Originally Posted by
duanedr
Will you chrome it and then paint the legs or paint the whole fork?
I'll be a bit vulnerable here. I hope you school me (as the young folk might say):
I don't disagree with avoiding stainless but I will be a bit more charitable for our guys in Waterford. My pragmatic and analytical side says - in this case, the strength of the joining seems well matched to the material properties as they both failed under the same stressor. So, is stainless really the problem? I know you're not saying stainless is bad but from a philosophical standpoint, this seems like an ideal failure where the joint failed with the parent material. Obviously, making a lighter crown of steel (better adhesion) and having this equal failure would be better (i.e. lighter) but for what it is, this doesn't seem like worst case scenario.
I don't know if there is a question buried in there and obviously, I'm assuming the separation of the lug from the leg didn't cause the leg deformation etc etc etc.
The point of sharing the brazing issue is that it is a good illustration of the difficulties of brazing stainless. Unless someone is a very good brazier they should avoid avoid using stainless lugs or fork crowns. They have a narrower temperature window that if exceeded, will tarnish the surface and prevent attachment. Furthermore stainless doesn't transfer heat as well so it is necessary to have a better flame pattern to bring the area up to temperature at the same time. Stainless has to be a bit hotter to accept silver while at the same time can't be overheated. What I am guessing happened on the Waterford fork is that the builder did not insure that the tangs were solidly touching the blades. If there is a slight separation, the tangs will almost instantly get too hot and corrode the surface and one has to start over. Of course in this case the tangs are just decorative so they fact they broke free wasn't a structural issue.
My approach to finishing this fork is to paint the fork crown and just polish the stainless embellishments on the side. I'm not properly set up to polish the fork crown and the customer would like his replacement fork before this decade is over.