Another brace question

[Brian Hale]

How do they get the wood onto the swing arm? Is it shaped, cut in half and glued around the arm or do these arms come apart somehow?

Inquiring minds need to know :D

Brian :)

[glenn bradley]

Brian, get out of the house, you're losing it. Seriously, that is a good question. I had never thought about it. . . . . . . Oh Great! Thanks a lot! Now I can't STOP thinking about it ;-)

[Brian Hale]

I tried "unscrewing" the frame but that didn't work.

Maybe i am losing it Glenn :eek:

Maybe i need more plane shavings on the floor....

[Chuck Nickerson]

I just bought an old clunky brace ($5 including a bit) to try that technique. I'll post results once I have some.

[Gary Herrmann]

Hm. Don't know how the manufacturers did it, but if I had to make a new handle, I'd turn it, cut it in half and then glue it on. I don't see how the handle could be slid around the corner. Unless the handle was put on and then they were bent to shape in a form?

Way to go Brian. Now its stuck in my head too.

[Mike K Wenzloff]

Solid handles are placed and the brace is bent to shape.

However, Fray on the models most associated with them, used split handles and pewter rings to hold the halves on:

http://www.wenzloffandsons.com/temp/braces_0001.jpg

I like this type of brace (non-ratcheting) and the Spofford chuck. I do have a couple ratcheting types though, too.

As Roger mentioned in the other brace thread, the corner brace has been one of my oft used braces. Though they have a typically short throw, they can exert a lot of torque.

Back to work--take care, Mike

[harry strasil]

Darn you Mike you been into either of my two main tool chests again. Just looking at that picture makes my lil ole heart go thumpy, thumpy, thumpy.
PS, I'm gonna go check em to make sure!;):p

[Gary Herrmann]

Well, I didn't check back before Mike posted, but I had emailed George from George's Basement (a lot of good info on that site) and got this response:

Hello Gary !
Once production started to ramp up, big machines bent the wire that the braces' bows are made of after the handle and its ferrules were threaded onto the wire. They did a pretty good job, as somehow they bent the plated steel without peeling off the plating - maybe that was done in stages ...
Early on, the Spofford patent braces ran the gamut from bows that were cast to final shape, with the handles made in halves and then placed onto the brace with pewter rings cast over them to hold them together.
Then Spofford got the bright idea of hammer welding the split noses of his braces onto pre-bent bows. I dunno how they kept from scorching the wood ... So there are Spofford braces without pewter rings. He never tried to bent the iron castings, even though they were made in malleable iron. I guess the hammer welding was trouble enough.
Fixing broken handles is best done with the cast pewter rings, as I have not worked out a way of gluing them back together without gumming up the insides of the handles - maybe mylar tape wrapped around the bow and then carefully pulled out after the glue hardens ... ? Or Teflon plumbers' tape.
Thanks for asking !
Best regards,
George

[Henk Marais]

I am very interested in this post as I have a brace I got from my dad. The handle is very warn and actualy pinch your fingure. I have been wanting to replace it for a wile now and have not come up with the proper way to do this.

Just look and learn.:p