claims to put out 500,000 btu/hr so I figured it was worth a shot. 3/4"x1/4" bar stock. 45% silver solder. Brazing flux. 1/8"x3/4" tantung.

Did it work? Kind of. I built a small "forge" out of concrete blocks, clamped the bar in a vise, shoved the torch in front of it, and let her rip.

Unfortunately it was rather cool and windy outside and that dissipated the heat quickly. The long bar and the vise didn't help either. Ultimately I was only able to really heat the tantung bit, and not nearly as much as in the video. A dull red only. But did the solder flow? Yeah! Unfortunately my driveway is sloped and I failed to re-level it after moving the apparatus into place, so it flowed down and the solder is thicker on the end. It also didn't really make it all the way to the edge on one side. But the bit is pretty darn attached. I think, at least. It looks terrible, and there's little or no solder for the back 1/2" or so, but hopefully it'll work okay. I hit it with a hammer as hard as I dared (I don't think tantung is very tough) and it stayed on.

I think if I'd been using a 5/8" bar and had done a better job of prepping (no vise, cut the bar ahead of time, better kiln), it would have worked out fine. I was actually going to re do it but I ran out of propane (didn't start with much). Also, it cracked all the concrete blocks, so don't do this with blocks with sentimental value (or any other value).

ugly1.jpg

ugly2.jpg

[Reed Gray]

I can't tell you if it will work or not. They do say that you should use the thick 50+% silver solder ribbon. I did put one on with JB weld. The CBN grinding wheel didn't like that, and it eventually fell off.

robo hippy

[Bob Bouis]

Thanks for the input, Reed. Like I said, it seems to pretty stuck on there. Will it last? I consulted a guy who works on stuff like this for a living. He said "try it and see." He said the 45% solder should be fine, and that only requires a dull red glow rather than a hotter cherry red. But apparently you're supposed to get both pieces equally hot in order to get a reliable bond. I got the steel bar pretty hot, but it didn't glow much, at least not more than an inch or two in. Ah, well. I still have the other half of the tantung stick, plus I can remake this one if it comes apart. I should have just taken it to somebody, not that hard to do. It might work out, but I'll report back if it doesn't.

[Reed Gray]

I think with the original ones, they wanted the thicker ribbon to cover any potential voids. Two pretty dead flat surfaces should be fine. With a torch, you can heat it back up and then put it back on again.

robo hippy

[Bob Bouis]

Well, that was quick. I cut the bar and when I'd ground about 90% of the tang, the tantung just fell off. Not sure if it was the heat or the vibrations (or both) that did it.

Looking at the solder, it looks a bit thin, so I'm going to add some and redo it. It seems like nobody has a torch anymore, though. I guess I could take it to a muffler shop.