Carfart, in the Classic Rendezvous website (devoted to the history of framebuilders), click on the USA builders section. At the top titled “The Early Years” is a piece about Alvin Drysdale. There are pictures taken around 1960 of him hearth brazing. The frame is laying free on a platform of rocks while he is brazing with that really giant flame. It might give you some ideas. I am curious how he put on little braze-ons. I also wonder where you could find and then setup that kind of equipment. For those not intrigued resurrecting 19th century building techniques, it is easy to find information on what torches, regulators and hoses work best for building frames on these framebuilding forums. For example a very common question is asking if an all-in-one boxed kit (torch, regs, etc.) will work. The answer is it will work but not nearly as well as specific items bought separately (like an airline style torch handle instead of something bigger most people want for cutting). For some the fun is in the journey while others just want to know how to get good results without reinventing the wheel.
Last edited by Doug Fattic; 03-18-14 at 11:13 AM.