Thanks Doug, beautiful tool and great photos.

Here's mine, shade-tree mechanic style. I had just the black steel "bit" or insert, not the handle. The bit doesn't give you much to hold it with for twisting, just those two holes (or one hole through both sides).

I had this bar of cold-rolled steel, way bigger than it needs to be but it was free (thanks Colin of Cyclefab!) So I brazed it.


Nickel alloy filler, very strong. Hope I didn't wreck the heat-treatment (if any) on the part originally. The handle is probably mild steel, not heat-treatable, but the Campy bit should be some kind of tool steel (I hope). That's the only part we care about the strength of, specifically the two prongs.

I quenched it from red, just below the solidus of the braze, which is hotter than bronze brazing. Approximately (I don't remember) degrees, kinda hot.

Then I polished it on the scotchbrite wheel a bit to show colors well, and re-heated it to temper it, well into the blue. I wanted to err on the side of more toughness than hardness. Time will tell, but I predict that at the rate this tool gets used, it'll outlast us all.

Mark B